AI literacy course mandatory at U of W Collegiate

The University of Winnipeg Collegiate is requiring new students to complete artificial intelligence 101 lessons and offering a first-of-its-kind elective for those who want to perfect their chatbot prompts.

The private high school is piloting two projects this year in a bid to improve digital literacy on the downtown campus.

Every Grade 9 and 10 student will have to pass an approximately two-hour long online course about “AI essentials.”

Dean Osaed Khan likened the mandatory e-learning sessions to requiring students to complete a safety course before they can participate in a science lab.

The school has also received government approval to run a Grade 10 elective that will, according to the course description, “help students understand the growing role of AI in modern society.”

Khan said he wants all students to know how to, when it’s appropriate, leverage this technology in a safe and effective manner.

“You shouldn’t think of it as a shortcut to actual learning,” he said.

A growing body of research suggests the majority of Canadian teenagers are using AI to help them with academic assignments.

A 2025 study on usage among Toronto high schoolers found 55 per cent of respondents were using it for school multiple times a week.

The quantitative research project, undertaken last year by LinkedKey Foundation in partnership with the University of Toronto, is among the first to explore student use and perceptions of AI.

“What a lot of schools are recognizing is, if you’re not having these conversations with students, they’re having them on their own — with an AI tool or with a friend, which may or may not be giving them safe guidance,” said Michael Holden, an assistant professor in the faculty of education at U of W.

As far as Holden is concerned, public and private schools have a key role to play “in helping students navigate this really weird information landscape.”

The university researcher applauded his colleagues who teach high school on their shared campus for their efforts to better understand AI and help students do the same.

The U of W Collegiate invited Holden, who studies AI’s impact on teacher evaluations, to run a professional development session last year.

The new initiatives were born out of associate dean Cameron Cerasani’s personal interest in the AI boom and what he and his colleagues have observed — including acts of plagiarism and shortcuts — since ChatGPT went public in late 2022.

Cerasani has created software, using a paid edition of ChatGPT, to help the administrative team create student timetables.

His latest project, a new elective that he insists is “not a computer science course,” is targeted at both tech-savvy teenagers and high schoolers who are hesitant about AI.

“This is not a course that is going to teach students how to get AI to do their homework,” said the instructor, who typically teaches mathematics and physics.

“It’s a course exploring AI and how we think about it critically, ethically, responsibly, and make sure we are staying within the guardrails that haven’t really existed. It is a critical-thinking course, is what it is.”

The course description states students will learn how AI systems are trained and study the influence the tools have on communication, education, media and decision-making, among other items.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 21G is anticipated to encompass inquiry, discussions, case studies and hands-on exploration.

The first intake is full. It is made up of students with wide-ranging interests, from philosophy to environmentalism.

Cerasani said his job isn’t to force anyone to take a side — pro- or anti-AI — but rather get students to reflect on their relationship to the technology and how to navigate a post-Grade 12 world with it.

He intends to teach them to write effective prompts and understand the limitations and consequences of AI tools.

He also plans to regularly discuss current events related to breakthroughs, ethics and regulations as the technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

Manitoba Education does not have a syllabus on the topic, although the province hosted a summit in January for school leaders to discuss AI’s impact on their field and opportunities to leverage it for classroom learning. During the event, the provincial association of education technology leaders circulated its guidelines for responsive use.

The guidelines recommend teachers only use licensed tools endorsed by their employer, review platform terms of service, as well as any AI-generated content, and prioritize their professional judgment above all else. They were finalized about 12 months ago.

Cerasani described 2026-27 as “an exciting” and “absolutely scary” time to be a teacher.

Ultimately, he said his goal is for students to become more comfortable with AI and understand their original voices matter.

Khan, the equivalent of a principal at the high school, echoed those comments.

The dean recalled the school’s cafeteria was filled with students using laptops with AI tools open in their browsers last year. Chatbots were being used as a study partner, therapist and restaurant reviewer, among other things.

Khan and Cerasani said they want to make it explicitly clear to students that teachers genuinely want to hear their perspectives, rather than a robot’s take.

“We don’t care for the AI version. We want your version,” Khan said, adding he’s optimistic the universal e-learning lessons will be a proactive resource that encourages healthy habits.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca