4.25 - Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Last updated on August 3, 2026

POLICY: Spoon River College is committed to fostering an environment of academic excellence, integrity, and innovation. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools become more common in educational and professional settings, the College recognizes the need to provide clear guidance for responsible and ethical use.
This policy outlines expectations for students, faculty, and staff to support learning, maintain academic integrity, encourage critical thinking, and ensure that AI is used transparently and in alignment with the College's educational mission.
Spoon River College acknowledges that AI tools offer both opportunities and challenges. This policy does not prohibit AI use, but instead ensures it is used intentionally, openly, and appropriately within the academic or work setting.

SCOPE:

This policy applies to all members of the Spoon River College community, including:

DEFINITIONS:

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Technology systems or applications that simulate aspects of human intelligence by analyzing data, recognizing patterns, making decisions, or generating content.

Generative AI: A type of artificial intelligence that produces new, original-appearing content—such as text, images, audio, video, or computer code—based on user prompts or input.

AI-Assisted Work: Academic work in which a student uses AI as a support tool (for example, to brainstorm ideas or check grammar) while still doing the main thinking, analysis, and decision-making themselves.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools: Software applications that use machine learning, natural language processing, or other AI-driven technologies to generate, summarize, translate, code, or otherwise produce content. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Disclosure: A clear, written acknowledgment by a student, faculty member, or staff member that AI tools were used in the creation or preparation of a piece of work, including a description of how those tools were used.

Academic Dishonesty: Any act that misrepresents the origin, effort, or authenticity of a student's academic work. In the context of this policy, academic dishonesty includes submitting AI-generated content as one's own original work without instructor permission and disclosure when required.

Instructor Authority: The right of individual faculty members to establish course-specific AI use policies that are more restrictive or more permissive than this institutional policy, provided those policies are clearly communicated to students in the course syllabus.

DETAILS:

  1. Expectations for Students:
    1. Responsible Use. Students are expected to:
      1. Follow course-specific guidelines for AI use.
      2. Use AI tools, when permitted, to support learning, such as generating ideas, improving clarity, or checking understanding.
      3. Ensure that submitted work reflects their own knowledge, thinking, and effort.
    2. Prohibited Uses. Students should not:
      1. Submit AI-generated content as their own original work.
      2. Use AI to complete exams, quizzes, or graded assignments intended to assess independent learning.
      3. Use AI to fabricate sources, citations, data, or experiences.
    3. Transparency and Disclosure. When AI use is permitted, students may be required to:
      1. Acknowledge the AI tool used.
      2. Describe how the tool contributed to the work.
      3. Retain drafts or process notes demonstrating their own contribution.
  2. Expectations for Faculty: Faculty play a central role in implementing this policy at the course level. Instructors are encouraged to thoughtfully consider how AI tools intersect with their course learning objectives and to communicate clear expectations to students.
    1. Clearly communicate expectations for AI use in the syllabus, assignments, and course materials.
    2. Design assessments that emphasize critical thinking, personal reflection, application, and process in ways that are difficult to replicate with AI tools. Strategies may include in-class writing, oral presentations, process portfolios, personalized or localized topics, and iterative drafts with documented processes.
    3. Consider how AI tools may support accessibility, personalized learning, or skill practice when used appropriately.
    4. Course-level AI Framework: Faculty may choose one or more of the following approaches, as appropriate for their course and/or each assignment.
      • Level 0: You Create & Complete. Students may not use AI tools for assigned work. Any use constitutes academic dishonesty.
      • Level 1: You Create First, Then Use AI for Feedback. Students may use AI for specific tasks (e.g., brainstorming, outlining, grammar feedback).
      • Level 2: You Create & Use AI for Support. Students may use AI, but must document how it was used.
      • Level 3: You Co-Create with AI. AI use is intentionally built into assignments and learning activities.
    5. Addressing Suspected Violations: Faculty who suspect a student has violated this policy should first discuss the student's work and process with the student before drawing conclusions. AI detection tools should not be used as the sole evidence of a violation. These tools are imperfect, may produce false positives, may be biased against non-native speakers, and are currently unable to keep up with rapidly changing AI. Additional data gathering could include: obvious mistakes in the written work, references that are made-up or are not actually relevant to the student's past writing, etc. Faculty should document their concerns and follow the academic integrity procedures outlined in Section 4.
  3. Expectations for Employees: Employees who use AI tools in the performance of their institutional responsibilities are expected to do so with professionalism, accuracy, and transparency. The following guidelines apply to administrative and operational AI use:
    1. AI-generated content used in official institutional communications, reports, or documents should be reviewed, verified, and edited to ensure accuracy before use.
    2. Employees are prohibited from inputting data specific to Spoon River College, including confidential information belonging to the College, when using publicly available artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This includes, but is not limited to, copying, pasting, typing or submitting personally identifiable information (e.g., names, contact information, dates of birth, social security numbers, etc.) about employees, students, and participants in college and community events. Inputs into public AI prompts, whether by text, speech, images, video or other formats, must be anonymized to avoid disclosing confidential information.
    3. Employees are responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of any AI-assisted work product they produce in their institutional role.
    4. Use of AI tools for tasks governed by legal, compliance, or accreditation requirements should be reviewed with the relevant institutional office before implementation.
  4. Violation of This Policy:
    1. Violations of this policy will be addressed in accordance with the Spoon River College Student Code of Conduct (for students) and applicable employee policies (for faculty and staff).
    2. Faculty who suspect a violation of the Academic Dishonesty Policy should first meet with the student to discuss the concern. If the violation is confirmed, the faculty member should then submit an Incident Report Form found on the Faculty tab in My SRC.
    3. Consequences for student violations may include one or more of the following, depending on the severity and circumstances, or repetition of violation(s):
      1. A grade of zero on the affected assignment.
      2. Revision and resubmission of the assignment, or recompletion of the work as directed by the instructor.
      3. Failure of the course.
      4. Creation of internal case record with the Office of Student Services.
      5. Referral to the Office of Student Services for formal disciplinary proceedings.
      6. Suspension or dismissal from the College, in cases of severe and/or repeated violations.
  5. Privacy, Data Security, and Ethics:
    1. Users should avoid entering sensitive personal, institutional, or confidential information into publicly available AI tools.
    2. AI tools used for coursework should comply with applicable laws, including FERPA and copyright regulations.
    3. Faculty, staff, and students should remain aware of potential bias, inaccuracies, and limitations in AI-generated content.
  6. Support and Professional Development. The College will support responsible AI use by offering guidance and learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and students. This may include:
    1. Resources on ethical and effective AI use.
    2. Training and instructional design support for faculty.
    3. Guidance on privacy, accessibility, and data security.
    4. Ongoing review of emerging technologies and best practices.
  7. Policy Review: Because AI technologies evolve rapidly, this policy will be reviewed regularly and updated as needed to remain aligned with educational goals, legal requirements, and institutional values.