September 23, 2026

This message is distributed to All Instructors and Academic Department Chairs & Deans. (Click here to view description of distribution groups.)

To:Instructors
  
From:Linda Adler-Kassner, AVC for Teaching and Learning
 Josh Bright, AVC for Information Technology and CIO
 Janine M. Jones, AVC and Dean for Graduate Affairs
 Mike Miller, Interim VC for Student Affairs
 Michael Miller, AVC and Dean for Undergraduate Education
  
Re:AI for Students - Guidelines and Resources

It was recently announced that faculty, staff, and academic affiliates would have access to the UCSB AI Commons, the newest addition to UC Santa Barbara’s suite of generative AI tools. The AI Commons is an artificial intelligence platform created by a team of UC Santa Barbara ITS developers to support our campus community. It provides secure, cutting-edge AI tools tailored specifically to our institutional needs, data privacy standards, and academic mission.

Students are already using AI. In an effort to provide a secure computing environment, address the need for student equity in accessing AI tools, and provide more guidance about AI usage and literacy, the campus will now provide students with access to campus-approved artificial intelligence tools, including UCSB’s AI Commons, Google Gemini, and Gemini Notebook. UCSB cybersecurity practices and vendor contracts ensure that these platforms are private and secure.

Consistent with the recommendations of the Academic Senate-Administration Advisory Committee on the Uses of Artificial Intelligence in Academic Contexts, students will be provided with information about the importance of using AI in a secure environment, guidance about academic integrity, and clear reminders about instructor authority over AI usage in courses.

We want to emphasize that student use of AI tools in a particular course is an instructor prerogative, and to provide guidance and resources for instructors about how to manage AI usage in courses. Regardless of what instructors decide, students need guidance from their instructors about how they should, and should not, use these tools in their courses and field of study. Instructors with Teaching Assistants should ensure that they understand course policies and provide guidance about how they should address these issues.

For more information about whether and how to establish a framework for AI in your classroom, see CITRAL’s page on Artificial Intelligence in Classes.

Graduate students may consult Guidance on the Responsible and Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Graduate Academics.

Undergraduate students may consult AI and Your Education: A Student Guide.

These are collective works in progress that will evolve as the campus develops standards, best practices, and policies. In the meantime, we encourage instructors to focus on three goals as they oversee AI use in their courses.

1.    Clarify expectations for AI usage, reinforcing learning goals.

Instructors can decide whether and to what extent students are allowed to use AI in their courses. Whatever the choice, talk with students about your decision, emphasizing how it reinforces the course learning goals. Include your AI policy in your syllabus, reiterating how it reinforces student learning. (See CITRAL’s sample syllabus policies for examples.)

2.    Focus on the learning objectives.

Keep your focus on how to support students’ achievement of the course learning goals. Consider:

  • Which objectives are important for students to demonstrate without AI assistance;
  • Whether you want to modify existing assessments for students to demonstrate those goals;
  • Whether students can use AI tools for learning support in conjunction with any of them.

Your AI syllabus policy can refer to limits or conditions (e.g. students may use AI for brainstorming, but not drafting, or with an AI disclosure statement, etc.) that best support student learning as you create your AI syllabus policy and discuss AI with students.

3.    Evaluate AI with your students

Talk with your students about how and why you use and don’t use AI for different types of tasks. Find out what students think AI is useful for and discover its potential, limitations, and impacts together.

Academic Integrity and AI Use
As you develop your course approach to AI, please be as clear as possible with students about what is and is not permitted. If concerns arise and you have evidence that a student may have used AI in a way that is inconsistent with those expectations or other academic integrity standards, you can submit the matter to the UCSB Office of Student Conduct through its reporting portal for review. Automated AI detection tools should not serve as the sole basis for academic integrity proceedings.

Online resources to support you in navigating AI in courses:

Upcoming Workshops
The widespread use of rapidly evolving AI tools makes it challenging to keep up with the new capabilities and limitations of AI. CITRAL has ongoing workshops and seminars through the Fall to learn more about AI and teaching and learning:

  • Designing Transparent AI Syllabus Policies
  • Assessing Student Learning in the Age of AI
  • AI Community of Practice Fall Kickoff meeting
  • Crafting Assessments for Integrity, Rigor and Learning (panel discussion)
  • Integrating AI Literacy into Undergraduate Courses
  • AI Tech Exploration: Google Gemini
  • A Student-Instructor Conversation about Navigating Pressure, Belonging and AI at UCSB

Deeper Engagement
For those who would like to engage with AI and student learning more deeply, consider the following opportunities:

1:1 Consultation
If you’d like to talk through concerns, ideas, or approaches for redesigning your course, please schedule a meeting with a member of the CITRAL team by emailing citral@ucsb.edu.