Ontario’s university leaders think students and staff must learn how to use AI properly and think critically at the same time, and are calling on institutions to support them.
The news: The Council of Ontario Universities, whose members include nearly all major Ontario universities, released a report on the future of AI in education at an event hosted by the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto on Friday.
The report, authored by a task force of university leaders, warned that post-secondary institutions need more budget and expertise to deal with the AI shift. It argued that part of the university’s responsibility is to prepare students for a changing labour market by teaching them to use the technology properly and improving their “soft skills.”
From the source: The most important structural change universities must make, according to University of Waterloo president Vivek Goel, is improving AI literacy.
“We need every member of society—every student, every employee in our institutions—having that basic knowledge of how to use AI tools, and most importantly, how to critically assess what comes out of it,” Goel said on Friday, in conversation with Canadian Shield managing director Vass Bednar, OpenText’s Shannon Bell, and Vector Institute president and CEO Glenda Crisp.
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Following the thread: Adapting academic evaluations has been a challenge for universities as AI capabilities advance more quickly than internal governance. More than 70 percent of Canadian students rely on generative AI tools for schoolwork, according to a KPMG Canada study. Meanwhile, a Microsoft study found that confidence in using generative AI in the workplace was associated with less critical thinking.
Final thought: The university council’s report comes as Canada’s long-awaited national AI strategy is due to drop next week.
The report called on the federal government to invest in secure, sovereign AI research infrastructure, support AI research talent, and accelerate AI commercialization and IP retention.
On Friday, parliamentary secretary Karim Bardeesy said the themes of “talent and trust” will be reflected in the strategy. “I think the recommendations will be well received,” he said.
“Minister Solomon was on this stage talking about moving at the speed of the technology, now the report is six months late—sorry, Karim,” Goel joked.
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Feature image courtesy University of Waterloo via LinkedIn.