AI Starter Pack
AI Starter Pack
AI-specific University-wide Policies & Frameworks Underway
As of August 2026, the University has two university-wide committees working in concert to develop policies and frameworks for the use of AI in teaching, learning, research, and work.
The Administrative Committee is sponsored by ITS and chaired by Dawn Fitzgerald and Dan Vonder Heide, Associate Vice Presidents for ITS. The Administrative Committee is developing compliance guidelines and a responsible use framework focused on operations, services, enterprise systems, and AI agents. Membership on this committee is comprised of representatives from key administrative and operational areas, such as ITS, HR, and Student Services.
The Academic Committee is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and chaired by Lauri Dietz, Executive Director, Center for Faculty Development; Sonny Singh, Vice Provost for Research; and Jamie Wittenberg, Dean of University Libraries. The Academic Committee is developing policies and frameworks for the ethical and responsible use of AI in education and research. Membership is comprised of faculty representatives from each school/college as well as undergraduate and graduate student government.
Chairs from both committees work closely together to ensure alignment of outcomes and share the following co-created guiding principles.
The use of AI shall be
- Human Centered: When AI tools are used, they must support and augment human judgment, relationships, and care for the whole person (cura personalis), not replace them.
- Mission Driven: When AI is used, it should enhance student learning, research, and operational effectiveness, improve access, and support faculty, staff and student success and innovation.
- Based on Discernment, Not Advocacy: The University does not assume AI is appropriate in all contexts. Decisions to prohibit, limit, or adopt AI should be guided by thoughtful discernment, and the committee’s role is to provide clear policies and ethical frameworks, not to promote adoption.
- Ethical and Responsible: All AI use must reflect Loyola’s Jesuit values and uphold fairness, transparency, privacy, accountability, and equity.
Drafts of policies and frameworks from both committees will be reviewed and revised through shared governance channels and university leadership during Fall 2026, with the goals to adopt in Spring 2027 and establish a governance structure for the ongoing review and updating of the policies and frameworks.
In the Meantime, Existing University Policies & Frameworks Apply to AI
Loyola has robust policies on Academic Integrity and technology use at the university- and school-levels and those policies apply to the use of AI whether AI is explicitly named or not.
Academic Integrity
Arrupe, undergraduate, and graduate and professional students all have Academic Standards and Regulations that guide their work. The Undergraduate Catalog expressly states that students may not plagiarize by using "generative artificial intelligence to complete or write assignments or exams, partially or fully, without prior permission of the instructor." All codes of of conduct prohibit fabrication, cheating, falsification, and misrepresentation.
Technology Purchase and Use
AI tools in particular can carry a high risk in regards to data security. The University's recommendation is to use prioritize using tools already vetted by the university, such as Copilot through Loyola's enterprise account and the AI-enabled features in existing tools, such as Zoom and NVIVO.
The purchase and adoption of new AI tools must follow the University's hardware-software purchase policy to ensure that all hardware and software purchased is compatible with the University's environment, and to enhance cost efficiency of the University overall.
Communicate Your Expectations to Students
Whether AI use is antithetical or integral to the learning outcomes of your course, what students ask for more than anything is clear, transparent expectations about what is and is not acceptable use of AI. Faculty have the academic freedom to decide what is appropriate for their courses. Because faculty take such divergent approaches to the use of AI in educational settings, students can find it confusing navigating those expectations.
To help promote more consistent communication with students, the Center for Faculty Development created a set of icons and accompanying language that faculty are encouraged to incorporate into their syllabus and Sakai or Brightspace site. These icons can be used at the course- or assignment-level. These icons are inspired by Mike Hernandez's GAI in Learning Design Matrix.
Download a zip file of Loyola's AI Toolkit Icons.
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Required AI Use | Instructor Led AI use is required as it is directly tied to the learning outcomes of a course, unit, or activity. The instructor guides students in the use of AI by providing clear expectations and instructions. Example: Students work in small groups and each group uses a different generative AI tool to provide a synopsis of the text they are reading. Each group critiques the AI synopsis and shares their critiques with the class. The instructor guides students through this process and facilitates a discussion comparing and contrasting the findings of each group. |
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Required AI Use | Student Led AI use is required as it is directly tied to the learning outcomes of a course, unit, or activity. The instructor provides expectations for AI use, but students have the opportunity to make some choices in regard to how they will use AI to complete their coursework. Example: Students work in pairs to design a survey. The instructor requires students to use AI tools in some capacity as AI tools are commonly used in their future career field. Additionally, the instructor provides guidelines on how AI tools should and should not be used in this assignment. Students are able to choose how they will use AI tools and which AI tools they will use. |
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Optional AI Use | Instructor Led Students are given the option to use AI tools. The use of AI tools is not directly tied to the learning outcomes of a course, unit, or activity. The instructor guides students in the use of AI by providing clear expectations and instructions. Example: Students are working in pairs to present a chapter of the text to the class and facilitate an interactive activity. Students are allowed to use Copilot to brainstorm ideas for the activity, if they cite their work. |
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Required AI Use | Student Led Students are given the option to use AI tools. The use of AI tools is not directly tied to the learning outcomes of a course, unit, or activity. The instructor provides expectations for AI use, but students have the opportunity to make some choices in regard to how they will use AI to complete their coursework. Example: For a final presentation, an instructor outlines expectations for how students can and cannot utilize AI tools. Students are able to choose if and how they use AI tools within the parameters of the expectations set by the instructor. |
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No AI Use Students are not permitted to use generative AI tools for this course or assignment. |
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Model Disclosing Use of AI Tools
The Center for Faculty Development has also created a set of icons to help instructors and students easily disclose where and how they use AI tools. Documenting the use of AI tools is a best practice and expectation of many disciplines, professions, and style guides. When instructors model and normalize a best practice, students are more likely to adopt that practice too.
Download a zip file of Loyola's AI Toolkit Icons.
| Description | Icon |
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General AI Use Disclosure This icon can be used as a general disclosure of AI use. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Data Analysis This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for data analysis. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Editing This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for editing work you completed yourself. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Ideation This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for generating or refining ideas. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Proofing This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for proofreading or fact-checking your work. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Summarizing This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for summarizing content. |
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AI Use Disclosure | Visualization This icon can be used to disclose the use of AI tools for creating visuals such as graphs or images. |
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Educate Students about AI
Developing students' AI literacy is a shared responsibility. Not every class needs to teach AI directly; however, to support educational equity, programs are encouraged to strategize about when, where, and how their students learn about AI. Instructors do not need to be AI experts themselves to help students learn.
Consider adding an AI module from Learning Cloud to your course. Learning Cloud is a free online, on-demand training site offering over 50,000 video tutorials, including on AI Fluency. Instructors can integrate Learning Cloud tutorials into their LMS by adding the Learning Cloud tool to their Sakai or Brightspace site. After adding the Learning Cloud tool and selecting a tutorial, instructors can customize the training by choosing which segments students should view.
Design for Teaching and Learning in an AI Landscape
AI use in courses is at the discretion of the instructor. No matter your policy or expectations, all instructors need to consider how the existence of AI may impact the learning outcomes of their course. Tricia Bertram Gallant, co-author of The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI (2025) and keynote speaker at Loyola's August 2026 Focus on Teaching and Learning Conference, shared a rich resource bank of tools and exercises for communicating with students, revisiting learning outcomes, reconsidering assessments, and crafting your AI policy.
Loyola faculty are also encouraged to partner with an educational developer from the Center for Faculty Development to brainstorm, strategize, and design for teaching and learning in an AI landscape.
Chat with Loyola's Microsoft Copilot
As part of the Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem, members of the Loyola user community have access to the paid version of Copilot Chat. M365 Copilot Chat includes enterprise data protection (EDP) for prompts and responses, which secures user data with encryption and tenant isolation. Enterprise data protection means that your prompts are not used to train language models or building advertisements, and are contained within the Loyola Microsoft environment. You can ensure if you’re using the correct version of Copilot Chat by identifying the green checkmark icon at the top right.
Check Out Loyola's Generative AI Feature Catalog
A number of academic technology tools support by Loyola have AI functionality such as
- Answer grouping in Gradescope to analyze student responses and automatically group similar answers together, helping instructors efficiently review and grade large volumes of submissions.
- AI video generation in Elai to quickly generate videos from a script, prompt, or slide deck.
- Coding suggestions in NVIVO with the AI Assistant: Suggest Child Codes option can generate child codes based on selected coded content.
- Followup summarization in piazza to create a summary on any post with 5 or more followup comments.
Interested in Purchasing or Using Another AI Tool?
Be sure to follow Loyola's hardware-software purchase policy and process to ensure any new tool complies to our data security policies.
