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Instructional Support

Guidance & Guidelines


It’s important to recognize that genAI models can swiftly and competently assist students in completing various course assignments and assessments. These models can generate text for essay questions, papers, and discussion board posts, simulating recall and understanding with little effort or engagement. Instructors are encouraged to engage in the guidance and guidelines as described below.

Reflect on Your Course and Assessment Practice

Activities that challenge students beyond recall and superficial understanding exemplify best practice. Reflect on the following questions for each of your courses:

  • Should GenAI be used in the course or not—and why or why not?
  • If GenAI is to be used, how is the use to be documented?
  • Should course learning objectives be revised?
  • Should GenAI competencies be taught in the specific disciplinary context?
  • Should assessments be revised?

Talk with Students about Generative AI Early and Often

We encourage instructors to set aside time early in the course to tell students directly about course policies regarding GenAI usage, reasons for this decision, and what potential consequences may look like when policies are not followed. Use the following pointers to hold a conversation with your students about the ethical and practical implications of GenAI for this course, the discipline, and beyond:

  • Talk about and evaluate capabilities of GenAI as a group/class
  • Motivate students to exceed outputs of GenAI
  • Set expectations early, ideally on day one of class, and provide regular reminders
  • Clearly articulate your expectations and policies for GenAI use.
  • When developing your policies, think about what you actually care about, what you actually want to assess, etc.
  • Maximize trust of students to use the tools effectively and ethically, without relying on them entirely
  • Be explicit about GenAI policies within syllabus language (“In this course…”)
  • In courses that allow GenAI on some, but not all assignments, be sure to communicate the expectations in each assignment (“For this assignment…”)

Example Syllabi Statements

Explore these resources to see what language other educators are including on their syllabus: 

Suggested Course Syllabus Statements (from the Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI) unit at UTK)

Syllabi Policies for AI Generative Tools – Created for the purposes of sharing and helping other instructors see the range of policies available by other educators to help in the development of their own.

Assignment Expectations

Set clear expectations for your students about when they can use generative AI tools. Best practice – include a sentence or two to your assignment instructions. In addition to guiding students whether or not to use the tools, you may also consider giving guidance for what purposes or what tools are acceptable.

Language for Assignment Descriptions

Four generative AI expectations:

  1. Restrict all use of generative AI for an assessment task
  2. Restrict types of generative AI tools for assessment
  3. Restrict ways of using generative AI tools for assessment
  4. No restrictions on use of generative AI for an assessment task

Generative AI tools cannot be used in this assessment task
In this assessment, you must not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to generate any materials or content in relation to the assessment task.

Generative AI tools are restricted for this assessment task
In this assessment, you can use the following generative artificial intelligence (AI) only—[insert names of AI tools, or types of tools (e.g. image generators/text generators)]. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged (see [add link to your “how to cite AI” resources]).

Generative AI tools are restricted for certain functions in this assessment task
In this assessment, you can use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in order to [insert functions for which use is permitted] only. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged (see [add link to your “how to cite AI” resources]).

Note: Example functions might include:

  • generate passages of text that must then be transformed to apply to each student’s particular context.
  • produce summaries of topics that provide a basis for further non-AI-assisted inquiry.

Generative AI tools are not restricted for this assessment task
In this assessment, you can use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to assist you in any way. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged.

Student Guidelines for Acknowledging AI Use

Citing output from generative AI tools or acknowledging their use is a new skill for students, and recommendations for how to cite and acknowledge are still developing. 

Why differentiate between citing and acknowledging?

Students may use generative AI tools in ways that won’t show up directly in a final paper. For example, they may use UT Verse to help them brainstorm a list of possible paper topics or brainstorm counter-arguments that they should research further. For these cases, students can acknowledge the use of generative AI tools by explaining what they used and for what purpose they used it. 

When students use direct language or paraphrased ideas originating from generative AI tools, they should cite this in their work. Both MLA and APA have citation guidelines; see Butler’s AI LibGuide for more information.

Examples of Acknowledgement

Have your students acknowledge their use of generative AI tools using this format:

I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to [specific use of generative artificial intelligence]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain use].

I acknowledge the use of [1] UT Verse (https://utverse.tennessee.edu/) to [2] generate materials for background research and self-study in the drafting of this assessment. I entered the following prompts on 4 January 2023:

  • [3] Write a 50 word summary about the formation of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Write it in an academic style. Add references and quotations from past chancellors.
[4] The output from the generative artificial intelligence was adapted and modified for the final response.

Legend: [1] AI system(s) and link; [2] specific use of generative AI; [3] prompt; [4] explanation of use.

I acknowledge the use of [1] UT Verse (https://utverse.tennessee.edu/) to [2] generate materials that were [4] included within my final assessment in modified form. I entered the following prompts on 4 January 2023:

  • [3] Write a 50 word summary about the formation of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Write it in an academic style. Add references and quotations from past chancellors.

Legend: [1] AI system(s) and link; [2] specific use of generative AI; [3] prompt; [4] explanation of use.

I acknowledge the use of [1] UT Verse (https://utverse.tennessee.edu/) [2] to refine the academic language and accuracy of my own work. On 4 January 2023 I submitted my entire essay (link to essay here) with the instruction to [3] “Improve the academic tone and accuracy of language, including grammatical structures, punctuation and vocabulary”. [4] The output (here) was then modified further to better represent my own tone and style of writing.

Legend: [1] AI system(s) and link; [2] specific use of generative AI; [3] prompt; [4] explanation of use.

No content generated by AI technologies has been used in this assessment.

Output Appendix

In addition to acknowledgement, prompts and outputs could be collected in an appendix. Students should submit this appendix with any assignment involving AI. This practice does three things: 1) practices transparency, 2) allows educators to trace student thinking by reviewing their prompts, and 3) allows for future fact-checking by providing the source material.

Reference: Mollick, E. R. & Mollick, L., Assigning AI: Seven Approaches for Students with Prompts.

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