DRAFT LANGUAGE FOR CLASSROOM POLICY

GENERATIVE AI POLICY STARTER KIT FOR K-12

Teachers will be some of the most effective and essential supporters of students' development of the skills and dispositions needed to live in a world with generative AI. District-level policies and guidance should provide enough room for teachers, especially those at the secondary grades, to be flexible and innovative in the ways that they approach AI in their own classrooms. 

Because genAI can be used in so many ways, it is likely that teachers will need to develop their own policies — they may even need different policies for different courses. Supporting and empowering teachers to create their own policy expressions in line with their content and student learning goals is a key leadership challenge. When combined with strong and ongoing communications about the challenges and opportunities that genAI presents, this type of policy is the most likely to have a direct and profound impact on student learning, and has the most potential to shape students’ growing skills and thinking habits. 

Below is an example of how a high school teacher's syllabus or classroom policy about generative AI might look.

Generative AI is new, and we are all figuring out together how to use it ethically and responsibly in schools, work, and life in general. Here are my expectations for use of AI in this classroom:

• As a general rule of thumb, it is not OK to use generative AI to substitute or substantially support your own thinking or writing in school for two reasons: 

  • 1 - Part of this class is about challenging your existing thinking and writing skills, and sometimes about struggling with new skills and ideas; when we ask AI to do that for us, we may not grow.

  • 2 - Often, you will be handing in written work to demonstrate your learning and writing skills; if you have used AI, then I can not assess you fairly.

• For specific assignments or tasks, I may let you know that you are invited to use GenAI tools (but it is not required). If I invite you to use a GenAI tool, I will give you some specific guidelines on how to use those tools and how to document your use.

• For tasks that are not directly related to an assignment that you submit eg. studying support for a test, there may be times when it will be appropriate to use generative AI, and other times when it is not. If you are in doubt, ask me.

• Generative AI goes beyond ChatGPT — it lurks in many of our digital tools (for example, autocomplete and grammar checkers); if you wonder if it is OK to use a particular tool, ask me. 

• Directly copying out of ChatGPT or other LLMs (or directly copying with some changes) is always considered plagiarism, whether or not you cite the LLM. 

• Any use of AI for thinking or writing support should always be immediately disclosed in detail.

• ChatGPT and other LLMs can “hallucinate” and generate false or misleading responses. YOU are responsible for verifying the accuracy and truthfulness of everything that you produce.

• If I have a strong belief that AI has been used inappropriately, I may take the following steps:

  • First, I will have a conversation with you.

  • I may then use resources available to me, like AI detector tools. I will take into account the limitations of these tools, but they can help further my understanding of the situation.

  • I may (or may not) refer the matter to the school’s administration;

  • In either case, your grade may be negatively affected. You have the right to challenge that decision, as per the student handbook. 

• I need to hold up my end of the bargain, too. I will do this by:

  • Disclosing my own use of AI;

  • Discussing AI with you and your classmates, and keeping an open mind;

  • Allowing my understanding of AI’s uses in the classroom to evolve.

One of the challenging things about AI is that there is so much gray area — its appropriate use depends on context (what is OK in one context might not be OK in another). There are also so many ways to use generative AI that it is hard to make a clear list of “do’s and don'ts.” But examples can still help, so here are some general guidelines:

You use AI to summarize lecture or chapter notes you or a classmate have taken, and then use that summary to study. 

My stance: Good use of AI

You use AI to get a general sense of what experts think about a topic.

My stance: Good use of AI

You use AI to generate feedback for a peer’s writing.

My stance:  Not OK, because YOU need to be doing the reading and thinking

You write your own paper, but then use AI to refine what you’ve written. 

My stance: Probably not OK, especially if I’m trying to get a sense of your writing. There may be instances when this is OK, but talk to me first. Always make sure to cite / disclose AI. 

You’re stuck and staring at a blank page. You use AI to get you started with a paper or assignment, but do the rest yourself. 

My stance:  May be OK, but make sure you’re not giving up too early. “Productive struggle” is really important to the learning and growing process. Also, our own minds might take us to creative places that AI will not. 

You use an AI tutor to help you learn how to solve a problem or learn about a new concept. 

My stance: Probably a good use of AI, but only if you’re not using AI as a “shortcut” or a first step. Ideally, you will use other resources (your own brain, for example, or credible printed or digital sources). 

You use AI to write 25% of your midterm paper, but you cite it.

My stance: Not OK — If I’m assigning you a paper, it’s because I think that’s the best way to demonstrate YOUR thinking. If AI has done a quarter of the work, I can’t accurately or fairly assess you.

You’ve been assigned a long reading that you don’t have time to do, and has some confusing sections and words that you don’t know. You upload it to an AI tool and ask for a summary. 

My stance:  Not OK — Struggling with a challenging text is part of learning, and while AI can be a useful tool, it becomes harmful when it is used to replace learning and/or thinking. 

You are struggling with a complex reading that you really don’t understand. You upload it to an AI tool and ask it to summarize it and explain key parts to you. 

My stance:  Probably a good use of AI — when AI is used to support learning, that’s a good thing. When it is used in place of learning, to save time or effort, it becomes a problem in this class. (But also, talk to me if you find a reading too challenging; I may have an alternative for you.)