When it comes to forward-thinking school policy, the division scolaire Franco-Manitobaine (DSFM) continues to lead the way. In November, the province’s French school division released a four-page directive for its educators, developed as a response to students’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as internet plagiarism.

In the end, after months of discussion, administration concluded that the most effective way to curb AI use in learning is to change the way they look at homework.

Superintendent Alain Laberge says that this is the first of many such directives the division plans to release in the coming years, all specific to the use of AI and the internet.

“We believe that AI is everywhere, so we have a job to do as a school division to make sure that we use AI in an ethical way,” Laberge says. “We don’t want to demonize AI, but it [inhibits] critical thinking unless you know how to use it in a proper way.”

DSFM teachers are welcome to use AI in the classroom, he says, if there’s a benefit in doing so. This is a controlled setting, though, unlike the unmonitored time a student may be spending on the schoolwork they take home, where the temptation to rely on AI for research and plagiarize its data is strong for many students.

Part of the problem in letting AI do your research, Laberge says, is that the algorithms tend to lean with a bias toward the user’s current way of thinking. At the same time, AI has the ability to fabricate facts and data, making it an untrustworthy source unless it’s followed with extensive fact-checking.

“One thing that is missing these days [in regular life] is debating,” says Laberge. “Not debating to win, but debating to learn.”

It’s a skill that is learned in DSFM classrooms and one that Laberge hopes students will continue to participate in after they graduate. It’s through human debate, he says, that critical thinking and honest analysis is truly developed.

The division’s proposal for reducing or eliminating homework has a rationale that goes far beyond that of AI use and plagiarism, though.

Laberge says that homework serves little valuable purpose and, in the end, can actually set kids back in their learning.

“Sometimes when parents are confronted with [their kids’] math problems in Grade Six, Seven, and Eight, they’ve learned a way to do them 20 years ago and things have changed,” says Laberge. “We don’t want parents to undo what teachers have done during the daytime.”

As a parent himself, Laberge recognizes that students tend to lead much busier lives outside of school than they once did. Between jobs, family responsibilities, and extracurricular activities, homework simply adds a layer of stress to a student’s life without much of a return on investment.

“We need to balance family time, social time, and school time. In our schools, usually you have enough time in the daytime to finish [all schoolwork].”

If teachers are going to assign homework, though, the new directive recommends that its focus be on building literacy skills.

“We believe that when the student comes to school, they will get whatever [time and help] they need to finish their work. But at the same time, we encourage them to read at home because vocabulary is the basis of every other subject.”

The prospect of reducing homework assignments, of course, has been met with enthusiasm by DSFM students so far, Laberge says.

In light of recent history, it may well be endorsed by other school divisions as well.

In 2023, DSFM was the first Manitoba school division to ban student cellphone use in their schools. One year later, the province mandated a similar policy across all divisions.

Last year, DSFM took their technology policies one step further by implementing restrictions on the number of school hours dedicated to computer screentime.

Looking forward, Laberge says more change will be imminent as the division continues to look for better ways of delivering education that results in improved student outcomes. He adds that the DSFM is unafraid to let go of long-held systems and structures if they no longer serve a valuable purpose.