Ontario Tech to pilot in-house AI Learning Agent in 22 courses in Winter and Spring 2026
Ontario Tech University announced Feb. 19 that it will pilot an in-house “AI Learning Agent” in 22 undergraduate and graduate courses across all faculties during the Winter and Spring 2026 terms in Oshawa.
The pilot will put the tool into use in live courses and collect student feedback that, according to the university, will be used to refine the system and decide whether to expand it beyond the pilot.
Ontario Tech said students in the participating courses will have access to the tool beyond classroom hours as part of the Winter and Spring 2026 rollout.
The university said it developed the Learning Agent internally rather than purchasing an “off-the-shelf” product. Ontario Tech said the system is designed to guide students’ reasoning rather than generate direct answers. The university said the tool can prompt students with guiding questions aligned to course learning outcomes instead of producing a solution.
Ontario Tech said the Learning Agent draws only on instructor-approved course materials. The university said faculty will be able to see recurring student questions and learning challenges through the system. Ontario Tech also said instructors will retain control over system access and the content the tool can use.
On data handling, Ontario Tech said the Learning Agent operates within the university’s “secure digital environment,” and that student interactions are not used to train external AI models.
Ontario Tech said the system includes safeguards intended to reduce bias, prevent misuse and keep human oversight central, but the university did not provide details about those safeguards.
In the announcement, Ontario Tech Chief Technology Officer Manny Kandola described the pilot as “about teaching students how technology should be designed, tested and governed.”
Ontario Tech also cited “recent industry data” stating that around 86 to 90 per cent of post-secondary students report using AI tools in their academic work. The university did not identify the source of that data.