Teacher-approved prompts for AI use can reduce student cheating on assignments. When the teacher customizes assignment-specific prompts, students are encouraged to write from their own human intelligence rather than find AI-generated work to plagiarize. Mollick & Mollick (2023) explain that students are kept in the "human loop" because they critically assess the AI response and add their original thoughts and knowledge. Students also learn to record and cite AI use in their writing, which increases accountability instead of cheating. Most important is the communication from teacher to student about the responsible and ethical use of AI throughout the assignment. AI literacy among teachers and students is key in the appropriate and effective use of AI in education (Zhou & Peng, 2025).
For my ELA classes, I include my AI Use Scale, which provides levels of risk (from EU AI Act), AI Use Description, Examples, and Citation Needed. For each assignment, I include an AI USE (see below) heading and description so students are aware and accountable according to the information document we discuss in class.
AI Use (example)
Level 2 High/AI Editing Only w/ Approved Prompt
| Risk Level | AI Use Level | AI Use Description | Examples | Citation Needed |
| 2-High | AI Editing Only | Use teacher-approved prompts to revice or improve student work. No new content should be generated by AI Improve grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure in your original draft using the teacher's prompt. | Improve grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure in your draft using the teacher's prompt. | Yes |
Approved Prompt–Please check the spelling and punctuation for the following document. Do not change the original document, but list any spelling and punctuation errors that need attention.
Above all, I want my students to succeed in their learning. As AI in education continues to grow, teachers and students should grow in their AI literacy. Teacher-approved prompts for assignments provide clear AI use guidelines, examples, and strategies that benefit student learning while limiting cheating risks.
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