Generative AI Course Policy Toolkit

Key Components of an Effective GenAI Policy Statement 

A clear GenAI policy is more than a statement of what is and is not allowed. A policy that serves your students works best when it grows from your own values and goals for student learning, your teaching approaches, and course context rather than borrowed language. 

The GenAI Syllabus Statement Reflection Worksheet guides you through the reflection that informs a clear, specific policy on appropriate student GenAI use in your course. Click here to make a copy of the worksheet in Google Drive. 

Think of an effective statement as three components:

• PURPOSE (WHY) – Why this policy?  What do you want students to learn or be able to do? Why does this make student use of GenAI more or less appropriate in this course? How does this reflect your general pedagogical approach and teaching values as well as your stance and familiarity with GenAI? 

• POLICY (WHAT)  – What exactly is your policy? Is GenAI not appropriate, selectively appropriate, or appropriate and intentionally integrated, and if so, for what purposes, tasks, and/or assignments? What are your specific expectations? How does the policy align with your assignment/assessment design? Do you recommend specific GenAI tools, and if so, which ones? What happens if the policy is violated? How does the policy address data privacy issues? 

• ACTIONS (HOW) – How will the policy work in practice? What, specifically, should students do (e.g., processes, documentation requirements, which tools, what to do if unsure)? What specific information will you require? What support will you provide (e.g., time in class, scaffolded learning experiences without GenAI, structured practice using GenAI, guidance on documentation, process for addressing concerns)? What should students do if they want to opt out of using GenAI? How will you engage students with the policy throughout the semester? 

Following are examples of how each component of the policy might look on a syllabus and on an assignment with sample language. Please see our UMass AI Policy Repository (UMass Net-ID protected) for AI policies written by UMass instructors (in development). 

Syllabus Examples

GenAI Not Appropriate 

Sample AI policy with color coded key components.

• Yellow: PURPOSE (WHY)
• Green: POLICY (WHAT)
• Blue: ACTIONS (HOW)

Open the document with this color coded text

Prompts to help you write a GenAI not appropriate syllabus statement include:

• PURPOSE (WHY) – [Course name] is designed to develop [name 2–3 specific skills or capacities — e.g., your ability to construct original arguments, interpret primary sources, or solve problems]. This work requires your own thinking and cannot be meaningfully delegated to generative AI tools. [Optional: add a sentence connecting this to students' lives beyond the course — e.g., "These are the capacities that will serve you in your field long after this semester."] 

• POLICY (WHAT)  – For this reason, the use of GenAI tools — including ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, and similar — is not appropriate for [specify scope: e.g., any written work in this course / all assignments / the following assignment types: ___]. This is not primarily about academic honesty, though that matters too. It is about what you are here to learn: AI can produce fluent text, but it cannot do your thinking. 

• ACTIONS (HOW) – All submitted work should be your own, completed without AI assistance. If you have questions about where the line is — whether a grammar checker counts, for example, or how to handle a tool you experimented with — please ask me. I would rather have that conversation than have you guess. [Describe how you will create space to discuss this — e.g., "We will review this policy together during the first week of class and again before major assignments."] 

Selectively Appropriate

Sample AI policy with color coded key components.

• Yellow: PURPOSE (WHY)
• Green: POLICY (WHAT)
• Blue: ACTIONS (HOW)

Open the document with this color coded text

Prompts to help you write a GenAI selectively appropriate syllabus statement include:

• PURPOSE (WHY) – In [course name], [name the learning goals that guide your approach — e.g., you need to develop both independent analytical skills and the ability to work critically alongside generative AI tools, because both will matter in your future work in this field]. My approach to GenAI reflects both of these goals. 

• POLICY (WHAT)  – GenAI use in this course varies by assignment. Assignments marked [your label — e.g., GenAI-Free] ask you to work without GenAI assistance; these are designed to build [name the specific skills — e.g., foundational reasoning skills that require practice without shortcuts]. Assignments marked [your label — e.g., GenAI-Appropriate] invite or require GenAI as part of your process; for these, you are expected to [describe your expectations — e.g., use GenAI intentionally, critically evaluate its output, and not accept it at face value]. Check each assignment's instructions for which applies. [Add any data privacy guidance relevant to your course — e.g., "Do not enter personally identifiable information or confidential data into third-party AI platforms."] 

• ACTIONS (HOW) – For any assignment where you use AI, include a brief GenAI Documentation Statement at the end of your submission: name the tool you used, describe what you used it for, and explain what you did with the output. [Describe when and how you will discuss these expectations — e.g., "We will review these expectations in class before major assessments. Questions? Ask me."] 

GenAI Appropriate

Sample AI policy with color coded key components.

• Yellow: PURPOSE (WHY)
• Green: POLICY (WHAT)
• Blue: ACTIONS (HOW)

Open the document with this color coded text

Prompts to help you write a GenAI appropriate syllabus statement include:

• PURPOSE (WHY) – [Name the central learning goal — e.g., "One of the central goals of this course is to develop your capacity to engage critically and strategically with generative AI — not just to use it, but to evaluate it as a system with specific affordances, limitations, and biases."] [Optional: connect to disciplinary or professional context — e.g., "These are increasingly essential competencies in [your field], and this course is designed to give you structured, supported practice in developing them."] 

• POLICY (WHAT)  – You will use GenAI tools extensively in this course, but always with the goal of pushing your thinking further — not replacing it. You are expected to [describe your expectations — e.g., direct AI purposefully, critically evaluate what it produces, identify its errors and limitations, and refine the output through your own disciplinary knowledge and judgment]. [Add any data privacy guidance — e.g., "Do not input personally identifiable information, confidential data, or copyrighted course materials into third-party AI platforms. If you are working with sensitive data, consult with me before using any GenAI tool."] 

• ACTIONS (HOW) – For each [major assignment / project / deliverable], submit a brief GenAI Documentation Statement alongside your work describing: which tools you used; what you prompted them to do; what you found useful, problematic, or surprising; and how your own thinking shaped the final product. [Describe when and how you will discuss this — e.g., "We will spend time in class discussing how to use and document GenAI effectively, and I will revisit these expectations before major assignments."] 

Assignment Guidelines 

A syllabus statement sets the overall expectation for a course. Assignment guidelines show students how those expectations apply to specific learning tasks. The same three components – Purpose, Policy, Actions – apply here. For multi-part assignments, you may decide GenAI is selectively appropriate for some steps and not others. In that case, say so explicitly rather than leaving students to infer your intentions. 

For assignments where no GenAI use is appropriate, adapt the "GenAI Not Appropriate" syllabus example to the specific task. The example below models the case for a staged assignment where GenAI is appropriate for some steps and not others. 

• PURPOSE (WHY) – This [multi-part project / essay / lab sequence] is designed to develop [name the specific capacity — e.g., your ability to build an argument from evidence and revise it with feedback]. Some steps benefit from using a GenAI tool as a thinking partner; others require your own reasoning, because that reasoning is what the assignment is assessing. 

• POLICY (WHAT)  – GenAI use is appropriate for [name the step — e.g., brainstorming possible research questions, or testing your draft thesis against counterarguments]. It is not appropriate for [name the step — e.g., drafting your analysis or writing the final version]. If you are unsure whether a specific tool or use falls inside these boundaries, ask before you submit. 

• ACTIONS (HOW) – Submit [deliverable] along with a brief GenAI Documentation Statement: name the tool, describe what you used it for, and explain what you did with the output. [Describe support available — e.g., we will practice this in class before the first submission.] 

Generative AI Disclosure Statement: These examples were created using Claude AI. 

Repository of UMass GenAI Policies 

Check out what policies other faculty at UMass have on GenAI with our UMass GenAI Policy Repository. You can search for policies from your college, department, or by usage policy (e.g., selectively appropriate, not appropriate, etc.).    

How to Communicate Your GenAI Policy 

The clearer you are about your expectations, and the more often you reinforce and revisit them, the greater the likelihood students will meet them. 

• Use our How Do I Help Students Understand and Follow My GenAI Policy? Flowchart as a roadmap of all the steps you can take to communicate your GenAI Policy to your students.
• Review and discuss the statement in class  

• Include the policy with each assignment, whether that’s on Canvas or in the assignment description. Alternatively, add GenAI guidelines to all assignments. Research shows engaging students with policy before major assessments reduces academic dishonesty (Vahid et al., 2023). 

• Revisit the policy mid-semester to get feedback and clarify usage
• Read about how Torrey Trust (Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies), revisits her AI policy with her students and about how Frederic Schaffer (Political Science) assigns a podcast followed by discussion to help students understand his AI policy.

• Explain the why behind your policy in terms of what you want students to achieve, learn, and get out of your class.  

• Have students complete a GenAI-Disclosure-Statement.