GenAI Sample Assignment Level Statements

How do I communicate if and how GenAI use is permitted in my assignments?

It is important to foster open and ongoing communication around the evolving nature of GenAI tools and technologies with students, and around the permissibility of GenAI tools within your course. Since students will be navigating different GenAI expectations across multiple courses, and even between assignments within a single course, it is essential to establish clear and transparent communication. Don’t assume students know if and how they can use GenAI tools in your course. Individual assignment-level GenAI expectations should be clearly outlined in each assignment description. Ideally, these expectations will clearly communicate the following:

• if and how GenAI tools can be used
• why that decision was made and how GenAI use supports or negatively impacts the learning goals of the assignment
• any details outlining student responsibilities (i.e. if/how citation should be completed)
• potential consequences/implications for the misuse of GenAI when it is not permissible

In addition to sharing these written statements, these GenAI expectations should be reviewed with students to ensure clarity and to provide an opportunity for dialogue and questions.

Below, you will find a number of sample assignment-level statements regarding the use of GenAI for the following three categories:

• GenAI is permitted
• GenAI can be used in specific ways
• GenAI is not permitted

Please feel free to use, modify, and/or combine these statements to meet your needs and the needs of your course. Some course teams, programs or departments might choose to create a set of standard statements that can be used across courses or course sections.

Sample Assignment-Level Statements

GenAI is permitted

Please use, modify and/or combine any of the following statements to meet your needs:

• You are permitted/encouraged to use GenAI tools to support your learning as you complete this assignment (e.g., brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, proofing).
• When leveraging these technologies, be sure you critically evaluate any GenAI-generated content and adapt as necessary. Remember that GenAI is known to produce inaccurate and/or false information and citations and it might recreate inappropriate or harmful prejudices and biases. You are fully responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of any GenAI-generated content you choose to include.
• Any GenAI content that is included should be cited appropriately within the body of your work (in-text citation) and referenced in your bibliography or reference list. Please refer to these resources for GenAI citation information: MLA Style, APA Style
• Using a tool such as ChatGPT and falsely representing the ideas or the wording as your own is considered academic misconduct in this assignment/course. This would be considered “plagiarism” under section 6.2 of Centennial College’s Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy (AC100-11).
• To demonstrate how you used GenAI to support the completion of your assignment, please include the following as an appendix when submitting the assignment: the GenAI tool used, the prompts you used, and the content that was produced by the GenAI.
• To demonstrate how you used GenAI to support the completion of your assignment, please include a link to your GenAI conversation or screenshots of that conversation.
• If you are uncertain about how to cite/document, please contact me (*include your email address here) or a librarian
• If you have any questions or concerns about using GenAI tools, please don’t hesitate to contact me (*include your email address here)
• Include any other details or GenAI expectations that are specific to your assignment.

Notes for faculty:

• Citation and documentation may not be necessary for all assignments. Please choose only the statements above that are required for your assignment. Please also add any additional detail to these requirements that would further support students in their citation/documentation process (for example, consider providing a template your students can use – see sample downloadable templates at AI and the Writing Process – Documenting and Citing - University of Waterloo)
• Be prepared to provide alternatives to any student who has concerns about the privacy, security, or other issues related to a GenAI tool, or if students cannot access the technology for any reason. Please refer to the FAQ section below: “Are there alternatives I can provide if students have reservations about using GenAI?”

GenAI can be used in specific ways

Please use, modify and/or combine any of the following statements to meet your needs:

• Knowing how to interact with and leverage the potential of GenAI are important skills to develop. However, there are also other skills that are important for you to practice on your own to support your learning, without the help of GenAI. Therefore, this assignment has been designed to support you in both of these areas. For this assignment, you may use GenAI tools in certain ways, but not in others.

Note to faculty - edit the following table to suit the needs of the assignment

• Faculty, in addition to the table above, consider adding a personal message to your students. Here’s one example:
  
  • For this assignment, I encourage you to use GenAI tools as part of your brainstorming and organizing process. Ask it for ideas, examples, and alternative perspectives. It might suggest some things that you haven’t considered! You can also ask GenAI for suggestions about how you can organize your work to have the biggest impact on the reader.
  • The actual writing of your assignment must be completed on your own. You may not use GenAI writing tools to produce your written content. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can make connections between the ideas you brainstormed, our coursework and your personal experiences. This work should represent your original thoughts and should be written in your own words. GenAI cannot do this work for you.
• Be sure you critically evaluate any GenAI-generated content and adapt as necessary. Remember that GenAI is known to produce inaccurate and/or false information and citations and it might recreate inappropriate or harmful prejudices and biases. You are fully responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of any GenAI-generated content you choose to include.
• Any GenAI content that is included should be cited appropriately within the body of your work (in-text citation) and referenced in your bibliography or reference list. Please refer to these resources for GenAI citation information: MLA Style, APA Style
• If using GenAI tools to polish your writing, retain a copy of your drafts to demonstrate your original work. These may be requested by your teacher.
• To demonstrate how you used GenAI to support the completion of your assignment, please include the following as an appendix when submitting the assignment: the GenAI tool used, the prompts you used, and the content that was produced by the GenAI.
• To demonstrate how you used GenAI to support the completion of your assignment, please include a link to your GenAI conversation or screenshots of that conversation.
• If you are uncertain about how to cite/document, please contact me (*include your email address here) or a librarian
• Using GenAI tools to complete this assignment in ways that are not permitted may be considered academic misconduct. Its use would be considered “use of an unauthorized aid” under section 5.1 of Centennial College’s Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy (AC100-11).
• Using a tool such as ChatGPT and falsely representing the ideas or the wording as your own is considered academic misconduct in this assignment/course. This would be considered “plagiarism” under section 6.2 of Centennial College’s Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy (AC100-11).
• If you have any questions or concerns about using GenAI tools, please don’t hesitate to contact me (*include your email address here)
• Include any other details or GenAI expectations that are specific to your assignment.

Notes for faculty:

• Take the time to explain to students why the decision was made to only allow GenAI in specific ways, and how GenAI use supports or negatively impacts the learning goals of the various components of the assignment
• Citation and documentation may not be necessary for all assignments. Please choose only the statements above that are required for your assignment. Please also add any additional detail to these requirements that would further support students in their citation/documentation process (for example, consider providing a template your students can use – see sample downloadable templates at AI and the Writing Process – Documenting and Citing - University of Waterloo)
• Be prepared to provide alternatives to any student who has concerns about the privacy, security, or other issues related to a GenAI tool, or if students cannot access the technology for any reason. See FAQ section below: “Are there alternatives I can provide if students have reservations about using GenAI?”

GenAI is not permitted

Please use, modify and/or combine any of the following statements to meet your needs:

• Knowing how to interact with and leverage the potential of GenAI are important skills to develop. However, there are also other skills that are important for you to practice on your own to support your learning, without the help of GenAI. For your own learning, and to provide you with the opportunity to practice the skills required to meet the course learning outcomes addressed by this assignment, GenAI tools may not be used to complete any portion of this assignment.
  
  • Faculty, in addition to the clear communication that GenAI tools are not permitted, consider adding an additional personal message to your students. Here are two examples:
    
    • For this assignment, I really want to hear your ideas, your analysis and your reflections, and I want to read them written in your own words. Your voice is unique and personal, and will produce much more authentic work than a GenAI tool will create.
    • For this assignment, it’s okay if you have some grammar or spelling mistakes. It’s more important that you can communicate your own thoughts in an organized and compelling fashion. I look forward to reading your genuine work.
      In the nursing profession, being able to communicate with a diversity of patients is an important skill. This assignment provides you with the opportunity to respond to common questions a patient might ask in a way that they will understand. The information that you share needs to be accurate and your tone needs to be warm and supportive, two things that GenAI is not always good at! Also, when working in the field in a real situation, you will not have ChatGPT available to create these for you. It’s really important that you writ these responses yourself, in your own words. I look forward to reading your work.
• Using GenAI tools, including ChatGPT or other AI writing tools, to complete this assignment may be considered academic misconduct. Its use would be considered “use of an unauthorized aid” under section 5.1 of Centennial College’s Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy (AC100-11).
• Using a tool such as ChatGPT and falsely representing the ideas or the wording as your own is considered academic misconduct in this assignment/course. This would be considered “plagiarism” under section 6.2 of Centennial College’s Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy (AC100-11).

Notes for faculty:

• Clarify for the students why the decision was made to prohibit the use of GenAI, and how GenAI assistance negatively impacts the learning goals of the assignment.
• GenAI functionality is rapidly being integrated into many commonly used applications (i.e. Microsoft and Google applications) and search engines, making it exceptionally difficult to fully ban the use of all GenAI tools. Instead of focusing on which specific GenAI tools students can or cannot use, be very clear about which functionalities are prohibited on the assignment. For example, the use of GenAI tools to generate content is not permitted on this assignment.

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