Understanding How Laurier Students are Using Generative AI in Their Courses

Originally published October 10, 2025.

Research Note contributed by Debora VanNijnatten, Academic Director, Teaching Excellence and Innovation and Lindsay Lawrence, Director, Student Success and Retention.

Preserving Critical Thinking in our Courses in an Era of Generative AI

Critical thinking is at the core of what we do in universities – we teach students “to question, analyse, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what [they] read, hear, say, or write” (Monash University). Good critical thinking is about making evaluative judgements based on reliable information and being able to communicate this to others, often through argument.

However, researchers are becoming concerned that excessive AI users exhibit diminished ability to critically evaluate information or engage in reflective problem-solving due to cognitive offloading – that is, the user is offloading the brainwork onto the AI tool (Barshay 2025; Handa et al. 2025; Lee et al. 2025). What is clear is that we want to preserve as much as possible our role in fostering and honing critical thinking through our course design and classroom practices. But we need to first understand how students are currently using generative AI in their courses as well as their perspectives on this use.

Research Insights

This Research Note provides a snapshot of what recent survey research says about how students use and feel about generative AI tools, drawing on the findings of five surveys and research reports:

the 2025 HEPI Student Generative AI Survey;
KPMG’s 2024 Generative AI Adoption Index Survey;
the Online Learning Consortium’s report on Student Engagement and AI 2025;
the 2025 Time for Class survey;
and Wiley’s report on The Latest Insights into Academic Integrity: Instructor and Student Experiences, Attitudes and the Impact of the 2024 AI Update.

We then pivot to the Laurier context for insights from our Student Success Office into student generative AI use. Finally, we highlight the resources that are available for both supporting students in developing their generative AI literacy skills and supporting instructors as they seek to build critical thinking skills vis-à-vis generative AI use.

Key Takeaways from Survey Research

How widespread is Generative AI use?

Numbers vary across the surveys consulted, but between 58-80+% of students surveyed are using it at least once per week. About half of those students are using it several times per week. What is also clear, from successive years of the Inside Higher Ed Survey, is that student generative AI use has vastly outpaced instructor use and knowledge (Wiley 2024). Instructors are catching up in terms of understanding and utilizing the tools, but slowly.

And generative AI use has increased rapidly. The HEPI 2025 survey shows an increase from 53% of student respondents using generative AI in 2024 to 88% in 2025, with the 2024 KPMG survey seeing an increase of 52% in 2023 to 58% in 2024. Both students and instructors feel that generative AI is here to stay and that more cheating (students at 47%, instructors at 68%) is likely because of its increased use (Wiley 2024).

What are students using Generative AI for?

Here we highlight the findings from three of the surveys (2024 KPMG, the Online Learning Consortium 2024 and HEPI 2025), to provide some detail on how students are using generative AI. Brainstorming, researching and summarizing information are among the major uses, while editing assignments before submission also figures prominently. While the KPMG survey found that a third of their respondents were using the tools to actually complete assignments and one quarter were using it to complete exams, the HEPI survey provides a more mixed picture, indicating that lower numbers of students may be using generative AI as a ‘shortcut’ to assignment completion.

This table contains data from three key surveys: the KMPG 2024 survey is followed by the HEPI survey and then the last row contains the key findings from the Online Learning Consortium.
KPMG 2024 Survey Generating ideas (46%) Research (41%) Editing / reviewing assignments (38%) Summarizing information from publicly available sources (36%) Writing essays or reports (32%) Doing tests or exams (24%)	HEPI 2025 Survey Explaining concepts (58%) Summarizing article (48%) Suggesting research ideas (41%) Structuring my thoughts (39%) Using in assessment after editing (25%) Using in assessment without editing (8%)
Online Learning Consortium 2024 Survey The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) categorized student generative AI use in four areas, based on the findings of their survey: A Good Spark: where students are using AI tools for brainstorming, getting new ideas and overcoming procrastination. Like a Tutor: where students see AI as a study buddy – they can upload study materials, quizlets, prompts, videos, and any and all imaginable course materials, and ask AI to produce practice tests, step-by-step explanations, and answers. Time Saver: this emerged as a big theme across the surveys, that students want to save the time spent doing coursework, and generative AI tools allow them to do that, i.e., AI tools can do the busywork, checking grammar, doing lower-level tasks, etc. A Tinkerer: students can use generative AI to pursue an idea, conduct an experiment, and “keep their inner dialogue going.”

What are students’ perspectives on Generative AI use?

It is worth noting that students exhibit a healthy mistrust of generative AI and its “hallucinations,” and they know that the tools may produce inferior work (Wiley 2024; HEPI 2025). This mistrust leads them to worry about their own learning, including their critical thinking skills (OLC 2025).

Students are also worried about being caught cheating (KPMG 2024; Wiley 2024), particularly because, as significant numbers of respondents indicated they are not clear on when they are allowed to use generative AI in their coursework (Mowreader, 2025).

Yet, students tend not to go to their instructors for help and, instead, often turn to generative AI for aid (KPMG 2024). Students feel instructors are not available, don’t want to engage, or they fear asking their instructors about AI use (OLC 2025) – even though the other survey findings confirm that students prefer a human touch.

Indeed, students want to interact with a human in terms of teaching and instruction; the Time for Class 2025 survey noted rising student interest in face-to-face and hybrid formats, “showing renewed demand for classroom connections.” Interestingly, two Australian law professors who created and tested a chatbot over several years found that, when given the choice between receiving immediate feedback from generative AI or waiting one or more days for feedback from human tutors, only 27% preferred generative AI (Alimardani & Jane 2025). Nearly half preferred human feedback (even if it meant a delay in support) and the rest were indifferent.

How are Laurier students using Generative AI for their studies?

At Laurier, students working with Student Success report using generative AI in the following ways:

Creating study schedules and study guides for exams
Creating practice questions and mock tests with feedback
Having a conversation with a ‘tutor’ to test knowledge
Creating stories or mnemonic devices to help remember complex processes
Brainstorming and idea generation
Grammar and revisions support, specifically for English as a Second Language students
Getting started/getting unstuck

It should be noted that students are reflecting on if, when and how they are using generative AI in their learning. As a 2ⁿᵈ year Laurier Scholar noted:

“Overall, generative AI has been most valuable as a tool to build efficiency into my study process and give me more time to focus on applying knowledge and thinking critically rather than just passively memorizing content.”

Helping Students Develop Generative AI Literacy

Student Success, along with colleagues in Library Services, Faculty of Science and the Provost’s Office, has developed a suite of generative AI resources for students.

Generative AI Literacy Modules: This collection of three modules provides a foundational overview of key themes surrounding student generative AI use, including ethical and environmental considerations, reviewing course policies, and impact on learning. Students can self-register on MyLearningSpace for the full modules, and faculty can contact the Student Success team to have the modules embedded in their MyLS course. Preview each of the three modules: Module 1, Module 2, Module 3.

Generative AI and Writing Asynchronous Module: Developed by Writing Services and available to faculty by request to embed in their MyLS course shell. Preview the module and contact the Student Success team to embed it in your course.

Generative AI and Writing Workshops: Writing Consultants lead Laurier students in exploring how generative AI can support different stages of the writing process from brainstorming to revision, while also critically examining the ethical and academic risks involved.

References

Alimardani, A., and Jane, E.A. (2025). “GenAI and the Mirage of Personalised Learning for All” Law, Technology and Humans 7(2):63-88.

Barshay, J. (2025). “University students offload critical thinking, other hard work to AI” The Hechinger Report.

Handa, K., Bent, D., Tamkin, A., McCain, M., Durmus, E., Stern, M., Schiraldi, M., Huang, S., Ritchie, S., Syverud, S., Jagadish, K., Vo, M., Bell, M., and Ganguli, D. (2025). Anthropic Education Report: How University Students Use Claude.

Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), Student Generative AI Survey 2025.

KPMG (2024). “Students using generative AI confess they’re not learning as much” Generative AI Adoption Index Survey.

Lee, H-P., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Banks, R., and Wilson, N. (2025). “The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers” Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY.

Mowreader, A. (2025). Report: Higher Ed ‘Re-Norming’ With Tech, Inside Higher Ed

Online Learning Consortium (2025). Student Engagement and AI: Research Overview and Findings.

Tyton Partners, Time for Class 2025: Empowering Educators, Engaging Students.

Wiley, (2024). The Latest Insights into Academic Integrity: Instructor and Student Experiences, Attitudes and the Impact of the 2024 AI Update.