As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes increasingly integrated into educational environments, students may find themselves navigating different expectations regarding AI use. At VIU, the use of ChatGPT or other AI tools is a course-level decision, and faculty retain the discretion to decide how and to what extent they integrate technology into their teaching, as summarized in VIU’s position statement on Academic Integrity and Generative Artificial Intelligence. This means students face varying GenAI expectations across multiple courses and assignments. Ongoing transparent communication is encouraged to help students understand the role of AI and how to use it responsibly.
In a previous blog, What does AI mean in your classroom? we offered questions around the permissibility of GenAI tools within your course, as well as example statements for you to include in your course outline. For additional examples of course policy statements, see Classroom Policies for Generative AI Tools, a crowdsourced Google document designed to help instructors create guidelines for using GenAI tools. Additionally, instructors should support expectations throughout the semester. Assignments should clearly outline specific GenAI expectations. Ideally, these should cover:
- Whether and how GenAI tools can be used.
- The reasoning behind this decision and how GenAI use aligns with or affects the assignment’s learning outcomes.
- Student responsibilities, such as citation requirements.
- Potential consequences for misusing GenAI when it’s not allowed (Centennial College, 2025).
Decide and Communicate
The following AI assessment Scale provides a structured approach to the integration of Gen AI in teaching and learning. The AI Assessment Scale was designed to:
- Help educators consider how their assessments might need to be adjusted considering GenAI tools.
- Clarify to students how and where GenAI tools might be used in their work.
- Support students in completing assessments in line with the principles of academic integrity (Centennial College, 2025).
Examples of AI Use
| AI Assessment Scale | Suggested wording for assignment description | Assessment types and considerations | |
| 1 | No AI | Do not use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Grammarly, and other generative AI tools to complete this assignment. I want to hear your ideas, analysis, and reflections, and I want to read them in your own words. Your voice is unique and personal and will produce much more authentic work than a GenAI tool will create (Centennial College, 2025). | In-class activities: discussions, quizzes, midterms, and invigilated exams. |
| 2 | AI Assisted: Generating Ideas | You may use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and other generative AI to brainstorm ideas and approaches for completing your assignment. However, no AI content is allowed in the final submission. You are responsible for developing, refining, and presenting your arguments, analyses, and conclusions without using AI. The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. You can do this with a reflective paragraph detailing which technologies and where in your assessment you used AI. This additional description does not add to your word count. | For writing assignments: like gathering ideas from peers, friends, family, student support services, and search engines. Class activities may include using AI to practice prompting and demonstrate how to expand on the initial ideas. |
| 3 | AI-Assisted Editing | You may use GenAI tools such as Grammarly, Notion AI, Microsoft Editor, Google Docs (Workspace Labs), Adobe AI Assistant, and ChatGPT to seek feedback on your written work and to directly suggest readability improvements to your text in terms of grammar and expression. The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. You can do this by <inserting a note at the end of your submission> where you need to <describe the AI tools(s) that you used, what you used it to do, what prompt(s) you provided, and how the output of the artificial intelligence was use or adapted by you>. This additional description does not add to your word count. | GenAI acts as editor for writing assignments. |
| 4 | AI Task Completion: Human Evaluation (Creating Media) | You may use AI tools such as DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly, and another image generative AI to generate images that you use as part of your submission. You are encouraged to carefully read and understand the terms of use or licensing agreements for any software or platforms used for editing. This includes understanding the restrictions on the usage of edited content, copyright laws, and any limitations on distribution or public use. Failure to adhere to these terms could result in ethical issues related to the content produced. The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. Include the full prompt as the image title and use the phrase “image created “image generated by,” followed by the company that created the tool and the name of the tool. (e.g., Canva’s Text to Image). Date: Give the date that the image was generated. Refer to the VIU’s Citing Your Sources for citing AI-generated material for full citation styles. In addition, include a reflective paragraph at the end of your assignment detailing your critical evaluation of the GenAI output (such as your discernment of the accuracy, identifying biases, and assessing the image’s relevance to the assessment). This additional description does not add to your word count. | This is useful for learning activities that develop critical evaluation skills, such as comparisons, exploring what is true, and visual representations of ideas. |
| 5 | Full AI | You may use GenAI tools, such as Grammarly, Notion AI, Microsoft Editor, Google Docs (Workspace Labs), and ChatGPT, to generate a draft assignment. The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged (see Citing AI-generated material). You can do this by <inserting a note at the end of your submission> where you need to <describe the AI tools(s) that you used, what you used it to do, what prompt(s) you provided, and how the output of the artificial intelligence was use or adapted by you>. This additional description does not add to your word count. | AI as an assistant summarizing earlier work (such as class notes). |
Clarifying Assignment Expectations
Below is a generic statement for you to use as a starting point to communicate the AI use that you deem appropriate for an assignment.
You are permitted to use generative AI to help you, <insert learning activity and benefit> – this must be acknowledged. For example, <provide specific examples>.
Do not post confidential, private, personal, or otherwise sensitive information into these tools. If you use these tools, you must be aware of their limitation, biases, and propensity for fabrications (hallucinations). Your use of AI tools must adhere to VIU’s policy and procedures on Academic Integrity (Policy 96.01 and Procedure 96.01.001). You are 100% responsible for your assessment submission.
The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. You can do this by <inserting a note at the end of your submission> where you need to <describe the AI tools(s) that you used, what you used it to do, what prompt(s) you provided, and how the output of the artificial intelligence was use or adapted by you>. This additional description does not add to your word count (University of Sydney, 2023).
A student’s acknowledgement might look like:
I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/) to refine the academic language of my work. On <date> I submitted my entire essay (<link to the original document here>) with the prompt to <” Improve the academic tone and accuracy of language, including grammatical structure, punctuation and vocabulary”>. The output (<link here>) was then modified further to better represent my own tone and style of writing. The use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. You can do this by <inserting a note at the end of your submission> where you need to <describe the AI tools(s) that you used, what you used it to do, what prompt(s) you provided, and how the output of the artificial intelligence was use or adapted by you>. This additional description does not add to your word count (University of Sydney, 2023).
Detecting Students’ AI Use
The use of software to detect AI-generated text is discouraged because generative AI outputs are non-deterministic, meaning that another person cannot obtain the same information you did. Also, research suggests that AI detection tools are unreliable and may be biased, particularly against writers who use English as an additional language. Another concern about detection tools or other technological solutions, is that there is a risk of creating equity problems. For instance, students with access to advanced, paid AI tools may be able to use them without getting caught, while those with only limited access to free tools are more likely to be detected (Furze, 2024). Do not submit student work to AI detection software, as this breaches student privacy and intellectual property.
Reduce the Risks of GenAI on Academic Integrity
Course and assignment statements are ways to reduce the risks of GenAI on academic integrity. If you’re interested in learning about more strategies, you are invited to join our workshop series, The 20 Minute Tea. In this series we share a teaching strategy in just 20 minutes. It’s a quick way to learn new strategies and leave with inspiration for your classroom, with discussion available afterwards for those who want to linger a bit longer.
In the Reduce the Risks of GenAI on Academic Integrity session, we will share a strategy to evaluate and consider changes to your assessments given the evolving capabilities of GenAI tools, along with practical strategies to adapt your assessments.
Attribution
Centennial College. (2025). Centennial College – GenAI Sample Assignment Level Statements
Chaka, C. (2024). Accuracy pecking order – how 30 ai detectors stack up in detecting Generative Artificial Intelligence Content in university English L1 and English L2 student essays. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2024.7.1.33
Furze. (2024). Can the AI Assessment Scale stop students “cheating” with AI? – Leon Furze
Perkins, M., Furze, L., Roe, J., MacVaugh, J. (2024). The Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS): A Framework for Ethical Integration of Generative AI in Educational Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(6). https://doi.org/10.53761/q3azde36
The University of Sydney. (2023). Responding to generative AI for assessment in semester 2, 2023. https://educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au/teaching@sydney/ai-and-education/