Nexford AI Policy & Usage Guidelines

Effective Date: September 1, 2025

Nexford University recognizes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a foundational element of the modern workplace. Our curriculum and policies are designed to help you develop the skills to use AI strategically, ethically, and effectively -- preparing you for the realities of today's professional environment.

Core Principle: AI as an Essential Skill

Effective use of AI is a key professional competency. At Nexford, you are required to use AI in select course assignments and encouraged to use it in most courses to strengthen the quality and professional relevance of your work. The goal is to develop your ability to apply sound judgment, think critically about AI-generated content, and add meaningful human value to everything you submit.

Required Use of AI in Coursework

In specific assignments, AI use is an integral part of the learning and assessment process.

• Opting Out: If you choose not to use AI for a required assignment, you must formally document this decision and provide a clear rationale explaining how your alternative approach produces a higher-quality outcome.
• How Your Work Is Assessed: Assignments with required AI use are evaluated on two dimensions:
  1. The quality of the final output against the course learning objectives.
  2. The effectiveness of your AI usage in completing the assessment.
• Review Your Rubrics: Always check the assessment instructions and evaluation rubrics in each course to understand specific expectations before you begin.

Disclosure and Transparency

You must disclose your use of AI in course assessments using the required AI Disclosure Form (attached to this article). Failure to disclose is a violation of the University's Academic Integrity Policy.

Your disclosure must include:

• The specific AI tools you used
• An explanation of how and why you used them
• Examples of your initial prompts and any refinements made
• A description of how you evaluated and integrated the AI output into your final work
• Citations for any external sources used to verify AI-generated content

Ethical Use and Academic Integrity

As a Nexford learner, you are expected to uphold the following standards:

• Protect Intellectual Property: Do not copy or input Nexford's proprietary course materials into AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar platforms. This protects Nexford's intellectual property and ensures you are engaging directly with your learning content.
• Add Human Value: Do not submit AI-generated content without meaningful human engagement. All submitted work must reflect your own verification, critical evaluation, and contextualization of the AI output.
• Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism includes representing AI-generated content as solely your own without proper attribution. Submitting AI-generated work without disclosure constitutes a violation of academic integrity.