Canadian universities grapple with evaluating students amid AI cheating fears
CBC
Canada's post-secondary institutions are looking for new ways to assess students as they respond to fears about AI being used to cheat on exams.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most university exams were moved online. Then came generative AI tools like ChatGPT, capable of producing essays and answering complex questions in seconds.
In the U.S., reports of rampant AI cheating led to an explosion in sales of "blue books" used for old-fashioned pen-and-paper exams this school year.
In Canada, some professors are making a similar move amid widespread reports of AI cheating, while others are testing out oral exams or finding ways to incorporate AI. Six in 10 Canadian students said they use generative AI for their schoolwork, according to an October 2024 study from KPMG in Canada.
"We are definitely in a moment of transition with a lot of our assessments," said Karsten Mundel, co-chair of the University of Alberta's AI Steering Committee.
Mundel speaks with his students about his expectations around AI. If they use it for brainstorming, he asks them to explain their process and the prompts they used so he can see how they led to the final product.
He takes an optimistic view of this new challenge, saying AI has reinvigorated conversations about what academic integrity means in the current day.
"I get worried when AI in any educational context gets boiled down to this tool of cheating," he said.
"I think it's an exciting time right now because of the transformations that it will bring, and to really help us get at the core of what skills we're trying to teach."
At his school, Mundel says, there's an increase in handwritten exams, as well as new approaches that incorporate oral exams and assignments that use AI and then have students reflect on their AI use.
He says going back to pen and paper isn't necessarily the best solution, and acknowledges some students have complained about the change.
"We don't have the skills anymore — universally, at least — to hand-write long-form things. And so that's a learning curve for our students, and for the instructors who have to read."
Many post-secondary students today have grown up working primarily on electronic devices and don't have as much experience with writing by hand in university. For example in Ontario, learning cursive in elementary school was made optional in 2006, though the provincial government made it mandatory again in recent years.
Katie Tamsett, vice-president, academic, of the U of A's student union, says concerns of cheating using AI have to be balanced with the fact that the technology is being used in the real world.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.