How to Set Clear Rules for AI Use in Your Classroom

Start with the skill students need to practice

“Use AI responsibly” leaves the important decision unstated. For one assignment, students might be practicing how to develop an argument. For another, they might be learning to evaluate a finished argument. An AI-generated outline would play a different role in each task. Write the learning goal before deciding which assistance belongs in the lesson.

Think of a cooking class. If the lesson is knife skills, handing over prepared vegetables removes the practice. If the lesson is comparing flavors, prepared ingredients might serve the purpose. The useful question is: Which part of this task does the learner need to do?

UNESCO’s 2024 AI competency framework for teachers connects a human-centred mindset and ethics with AI foundations, pedagogy, and professional learning. It supports considering teaching goals and human agency alongside tool operation. The assignment approach below is our suggested application; the framework does not establish that this activity improves results.

Describe allowed help, independent work, and ask-first cases

Choose one actual assignment and name the actions involved. “AI is allowed” is less useful than saying whether students may request an explanation, generate ideas, rewrite a paragraph, or produce a final answer. Do not automatically put brainstorming or proofreading in the allowed column: those actions might be the skill you are assessing.

Here is a hypothetical history assignment: students must make and support their own argument using two assigned sources. If school policy permits an approved tool, the teacher could set these boundaries:

• Allowed for this task: request an explanation of an unfamiliar general term, then check it against the assigned material.
• Complete independently: choose the argument, select supporting evidence, and write the explanation. Do not submit an AI-generated argument as your own work.
• Ask first: use AI to brainstorm, outline, translate, or rewrite any assessed work. Permission depends on this assignment and any agreed support arrangements.

Put the directions beside the assignment

Give students a short statement they can consult while working. For example: “For this assignment, you may use the approved tool to clarify general terms. Write your argument and explanation yourself. Ask me before using AI for ideas, outlines, translation, or rewriting. If you use permitted help, name the tool, describe the help, and explain what you checked.” Adapt this example to the lesson and school expectations.

Make access and privacy part of that brief. Identify any approved tool and supervision arrangements before asking students to use it. Offer a teacher-supplied example or a route that does not require a personal account. For this exercise, use invented examples or public material rather than student records, private messages, or another person’s work.

UNESCO’s guidance for generative AI in education and research addresses privacy and age-appropriate educational design within a human-centred approach. It is guidance, not permission to adopt a particular service. Follow your institution’s requirements and check current tool terms through the appropriate school process.

Ask students to explain the help they used

A short process note can make the permitted assistance easier to discuss. Ask students to identify the task they requested, one suggestion they accepted or rejected, and what they decided themselves. If a prompt is useful evidence, use a non-sensitive example rather than requiring students to expose a private chat history.

For a student who used no AI, the note can simply say so and describe a decision made during the work. This is a teaching suggestion to adapt, not a guaranteed way to detect undisclosed assistance. Keep a human in the loop for questions, feedback, and decisions about exceptions.

Clear boundaries are part of AI literacy because they ask learners to connect a tool’s role with their own responsibility. Once students understand the rules, practice reviewing an output with our lesson on checking AI answers. The AI literacy guide provides the wider practice routine.