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Open letter to the ºÚÁϳԹÏ×ÊÔ´ community on course materials, AI tools and your course outline

Message from the Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning)

May 19, 2026

Colleagues,

I am writing to flag an emerging practice and offer some practical guidance.

I have recently become aware of new third-party tools that streamline the process of students uploading course materials to external AI platforms for their own study purposes. Students have likely already been uploading course materials to large language model chatbots manually; these tools automate that process. A student downloading instructional material from an LMS for personal study is generally permitted under Canadian copyright law (fair dealing). What happens after that is a separate matter: uploading materials to a third-party platform is a distinct act, governed by that platform’s terms of service, which ºÚÁϳԹÏ×ÊÔ´ does not control. This includes questions about whether uploaded content may be used to train AI models, a concern that applies broadly to any commercial platform students interact with, not only these tools.

There are two practical implications of the emergence of these new tools:

First, materials you post on onQ may be uploaded by students to external platforms. These tools do not exploit a vulnerability in onQ; they work through a student’s own authorised access to the platform. Once materials are downloaded, however, we cannot control where copies go. This is not unique to digital platforms; though more cumbersome, printed handouts could similarly be scanned and uploaded.

As a general response to this practice, withdrawal from the LMS is likely to create more problems for student learning than it solves: students who want to upload materials to AI tools will find other means, and routine access to course materials for everyone else will be disrupted in the process.

Second, the practical response is your course outline. ºÚÁϳԹÏ×ÊÔ´ course outline standards (links to a PDF; see component #7) will require a GenAI use statement effective Fall 2026. As you develop or update that statement, it is also worth including a note indicating that course materials are for personal study only and should not be uploaded to third-party platforms. These are two distinct statements addressing different concerns, but the outline update is a natural opportunity to address both. ITS is currently investigating whether use of these tools can be detected within onQ and will share findings with this office when that review is complete; in the meantime, the course outline note is the more immediate option. This is similar to guidance many instructors already include regarding academic file-sharing sites.

If you have questions about course outline language, the Centre for Teaching and Learning can help. Guidance on course outline language is also available online.