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Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Policy

Ref. No. Executive sponsor Policy steward Approval authority First approved Last reviewed Effective date Next review
64.09 Vice President, College Services and Strategy Chief Information Officer (CIO) Executive Council July 22, 2025 August 29, 2025 September 2, 2025 July 1, 2026
  1. Purpose
    1. Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) is committed to leveraging available technologies to work more efficiently. This includes the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies.
    2. While encouraging the College Community to continually seek new and improved ways to implement these technologies, we must do so in a way that ensures the safety of our systems, compliance with regulations, and ethical standards of practices. 
    3. Given the rapid advances of AI technologies and tools, this policy serves as a framework to ensure responsible and safe use of GenAI in academic and operational contexts.
  1. Scope
    1. This policy applies to the College Community, and other contracted third parties’ use of GenAI applications or development of GenAI models, including internal models, third-party models or publicly available applications such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini and other similar applications that mimic human intelligence to generate answers, work product or perform certain tasks.
    2. This policy also applies to the use of those applications on NSCC devices and/or personal devices when used for any NSCC work or study purposes.
    3. All NSCC existing policies apply to the use of GenAI.
  1. Definitions
Term Definition
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) A set of rules and protocols that enable different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. It acts as a bridge, allowing one system to request data or services from another system without needing to understand its internal workings. APIs are fundamental to enabling seamless integration between applications.
Approved GenAI Applications and Services Approved GenAI applications include any software licenses, subscriptions, or tools where Digital Innovation & Technology and/or the Centre for Teaching and Learning were consulted in the decision to allow use with college credentials. An assessment of the vendor’s privacy and security practices, how GenAI is incorporated, and how it works, would have been completed for such applications.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) The development of computer systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence. Tasks include visual perception, speech recognition, and language translation. A common type of AI is known as generative AI.
College Community College Community includes, but not limited to: community member, contractor, employee, faculty, industry partner, NSCC Board of Governors, student, and/or volunteer.
College Credentials The use of an assigned NSCC digital ID and password to access college information.
Copyright The right to produce, reproduce and copy a work (be it literary, dramatic, musical or artistic) in which copyright subsists. Copying includes photocopying print materials; changing a print format to a digital file; changing a digital file to print format; creating a new digital file from another and performing a work in public. Only the copyright owner and/or those permitted or licensed by the copyright owner can copy the work (unless the copying falls within an exception in the Copyright Act (Canada)), as identified here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/Index.html 
Employee Any person performing work for NSCC or providing services to NSCC under an employment contract. This includes all employees, regardless of status, as well as current employees who are on a leave of absence (paid/unpaid).
Faculty Any person specifically hired in a faculty role to deliver a course and evaluate students in accordance with the course outline and learning outcomes, and the assignment of final grades.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) GenAI is a type or subset of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data.
Generative Artificial (GenAI) Intelligence Language Models GenAI language models are machine learning models that produce new data similar to the data they were trained on. They are a type of AI that can create content like text, images, audio, music, and videos.
Industry Partners Any external organization, company, or employer that collaborates with the College to provide expertise, resources, placements, feedback, or support in the development, delivery, or evaluation of programs, applied research, or workforce initiatives.
Intellectual Property All interests and rights arising out of the intellectual and artistic activity of Employees and students of the College and includes, but is not limited to, inventions (whether or not patentable), works, technology, processes, formulae, designs, know-how, trade-secrets, discoveries, research, computer software, slogans, curriculum, teaching materials and all proprietary information; any improvements, updates or modifications related to the above; and all related copyright, trade-mark, industrial design, plant breeders’ rights, and integrated circuit topography applications and registrations world-wide.
NSCC Credentials Students and staff are provided with a username and associated password. Together they are required in order to access NSCC systems such as MyNSCC, Brightspace, and other online tools.
Public Information Any information that NSCC wishes to disclose, disseminate, or make available freely in the public domain. Examples include information available on our public-facing website, such as policies, programming or service information.
Sensitive or Confidential Information Any information that NSCC would not want publicly disclosed including, but not limited to, proprietary, commercial, technical, financial, research or employment related information, as well as student and employee personal information.
Student Any person who is registered in a program and/or enrolled in courses at NSCC.
Unapproved GenAI Applications and Services Unapproved GenAI applications include software licenses, subscriptions or tools acquired or used with college credentials without consulting Digital Innovation & Technology and/or the Centre for Teaching & Learning and without completing a privacy and security assessment. While not strictly prohibited, unapproved GenAI services are unsupported and subject to all other College policies with respect to copyright, intellectual property, privacy, security, respectful community, community standards and codes of conduct.
  1. Policy
    1. Guiding Principles and Expectations
      1. Experiment responsibly, safely, and ethically. The following principles guide the College Community’s engagement with AI:
        1. Innovation: We recognize GenAI’s transformative potential and encourage responsible experimentation, research and adaptation,
        2. Inclusion: Accessibility and fairness in GenAI tools should be actively considered, ensuring they don’t perpetuate existing biases,
        3. Accountability: Individuals and teams using AI bear the responsibility for adhering to the acceptable use of GenAI including adhering to copyright requirements, academic integrity, and verifying accuracy,
        4. Integrity: The use of GenAI by the College Community must be clearly disclosed and cited to preserve academic integrity and meet copyright requirements,
        5. Privacy: Personal data should be adequately protected, and GenAI should not be used to infringe upon individuals’ privacy rights.
    2. NSCC is taking a measured and balanced approach to the use of GenAI tools as these tools present both opportunities and risks. NSCC expects the College Community to follow the policy when using GenAI tools for teaching and learning, research, and work-related functions.
      1. When using or developing GenAI content or tools, the College Community are expected to:
        1. comply with applicable laws, regulations, and related NSCC policies.
        2. reference output that was used for work or academic purposes to the GenAI application that created it through a citation (beyond basic administrative tasks such as spelling/grammar checking and documenting editing), attribution statement, label, footnote, or other means clear to the reader, viewer or listener.
        3. maintain a record of when GenAI has been used to produce content for work purposes (beyond basic administrative tasks) and be prepared to share records with their faculty, manager or other authorized personnel upon request.
        4. review output of GenAI applications with consideration to NSCC’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and anti-racism.
        5. ensure that GenAI tools are used by the College Community for informing decision-making and not making decisions. GenAI tools will not replace the judgement required from human decision-makers.
    3. USE OF GenAI IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
      1. Faculty shall provide written clarification about the acceptable use of GenAI tools to support completion of course requirements (e.g., assignments, projects, tests). Resources to support Faculty Members to create this clarification are available on the Teaching Commons.
      2. If no written clarification is provided to students in the course workplan or Brightspace about the acceptable use of GenAI, use is not permitted in the course. Use of GenAI, when permission has not been given, may be found to be in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
      3. If a student is in doubt about whether a GenAI tool can be used for a particular assignment, the student shall speak with their faculty.
      4. Students must acknowledge the use of GenAI outputs and properly cite the source following the citation style as directed by their faculty, e.g., APA Citation Guide
    4. COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: GenAI tools are developed using large datasets which can include copyrighted materials or others’ intellectual property. This could result in copyrighted works being included in the AI’s outputs. When using GenAI outputs, be aware of the possibility that the outputs may mirror existing copyrighted works, leading to copyright infringement.
      1. Intellectual Property:
        1. Student-created content should not be entered into GenAI tools, including AI checkers, by faculty members without a student’s informed consent.
        2. Students should not upload faculty teaching materials without the faculty’s informed consent.
        3. Faculty should be aware that entering intellectual property such as lecture notes, syllabi, or other teaching materials into GenAI tools can mean loss of control over their distribution and use.
        4. Students should be aware that inputting their academic work into GenAI tools may lead to unintended sharing, plagiarism, or other use that is outside of their control.
        5. Third-party material that is someone else’s intellectual property, including but not limited to journal articles, book chapters, faculty teaching materials, or other copyrighted materials, to GenAI tools may constitute copyright infringement. Uploading such materials should be done only with the documented permission of the copyright owner.
      2. Terms of Service Compliance:
        1. Always review and comply with the terms of services of GenAI tools to ensure you understand the permitted uses of the outputs and any attribution requirements.
      3. Distribution and sharing of AI-generated materials:
        1. Exercise caution when distributing or sharing AI-generated materials, as they may include or be derived from copyrighted works and lead to copyright infringement.
    5. UNACCEPTABLE USE OF GenAI:
      1. It is a violation of NSCC’s policy to:
        1. Install or use unapproved Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), plug-ins, connectors or software related to GenAI systems, where intellectual property and/or personally identifiable information is involved.
        2. Microsoft Copilot is the only approved Enterprise tool in use at NSCC for work purposes. Outputs generated from other GenAI applications for work purposes, conducted on behalf of NSCC (e.g., implementing code generated by a GenAI into a NSCC system) require prior approval. To support the transition to Microsoft Co-Pilot, any College materials already created using another tool, such as ChatGPT, are approved for use in the 25-26 Academic year, however, you must cite that GenAI was used.
        3. Submit content that contains NSCC’s or third parties’ intellectual property and copyrighted materials into unapproved GenAI applications without documented consent.
        4. Submit personal information about the College Community into GenAI applications.
        5. Submit sensitive/nebulous/ personal information into GenAI applications to seek responses that are then used to make decisions about a specific individual or group.
        6. Use outputs that discriminate against individuals.
        7. Use GenAI applications to create text, audio or visual content for purposes of committing fraud or to misrepresent an individual’s or group’s identity.
        8. Use GenAI in a manner that does not comply with NSCC’s policies.
    6. NON-COMPLIANCE: The following outcomes may result if compliance is not met:
      1. Any member of the College Community who fail to comply with any provision of this policy may be subject to discipline up to and including termination.
      2. Violations by contractors may be considered a breach of contract and may result in removal from assignment and/or termination of the contract.
      3. Any GenAI-related activities which appear to violate criminal or civil laws will be reported to appropriate privacy and/or law enforcement agencies.
  1. NSCC Security and Risk
    1. To maintain the security of NSCC’s data and IT systems, the College Community are prohibited from accessing unapproved GenAI applications when using college credentials, conducting business on behalf of NSCC, or when using institutional data. 
    2. To maintain the confidentiality of NSCC’s sensitive or confidential information, including but not limited to the College Community’s personal information, and NSCC’s intellectual property and copyrighted material, the College Community shall only input such information into GenAI systems that NSCC has approved for use, in accordance with other NSCC policies. 
    3. Students should contact their faculty and with any questions regarding sensitive or confidential information. All other College Community members should contact the Privacy Office with any questions regarding sensitive or confidential information.
    4. GenAI tools can provide convincingly fictitious answers, sometimes referred to as “hallucinations”. Users must review output from GenAI tools for accuracy to avoid placing NSCC at risk or harming institutional reputation. 
    5. GenAI tools may incorporate inherent biases of the data sets that were used to train them that may not always align with NSCC’s core values and or the institutional commitments to reconciliation, equity, diversity inclusion and sustainability. 
    6. GenAI outputs can include systemic errors or favour certain groups, leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes. Where GenAI is used to make decisions or provide analysis of information that may be subject to bias, outputs should be regularly reviewed by those using the tool to assess bias risk. 
    7. To protect the College Community from harm, and to protect NSCC from reputational damage, the College Community must use GenAI pursuant to NSCC’s Respectful Community Policy, Student Community Standards Policy, Employee Code of Conduct, and Information Security Policy, as well as other NSCC policies as they apply. 
    8. GenAI-created content that is inappropriate, discriminatory, or otherwise harmful must not be used for NSCC work or study purposes.
  1. NSCC Resources on GenAI
The GenAI Policy feedback form is jointly reviewed by Digital Innovation & Technology and the Office of Learning and Transformation. Emerging Guidelines will be updated bi-weekly to reflect comments collected through this form. 

Emerging Guidelines: Coming Soon

GenAI Policy Feedback: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) at NSCC Feedback

For Students: For questions related to GenAI, academic integrity, citation, and copyright, students should consult their campus library team.

For Faculty:
For Employees:
  • NSCC Service Desk (Digital Information & Technology) - For approval of GenAI applications as well as for IT security inquiries.
  1. Policy Supports

Related Policies


Attribution Credit

  • Seneca College
  • Norquest College
  • University of British Columbia
  • EDUCAUSE
  • Columbia University
  • Western University
  • Gartner Research Canada
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