Canadian universities grapple with evaluating students amid AI cheating fears

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.