When classes began on August 26, students in eight Fall 2026 courses found something new in Canvas: a course learning assistant that answers questions from their own syllabus, lecture notes, and assignment sheets, and tells them where in those materials the answer comes from.
The pilot, approved by the AI Advisory Council in April, runs on Alkimi, the university’s approved AI platform. Each assistant is limited to its course’s materials and follows the course’s generative AI level. In a Level 1 course such as CHEM 101, ENGL 210, or NURS 220, the assistant explains concepts and quizzes students but will not draft graded work.
Which courses are in the pilot
The participating courses are HIST 204 American Labor History, BIO 101 Introduction to Biology, CHEM 101 General Chemistry I, MATH 140 Calculus I, ENGL 210 American Literature, CS 150 Introduction to Programming with Python, ECON 201 Principles of Microeconomics, and NURS 220 Pathophysiology.
“The point is not to replace office hours,” said Dr. Ingrid Solberg, associate professor of computer science and co-chair of the AI Advisory Council. “It’s to make sure a student at 11 p.m. can find out what the syllabus actually says about the lab report, instead of guessing.”
How the pilot will be evaluated
The council will survey students and instructors at midterm and at the end of the semester, and will review a sample of anonymized conversations for accuracy. Instructors can see which topics students ask about most, which several said they plan to use to adjust their lectures.
Students sign in to their course assistant with their AlkimiID. Questions about the pilot can go to the Office of the Provost.
