Many factors contribute to reduced rates of cheating and plagiarism in the classroom. Two important factors are the clarity of your expectations for students, and your rationale for your choices. In addition, the university’s Honor Code asks you to clarify the levels of collaboration that you permit, outside resources students can use (on assignments, exams, projects, etc.), and how students should report their use of outside resources.

Sample Academic Integrity and Collaboration policies (.docx)

You are required, by law, to provide “reasonable accommodations” to students with documented disabilities. Georgia Tech students can get this documentation from the Office of Disability Services, and this office can be a resource to you in identifying the best ways to accommodate individual student needs while supporting the learning of all students in your classroom

Sample Accommodations policies (.docx)

Whether attendance and/or participation are required and/or graded in your class is up to you, and your position on this is an important course design consideration. In addition, keep in mind that Georgia Tech policy permits students to miss class without penalty for participation in approved institute activities and in specific religious observances (click here for details).

Sample Attendance and Participation policies (.docx)

If a weather-related event seems likely to affect campus operations, instructors of record will be notified as soon as possible via email by the Office of the Provost. Once a decision to pivot is made, broader campus will be notified via email, GTENS, and Canvas notifications.

Instructors have discretion to cancel class or pivot to digital instruction during a weather-related event. Students may not be asked to attend in person or required to participate in a class session outside of the regularly scheduled time if campus has shifted to a digital learning day.

Each semester, you should provide details in your syllabus about how your class will work in the event of a digital learning day, including how exams will be managed. Let students know what to expect, including what communication method you will use and how best to contact you (email, virtual office hours, Canvas, etc.) and what tools they will use to access the lecture, course material, etc.

Click here to view the Digital Learning Days Toolkit and learn more about what actions to take in the event of the need for a Digital Learning Day.

Sample Digital Learning Days Statement(.docx) 

Students need to know what your policy is on things like late assignments and missed exams. You should be as clear as possible about your rules and the consequences for your students in order to help them focus their efforts appropriately and to make it easy for you to be consistent throughout the course. Note also that at Georgia Tech some exceptions are made for “approved Institute activities” (e.g. field trips and athletic events); see the official Attendance policy for more information.

Sample Late or Missed Assignments and Exams policies (.docx)

There is an expense for using third party proctoring platforms like HonorLock, which is assessed on a per student per use basis. Due to this cost, faculty are recommended to limit usage to these intended use cases for proctoring. Review the Guidelines on Whether a Class Should Use Remote Proctoring found in this knowledge base article. If you determine that you will use remote proctoring at any point in your course, you will need to include an item on your syllabus disclosing this to students at the start of the term. Such an item should include the following:

• The name of the technology being used (Currently HonorLock is the only approved tool for remote proctoring), along with any related students guides and links for technical support.
• Whether or not a room scan will be required and information regarding what that entails.
• Any other requirements you will set as part of the proctoring settings.
• A statement informing students that they are responsible for selecting a location where they are comfortable with the space being videoed and audio recorded. Let them know they may be asked to use their camera to scan all four walls of the room, as well as the workspace, desk, and area around the computer. Ideally, the exam environment should be well-lit and free from distractions and interruptions.

Sample Remote Proctoring Syllabus Statement (.docx)

A respectful classroom setting where students understand their rights and responsibilities creates a good environment for teaching and learning. To support mutual respect and understanding between students and faculty, Georgia Tech faculty and students collectively adopted a list of student-faculty expectations. They include both student and faculty rights concerning class attendance, office hours, academic misconduct, grading, and class preparation and engagement. See the full Student-Faculty Expectations agreement here.

Sample Student-Faculty Expectations policies (.docx)

Let your students know your expectations for how they should collaborate with and cite their use of Generative AI (GenAI) platforms, such as Microsoft Copilot or any other approved systems. Without including this information in your syllabus, students will not know how they can ethically use GenAI in your course. This misunderstanding can lead students to use GenAI in ways you do not intend. For example, they may overuse GenAI when you intend for them to complete work independently or they may resist using basic GenAI functions such as spelling and grammar assistants due to fear of penalization.  

The best way to develop your AI policy is to consider students’ engagement with GenAI as an extension of your collaboration and academic honesty policies.  

To get started creating your GenAI usage policy,explore this document of adaptable syllabus statements developed by CTL.

Here are two examples of syllabus statements on use of GenAI developed by faculty at Georgia Tech. In addition, we share this curated document of cross-institutional examples of syllabus statements on the use of GenAI.

Research on learning shows that unexpected noises and movement automatically divert and capture people’s attention, which means that one student’s use of a mobile devices (laptops, cell phones, tablets, etc.) can distract another student, thus disrupting their ability to learn. In addition, students using mobile devices often become engaged in matters that are not related to the class they are attending. Further, research indicates that students taking notes on laptops tend to process less as they take notes, and the depth of their learning suffers.

On the other hand, mobile devices can be a useful tool for taking notes and/or following presentations that have been made available online, as well as referring to readings or other outside resources. In addition, students mature/advanced enough to use mobile devices appropriately and note-take with some sophistication may not fall prey to the dangers mentioned above. To set this policy, think about individual students, the overall dynamic you would like to see at work in your classroom, and your own tolerance of distractions in the classroom.

Sample Mobile Devices policies (.docx)

There are a wide variety of additional policies you might include in your syllabus, depending on your specific context and approach to your course. For example, many instructors include at least one of the following policies explicitly on their syllabus:

• accommodations for religious observances*
• food and drink in the classroom
• freedom of expression and guidelines for discussion
• Institute-approved absences*
• lab safety
• preparation for guest speakers
• re-grading and re-submission
• recording class activities

*Note that Georgia Tech policy requires accommodation for students who miss class to participate in approved institute activities or specific religious observances (click here for details). However, it is up to you whether you mention this explicitly in your syllabus or not.

Sample Additional policies (.docx)