For faculty
A new semester AI checklist for teachers
The first two weeks of a semester decide how AI goes for the rest of it. This is the list to work through before the first essay is assigned.
In short
Before the first essay of the semester: decide your AI rule for each assignment, put it in the syllabus in plain words, collect an early writing sample from each student, set up the first essay where the writing process is recorded, and spend ten minutes in the first week explaining how work is checked and what happens if you have a question.
Why the first two weeks matter
Search interest in AI and student writing rises at the start of each term, when teachers rewrite syllabi and plan first assignments. It is also when habits form. A student who hears the rule and how it is checked in week one starts the first essay knowing both. A student who first hears it from a flagged essay in week six feels ambushed. The list below puts the work where it does the most good.
Before the semester starts
1. Decide your rule, assignment by assignment
One rule for the whole course is easy to write and hard to live with. Decide, for each major assignment, whether AI is not allowed, allowed for ideas only, or allowed with disclosure. The classroom AI policy template sets out three levels you can reuse.
2. Put it in the syllabus in plain words
Name the tools students ask about: chatbots, grammar checkers that rewrite sentences, AI dictation. Say how work will be checked. The syllabus language page has blocks you can paste.
3. Check what your school expects
Find your institution’s integrity policy and see whether instructors may resolve a first case themselves or must report every case. Note whether your school still uses a detector score, and how it says the score may be used. Several universities have switched theirs off; the list has the reasons.
4. Set up the first essay on the record
Choose where students will write the first graded essay and how you will see its process. If you use a recorded editor, create the assignment now and post the link where students will find it.
In the first week
5. Explain the rule out loud
Ten minutes is enough. Show the levels, give an example of each, and say what happens if you have a question about a piece of work: a conversation about the work comes first. Knowing the process is fair makes it easier for a student to ask before guessing.
6. Collect a short writing sample
A paragraph or a short response, written in class or in the recorded editor, gives you a reference for each student’s own writing before anything is graded.
7. Let students try the editor on something ungraded
A first low-stakes piece shows students how the editor works and what is recorded, so the first real essay is not also their first time in the tool.
Before the first essay is due
8. Build process into the grade
A small share of the grade for a thesis, an outline or a first draft makes the shortcut less tempting and gives you checkpoints. The process-based assessment guide has a rubric split.
9. Decide how you will follow up
Write down now what you will do if an essay raises a question, so you do it the same way every time. The step by step guide covers the order and a first message.
The checklist, short form
- AI rule decided for each major assignment
- Syllabus wording names tools and says how work is checked
- School integrity policy read; reporting rules known
- First essay set up where the writing process is recorded
- Rule explained in class in week one
- Short writing sample collected from every student
- One ungraded piece written in the editor
- Draft or outline built into the first essay grade
- Follow-up process written down
How EssayGuard covers items 4, 6 and 7
EssayGuard is a writing editor that records the session. You create an assignment in about three minutes, set what may be pasted and whether dictation is allowed, and share one link. Students sign in with a school account or an email and write in the browser, with nothing to install, and they are told before they start that the session is recorded. Each essay comes back marked Approved, Needs Review or Flagged, with a replay and a plain summary. EssayGuard also compares each essay’s reading level and vocabulary with the same student’s earlier essays, which is why an early sample in the editor is worth collecting. There is no AI percentage, and every decision about a student is yours.
Pricing follows the semester. You tell EssayGuard when your semester ends, up to 120 days ahead, and every course you teach is free until then (once per teacher); after that it is $99 a year. Set up the first assignment before the term begins.
Pitfalls
- Announcing the rule after the first suspected case.
- A policy that bans AI but never mentions grammar tools or dictation.
- No writing sample, so every later question has nothing to compare against.
- Relying on a detector score as the check.
Questions people ask
When should I set my AI policy for the semester?
Before the syllabus goes out, and again on each assignment. Students read the syllabus once; they read assignment instructions when it matters.
Why collect a writing sample in the first week?
It gives you a reference for each student's own writing before any graded essay. Later questions are easier to answer, and fairer, when there is something to compare with.
What if I am starting mid-year with a new class?
The same list applies. Introduce the policy at the start of the next unit, collect a short sample, and record the next essay.
Does EssayGuard work for a semester that starts in January?
Yes. A teacher new to EssayGuard sets the date their semester ends, up to 120 days ahead, and every course they teach is free until then. The free period is once per teacher; after it, EssayGuard is $99 a year.
Try it with one assignment
The rest of this semester costs nothing. Setup takes about three minutes.
Every course you teach, unlimited students. Students install nothing.