Skip to content

Responsible AI resourceMenuHomeModel policyDecisionsResearch & approachGet support

Leadership guide/Decisions/Purpose & institutional value

Purpose & institutional value

Start with the purpose.

A useful strategy begins with the people and outcomes the institution exists to serve.

Download this brief↓

HumanSkills recommendation · September 2026

In this guideRecommended positionYour local choicesA campus situationWho is responsibleLanguage to useEvidence of implementationSupporting sourcesDownload PDF→

Read, share and use with your team.

A considered starting position.

HumanSkills recommendationAuthorize AI work against a stated institutional need. Define the benefit, the people affected and the human capability that must be preserved or developed. Judge success through learning, service quality, access or other mission outcomes.

A tool can save time while moving work or risk onto someone else. An automated response might reduce staff handling time yet leave a student unable to resolve a complex problem. Describe success from the affected person’s perspective as well as the institution’s.

What the evidence supportsNorth Shore explicitly connects AI to institutional mission. Northcentral connects its approach to community and employer needs. These precedents support a purpose-led starting point; they do not establish that every campus should choose the same priorities.

• State the institutional problem before choosing the tool.
• Identify affected people and the consequences of failure.
• Measure a benefit that matters beyond the number of people using AI.

What your institution decides.

The right arrangement depends on the purpose, consequences, applicable requirements and capacity of your institution. Use these options to make the choice explicit.

Improve an existing service

Consider this when: A known service problem has a clear owner and a measurable outcome.

The tradeoff: A narrow scope is easier to evaluate, but should include the exceptions and difficult cases the service must handle.

Develop learning and workforce capability

Consider this when: A program can name the knowledge, judgment and AI-supported work students need to demonstrate.

The tradeoff: Faculty need time to redesign learning and assessment; tool access alone does not establish capability.

Explore a new possibility

Consider this when: The benefit is uncertain and a bounded pilot can answer a useful question.

The tradeoff: Set an end date and evidence threshold so exploration does not become an unreviewed permanent service.

Walk through the situation.

Illustrative campus caseAn evening student needs an answer.

A college proposes an AI support assistant because adult learners ask questions after offices close. The first proposal measures how many messages the assistant handles.

The leadership team changes the success question: can students resolve their needs accurately, including when the assistant cannot help?

1. Define the questions the assistant may answer and which must reach a person.
2. Test realistic questions about deadlines, costs and unusual circumstances.
3. Evaluate resolution, errors and access to human help alongside staff time.

What the team produces: A one-page purpose statement, named service owner and pilot success criteria.

Put responsibility in the right place.

Board & trustees

Ask which mission outcomes the strategy is intended to improve and what evidence will demonstrate progress.

Institutional leaders

Select priorities, resource the work and make the tradeoffs explicit.

AI task force

Translate each priority into a bounded use, evaluation plan and accountable owner.

Apply these roles within your institution’s actual governance and delegated authority.

Language to build on.

Illustrative model clause

Each institutional AI deployment must identify its intended purpose, affected people, accountable owner and measures of benefit and harm. Educational uses must address the learning and human capabilities students are expected to develop. Approval must be reconsidered when the purpose or affected population changes.

Copy the clause

Review this clause with the full policy and local requirements. It is an implementation starting point, not a statement of measured consensus.

Model policy §1→Model policy §7→Model policy §10→Model policy §11→

Know whether it is working.

• A purpose statement that explains the need in ordinary language.
• A baseline or reasoned comparison against current practice.
• Measures of benefit, error and effects on affected people.

When to reconsiderReconsider the use when the intended benefit is not demonstrated, the population changes or improvement for one group produces material harm for another.

Read the supporting sources.

Selected precedents and guidance supporting this chapter. These sources do not imply institutional endorsement of HumanSkills or agreement with every recommendation.

• North Shore Community College: Artificial Intelligence Principles and Policies ↗Institutional policy
• Northcentral Technical College: Artificial Intelligence ↗Employee guidance

Source review: 24 September 2026. Read the editorial approach.

Continue the workGive the work an owner.

→

See the wider
evidence and choices.

Read the research comparisons and explore the annotated library across US colleges, universities and international institutions. Use the model language as a starting point for your own decision.

Shared ground and local choices→Make the policy yours→