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Idea Exchange Workshop for Gen-AI in the Classroom
					
 Jul 10, 2025 
 1:30PM to 3:30PM

									

				

					Event Categories   In Person,   Session 2, and   Workshop
				

			


	

	

		

			

				

					

						

														

															

						

						

	

		


	Date/Time

	Date(s) - 10/07/2025
1:30 pm - 3:30 pm







Led byAyesha Khan, Ben Lee Taylor, Mayu Nishimura, and Jennifer Ostovich


McMaster University




 


The widespread availability of free and powerful generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) online is changing how students engage with learning and assessments. Our goal, as teaching-stream professors and writing support staff at McMaster University, is to consider the extent to which we must change curricula and assessments in response to students’ use of Gen-AI. Students already use Gen-AI: 61% of McMaster students have used Gen-AI, and 75% reported using it for schoolwork (McMaster University, 2024). Those data were collected after Fall 2023. Students’ use has likely increased with the release of Google Gemini, Microsoft CoPilot, and DeepSeek, as Gen-AI tools are increasingly integrated in everyday life. As easily as Gen-Xers use Google to look up something they don’t know, current students may be using Gen-AI to augment their thinking and writing, without considering it cheating. However, without explicit instruction and guidance, some students may be disproportionately harmed by Gen-AI use. One study found that strong students are less likely than weak students to use Gen-AI, and at the same time, more likely than weak students to admit to its use (Walczak & Cellary, 2023). Thus, weaker students may be outsourcing their thinking to Gen-AI, missing important opportunities to develop their reasoning and writing skills. The more students rely on Gen-AI, the more they diminish the value of their university experience. This workshop is an opportunity for us to facilitate productive dialogue, framed by instructor experiences in the classroom, on how students can learn with Gen-AI, including better digital literacy and the ethical use of Gen-AI. Join the workshop to exchange ideas about how to navigate this brave new world.


 




 




Dr. Ayesha Khan is an Associate Professor at McMaster University, with cross-appointments in the School of Interdisciplinary Science and the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. She is interested in exploring the evolving role of emerging technologies, including Generative AI, in education and its impact on how students think and learn.




 


Ben Lee Taylor received his PhD in English from York University in 2021, where his dissertation examined the intersections of gender politics and artistic production in early 20th century satire. His experiences teaching during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, however, enabled him to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship with McMaster University’s MacPherson Institute. In this position, he conducted a study (results pending) investigating how university and college instructors in Canada continue to respond to generative AI through assessment practices. He currently oversees writing support programs and services for undergraduate and graduate students with McMaster’s Student Success Centre, and his thinking about the role that generative AI can and should play in the writing process fluctuates daily.


 


Dr. Mayu Nishimura is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour Department at McMaster University. In her current role as a teaching-stream professor, she has become interested in pedagogical research and how motivation impacts students’ learning. Her latest interest is in how generative-AI is changing how students think and write.


 


Dr. Jennifer Ostovich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University. As a longstanding teaching-stream professor, she has developed a keen interest in how emerging technologies will change the educational landscape in the coming years.