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<\/p>\nEnd-of-year report cards will be drafted using a new digital assistant made by and for teachers working in St. Vital and surrounding communities in southeast Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
The Louis Riel School Division\u2019s data team has spent much of the 2025-26 school year designing and piloting secure artificial intelligence-powered tools to address common problems for staff and students.<\/p>\n
Curriculum-Linked Assessment and Reporting Assistant is one of its five new \u201cAI agents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers put in all their assessment data and it helps them create meaningful, curriculum-aligned, jargon-free comments for parents,\u201d said Marnie Wilson, data strategy officer for the division.<\/p>\n
Some users have reported time-saving benefits, but the bigger win is feedback from teachers saying CLARA is helping them co-publish \u201cricher and more personalized\u201d report cards, Wilson said.<\/p>\n
The division\u2019s new tools \u2014 known by their acronyms: SPARK, LEAP, ATLAS, CHALK and CLARA \u2014 are customizable offshoots of Copilot. Microsoft\u2019s AI-powered chatbot is included in the division\u2019s licensing agreement with the technology company.<\/p>\n
Each one was tailor-made to solve a challenge, be it the inconsistent nature and quality of plans for English as an Additional Language students or how demanding it is for teachers to regularly differentiate lessons for children with varying levels of literacy.<\/p>\n
Wilson said they are all optional tools and there are no plans to mandate teachers use them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur stance is that AI is here to stay and if we need to educate our future leaders and our future workers, they need to have experiences in a safe environment with AI,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The division started inviting teachers to try them in the winter. A total of 426 individual users accessed AI agents between Feb. 8 and April 28, the latest available reporting period.<\/p>\n
More recently, its grades 7-12 student-friendly chatbot, Classroom Helper for Academic Learning and Knowledge, was added to the roster. It is being piloted by one school this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t just vending machines of information\u2026. There\u2019s a lot of back-and-forth conversation going on,\u201d said Clarke Hagan, director of information technology systems.<\/p>\n
CHALK was programmed not to give students direct answers and refuse to engage in casual conversation. A contained search engine that can draw on all Manitoba Education curriculum and support documents, it is meant to help students with homework.<\/p>\n
Asked if it\u2019s a user\u2019s friend, it will reply: \u201cNo, I am an agent to help you learn,\u201d Hagan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI wants to give you the answer, so it was a bit of a challenge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While some staff have raised questions about the environmental impact of these tools, Hagan said everything that happens in education has a carbon footprint, whether it\u2019s printing or transporting students.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because we\u2019ve normalized these things doesn\u2019t mean the environmental impact has gone away,\u201d he said, adding that his team wants teachers to use AI when its high educational value justifies the cost.<\/p>\n
The division\u2019s efforts to educate students about artificial intelligence are taking place as the province prepares to ban children aged 15 and younger from accessing social media and AI chatbots.<\/p>\n
Premier Wab Kinew defended his government\u2019s plans, citing the highly-addictive nature of technologies that are monetizing children\u2019s attention and causing mental health-problems, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
During an afternoon scrum in his office, Kinew told reporters he would, however, be interested in creating a \u201csandbox\u201d where teachers and students can explore AI tools.<\/p>\n
The premier said he would be open to allowing \u201ca tool that is legitimately educational that\u2019s opening new vistas for learning for young people and we\u2019re running it locally on computers that we control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Anderson, assistant superintendent of policy, planning and transportation in the Louis Riel School Division, said AI is all around students, and they need to learn how to use it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tool that they have access to and we feel having them learn about it in the classroom from teachers who are able to guide them and set up authentic learning situations and age-appropriate expectations and learning outcomes \u2014 that\u2019s really how we approach this,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
Chipalo Simunyola, a school trustee and father of three elementary students, said he initially felt apprehensive about promoting AI tools and their impact on human interaction, engagement and learning inside classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to lose that to a bot,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the fact that a lot of this (technology) is not being used for instruction, but rather for preparation, has made me at ease.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simunyola said he\u2019s proud of how division leaders have been focusing on creating a data governance charter and supportive documents to protect data and promote the ethical and responsible use of technology.<\/p>\n
The data team said the new charter, along with the creation of AI guidelines and an academic honesty policy, are all connected.<\/p>\n
Teachers\u2019 association president Jay McGurran said he welcomes all efforts to help his approximately 1,100 members carry out their duties, \u201cAs long as it comes with the time and training to ensure new tools are used effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that CLARA has the potential to significantly reduce administrative burden.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t uncommon for high school teachers to have to report on the individual progress of 100 or more students throughout a course.<\/p>\n
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Education reporter
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