COMPASS GenAI Reflection Tool

The COMPASS tool supports instructors to develop key recommendations for student use of GenAI. As students report using GenAI in their task planning, task enactment, and reflection, COMPASS guides instructors to consider potential benefits and consequences of GenAI across seven evidence-informed categories.

This page shows a completed example. Edit the fields to generate your own guidance.

Course Assignment Information

Start by providing a brief description of the assignment

Planning | Can GenAI act as a planning partner?

Use the COMPASS questions to consider whether students could use GenAI to clarify task requirements, set personal goals, choose strategies, help prioritize, and create a study plan. Record your decision and recommendations for students below.

GenAI could assist learning in this phase

Record additional notes here for personal use

COMPASS example questions

C
Cognitive and metacognitive engagement

How could using GenAI as a planning partner impact students' effort to understand the task, set goals, choose strategies, and make a plan?

O
Ownership, permissions, and provenance

What assignment materials, rubrics, examples, slides, readings, feedback, or personal information would students need to provide to GenAI, and do they have permission?

M
Motivation, emotions, and wellbeing

How could using GenAI as a planning partner impact students' confidence, persistence, stress, anxiety, and related experiences?

P
Principled and equitable use

How could students ensure that using GenAI for planning is transparent, accessible, fair, privacy-aware, and aligned with course expectations or other policies?

A
Accuracy, bias, and evidence quality

Would GenAI's interpretation of the task, rubric, or plan be accurate, unbiased, and appropriate?

S
Skill development and transfer

How could using GenAI as a planning partner impact students' development of skills for future tasks?

S
Social relationships and support

How might using GenAI as a planning partner impact students' help seeking and interactions with peers and others?

Instructor Guidance and Decision

Task Enactment | Can GenAI assist students as they carry out the task?

Use the COMPASS questions to consider whether students could use GenAI to assist with things like idea generation, research support, drafting, editing, problem solving, content clarification, or creating study materials. Record your decision and recommendations for students below.

GenAI may be useful, but only with careful attention to specific boundaries.

Record additional notes here for personal use

COMPASS example questions

C
Cognitive and metacognitive engagement

How might using GenAI to assist during this task impact students' thinking, understanding, problem-solving, creativity, monitoring, evaluating, and adapting?

O
Ownership, permissions, and provenance

Would students need to upload protected materials, data, drafts, peer work, images, or feedback in order to use it in this task?

M
Motivation, emotions, and wellbeing

How might student use of GenAI impact their confidence, persistence, stress, anxiety, and related experiences as they carry out the task?

P
Principled and equitable use

How could students ensure that using GenAI during the task is transparent, accessible, fair, privacy-aware, and aligned with course expectations or other policies?

A
Accuracy, bias, and evidence quality

To what degree would GenAI's claims, examples, clarifications, and summaries be accurate, unbiased, and appropriate?

S
Skill development and transfer

Will GenAI help students practice skills they can use again, or only help them finish this task?

S
Social relationships and support

Could GenAI support better peer, instructor, tutor, librarian, or community engagement, or replace needed human dialogue?

Instructor Guidance and Decision

Reflecting | Can GenAI act as a reflecting partner?

Use the COMPASS questions to consider whether students could use GenAI to monitor, evaluate, or elicit feedback on their processes and products to help make changes when needed. Record your decision and recommendations for students below.

GenAI may be useful, but only with careful attention to specific boundaries.

Record additional notes here for personal use

COMPASS example questions

C
Cognitive and metacognitive engagement

How might GenAI impact students' ability to evaluate work, diagnose errors, revise products, and adapt approaches when needed?

O
Ownership, permissions, and provenance

Would students need to upload protected materials, data, drafts, peer work, images, or feedback in order to get feedback and reflect on the task? Do they have permission to do so?

M
Motivation, emotions, and wellbeing

How might student use of GenAI to reflect on task progress and products impact confidence, persistence, stress, anxiety, and related experiences?

P
Principled and equitable use

Is using GenAI for feedback or revision transparent, fair, privacy-aware, accessible, and aligned with course expectations?

A
Accuracy, bias, and evidence quality

To what degree might feedback provided by GenAI be accurate, unbiased, and aligned with the rubric, evidence, and disciplinary standards?

S
Skill development and transfer

How might GenAI impact students' skills and competencies for monitoring and adapting processes and products?

S
Social relationships and support

How might using GenAI for reflection and feedback impact conversations with instructors, peers, tutors, support services, or others?

Instructor Guidance and Decision

Miller, M., Hodson, A., & Brown, L. (2026). Compass Generative AI Reflection Tool (Version 1.0) [Web-based tool]
Source: COMPASS_GenAI_Assessment_Reflection_Tool_Case_Analysis_EXAMPLE.docx