The Decibel Canadian professors on how AI is changing education
20 snips
May 4, 2026 
Mike Welland, engineering physics professor who treats AI as a junior team member. Sarah Elaine Eaton, education researcher focused on ethics and academic integrity. Matt Dinan, liberal arts professor dedicated to close reading and in-person seminars. Amanda Perry, literature professor working on composition and assessment. They discuss classroom defenses and disclosure, banning or integrating AI, redesigning assignments, and moving assessments to higher-order skills.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Assessments Must Reveal Student Process
- AI is shifting assessment from polished final products to documented process and demonstrated understanding.
- Amanda Perry added in-class drafts and 20-minute oral defenses so she can see students' thinking and catch fabricated quotations.
Zero Tech Great Books Circle
- Matt Dinan ran a zero-technology Great Books course to discourage AI use and build intrinsic motivation.
- He had 50 students sit in a circle with books and notebooks, scaffolded skills, and met individually before essays.
Build AI Resilient Assignments
- Design AI-resilient assignments by breaking work into smaller, iterative tasks and adding oral checkpoints.
- Sarah Elaine Eaton uses AI to find vulnerabilities then rebuilds assignments with local info and iterative meetings.