By Vinny Porco

Sports Administration professor Tim Wolz has taught at U of L for a decade, and has recently embraced Generative AI in the classroom. From Sport Communication to Sport Sociology, Wolz brings decades of field experience coaching collegiate soccer to his nine classes.

Welcoming AI into the classroom

Made apparent to students in his syllabi, Wolz is a professor that encourages the use of Generative AI in coursework.

In an interview with The Louisville Cardinal, Wolz explained his philosophy and boundaries surrounding AI in the classroom.

Wolz follows a career-based ethos of professionalism. “My job isn’t to get [students] a job,” he said. “My job is to get them promoted once they get into a job.”

He crafts coursework with intention around both process and product. “In my Sport Communication class, they’re part of a communications team for an expansion professional team that I own,” Wolz explained.

In this class, he does not assign exams. Rather, students are responsible for weekly multimodal projects that replicate work expected by professionals. These assignments include press releases, social media promotions and even professional emails. 

Among his grading criteria is use of technology. Wolz explained that assignments compel students to use different softwares, with AI programs such as Copilot and ChatGPT included.

Setting guidelines for AI use

In the conversation of AI in higher education, Wolz has leaned in. He believes jumping on the new wave will help increase graduates’ viability workforce.

“AI’s not going anywhere,” he said. “We are doing students a disservice if we don’t teach them the proper way to use AI.”

He embraces standing out from other faculty members, but still sets clear expectations and boundaries around AI-use in his courses.

His Generative AI policy as found in the syllabus for the Spring 2026 section of his Sport Communication class is as follows:

  • Academic misconduct is present in academic work wherever AI assistance has been used when unauthorized, or when authorized, has not been disclosed as required.
  • The use of Generative AI may be used with prior instructor permission and appropriate attribution and citation.
  • AI should be used to enhance and improve the assignment.
  • This application should not be used to complete the assignment.

Generating a defense for AI use in academia

Wolz told The Cardinal his students can use AI for two primary functions.

The first function is idea generation. He does not believe prompting AI for ideas undermines “creativity,” another part of his grading criteria, because he expects students to expand on AI-generated ideas.

“Your creativity kicks in and you say, ‘That’s a really great idea. How can I take this from point A to point B?’”

The second function of AI in his classroom is refinement, especially of text. This applies from projects to professional emailing, all towards the goal of creating a concise product.

“I’ll get emails from students. It’s one big, long paragraph that’s twenty sentences. And you’re like, ‘What the hell is this?’ I don’t even get past the first three sentences. It just bores me,” he remarked.

“Now let’s take the same paragraph,” he continued. “Let’s run it through AI and say, ‘Make this shorter and professional.’ Boom, there it is. Now it’s three sentences long, and we’ve summed up the whole thing.”

SPAD professor Tim Wolz shows off his folder of AI-generated images of Louie the Cardinal. (Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal)

Wolz’s limits on AI

Wolz does not, however, allow the use of AI to create entire assignments. When asked by The Cardinal how he polices this, he echoed what he tells classes at the beginning semesters, saying, “Keep your original copy.”

When academic honesty is in question, Wolz calls on students to produce a “pre-AI” copy of work to show they only used AI for refinement.

HE also limits the overuse of AI is by requiring lecture material in assignments. He claims this not only emphasizes class attendance, but adds an element that AI cannot replicate. “AI is not sitting in my lecture,” he said.

Wolz believes embracing appropriate use of AI is best for the futures of students. He considers his mindset “glass half-full,” and wants students to use AI to help produce work that will bolster their viability in job markets.

“AI is not going away,” he told The Cardinal. “Let’s teach how we can use it to make our world a better place.”

Feature Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal