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Google Lens: Implications for Exam Integrity

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On September 2, Google introduced a new “Homework Help” feature in Chrome, powered by Google Lens. Although the feature was later removed from the browser following complaints, Google Lens remains active and may compromise the integrity of exams on BCIT’s Learning Hub (D2L).

Students can trigger Google Lens by right-clicking on text or images during exams. This opens a sidebar that scans the content using GenAI and provides instant answers and explanations. For example:

AI overview of Modern, agile, GxP system management

Google Lens can also be accessed from Chrome’s address bar by clicking the three-dot menu and selecting Google Lens, or by pinning it directly to the toolbar:

Three dots circles in red with arrow pointing to menu search "Search this page with Google Lens"
 
 AI overview saying "this statement is correct"

Since this feature is built into Chrome itself, BCIT Education Technology Services has no control over its functionality, and it cannot currently be disabled. Brightspace (the company behind D2L) is in ongoing discussions about this with Google.

It’s important to acknowledge that no technical solution can fully prevent or detect misconduct in online assessments. However, most students are committed to learning with integrity and benefit from guidance and support. BCIT’s Learning and Teaching Centre, Library Services, Educational Technology and Learning Design Committee, and other departments are actively collaborating with faculty to develop long-term strategies to address these challenges. In the short term, there are no solutions to this problem. 

Mitigation

Deliver High-Stakes Exams in Paper Format

As a practical workaround, Education Technology Services recommends printing out your Learning Hub quizzes for in-person delivery:

Learn About Exam Integrity and Course Design

Faculty are also encouraged to explore resources from the Learning and Teaching Centre on exam integrity and course design in the age of generative AI:

Your Input

We encourage faculty to share feedback about Google Lens directly with Google: Report an issue or send feedback on Chrome.

Food for Thought: Education Plan Series on Assessment

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The Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre are pleased to announce a fall series of Food for Thought sessions on assessment. There are three sessions in all, with one offered each month from September to November. Topics are based on feedback gathered during Ed Plan consultations and will support us in the area of designing and delivering valid, authentic, and meaningful assessment. Dates and times are listed below. Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss out!

NOTE: This series on assessment requires registration. Participants will be able to join either in-person (up to 25 people) or online (unlimited). Please click each session title in the table above to register on the libcal page.

If you cannot attend the sessions, recordings are available a few days after the session on MediaSpace. For more information about Food for Thought, please contact Ian Linkletter, Michele Bridge,  or Deirdre Grace.

Note: Food for Thought sessions are now held in Town Square C.

Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person in Town Square C (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.

Get updates to LTC News by joining LTC News | Teams channel.

ChatGPT’s New Tutoring Feature: Study and Learn

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A common concern many educators have with GenAI is that it might disincentivize students from doing the work necessary for learning. But others highlight one of its main advantages: it can function as a private tutor.

Now OpenAI has developed a new tool to make personalized tutoring easier than ever. Study and Learn is accessed by clicking the + symbol in the Ask Anything text box on the ChatGPT home page. (If you do not have an account, click Study.) The tool offers three generic prompts to start with (help me with my homework, explain a topic to me, create a practice quiz) or you can jump right into your topic of choice using a prompt of your own.

To test the effectiveness of Study and Learn, I asked ChatGPT, “How do I calculate the volume of a cylinder?”

This was the response:

To calculate the volume of a cylinder, you use this formula:

Volume =πr2h

Where:

  • r = radius of the circular base
  • h = height of the cylinder
  • π ≈ 3.14159

Steps:

  1. Measure the radius of the base (half of the diameter).
  2. Square the radius (r2).
  3. Multiply by π (pi).
  4. Multiply by the height of the cylinder.

✅ Example: If the radius is 5 cm and the height is 10 cm: Volume = π x (5)2 × 10 = 3.14159 × 25 × 10 = 785.4 cm3

Do you want me to also show how to do this if you only know the diameter or make a quick calculator for you?

Note that ChatGPT gave me the formula, then solved a sample problem for me. Not much thinking is required on my part. But when I ask the same question using Study and Learn, I get a much different reply:

Good question — let’s tackle it step by step instead of me just handing you the formula. A cylinder is basically like a stack of circles — imagine piling up a bunch of coins into a tube. So, to get its volume, you need to figure out:

  1. The area of the circle on the base
  2. Multiply that area by the height of the cylinder

Here’s my first question for you:

👉 Do you remember the formula for the area of a circle?

This time, no answer has been provided by ChatGPT. Rather, what I have is the start of a tutoring session. When I reply to its final question with, “not really,” ChatGPT begins reviewing the formula for the area of a circle:

That’s okay — let’s rebuild it together. The area of a circle depends on the radius (the distance from the center to the edge). The rule is:

Area of a circle = πr2

Here’s why:

  • r2 means “radius × radius” (so the size grows quickly as the radius grows).
  • π (pi ≈ 3.14) is the special number that relates circles to straight lines.

So if a circle has radius 3 cm:

Area = 3.14 × 3 × 3 = 28.26 cm2

Now, once we have the circle’s area, what do you think we do with it to get the cylinder’s volume?

As you can see, ChatGPT’s Study and Learn is far more helpful for any student struggling to grasp a concept. And when I respond with the correct answer, I get this response:

Exactly! Nicely done. 🎯

So the full formula becomes:

V = πr2h

Where:

  • r = radius of the base
  • h = height of the cylinder

Want to try a quick practice one?

👉 Suppose a cylinder has a radius of 4 cm and a height of 9 cm. What volume do you get? (You can leave π in your answer if you don’t want to multiply it out yet.)

At this point, if I were still feeling unsure about my understanding, I could work through some more problems. Or, if I think I’ve got it, I can end the study session.

For best results when using Study and Learn, be specific about your level of expertise. If you want help understanding how osmosis works, for example, you will get a much different response from ChatGPT if you say you are a second-year nursing student than if you describe yourself as a high school biology student.

AI expert Ethan Mollick is known for saying “today’s AI is the worst you will ever use.” With new tools like ChatGPT’s Study and Learn coming on board, it’s easy to see how this could be true.

Food for Thought: Industry Insights

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Town Square C was filled to capacity on April 23 when a panel of BCIT alumni spoke about their experiences regarding communication in the workplace. Organized by the Communication Department’s Curriculum Committee, alumni Jarell Alvarez, Taryn Antalek, Bryant Lee, and Jeet Sivia shared the various tools they use to communicate with their work teams, their superiors, and their clients. (Two of the alumni, Jarell and Jeet, also teach at BCIT.)

The panel answered questions about what defines excellent communication skills, and what kinds of interpersonal skills they value in their current positions. They explained why different tools work better in different situations, and how they modify their tone and style of communicating depending on the relationship they have with the people to whom they are texting, talking, or presenting.

We learned that one organization relies heavily on Zoom for its internal meetings for the benefit of a team member who is deaf, because Zoom’s AI-generated transcript is remarkably accurate. We also learned that memos are not completely archaic—the format may have changed, but entities like municipal governments still uses memos to communicate with construction companies.

The panel talked briefly about how Covid-19 has changed workplace communication and what they did to accommodate those changes, particularly the shift to video calls. They stressed that networking is still one of the most fundamental communication skills and it’s important to make face-to-face connections, which can’t be done with the camera turned off during video meetings.

AI was a running theme throughout the presentation. While every member of the panel said it is a useful tool and had lots of examples of how AI helps them work better and faster, they all agreed that it is not a replacement for human creativity.

Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person at the Library Summit Centre (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.

Get updates to LTC News by joining LTC News | Teams channel.

Summer Instructional Skills Workshops

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Start your Polytechnic Teaching credential with our first-level course, POLY 1005 Instructional Skills Workshop.

Choose from a variety of options available from June to August:

  • June 2–3 & 5–6: weekdays 9:00–4:00, blended
  • June 9–12: weekdays 9:00–4:00, in-person
  • July 8–30: evenings, blended
  • July 21–25: weekdays varied schedule, online
  • August 5–21: Tuesdays/Thursdays 4:30–9:30, online
  • August 16–25: varied schedule, online
  • August 25–28: 9:30–4:00, in-person

To register, see Instructional Skills Workshop (POLY 1005).

More on the Program

If you’re not familiar with BCIT’s polytechnic teaching program, find out more at Polytechnic Teaching, Associate Certificate.

Food for Thought: Who Were the Luddites?

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Ever call yourself a Luddite? Do you know where the term comes from?

Matt Greaves (PhD), Member Engagement Officer with the BCITFSA, went through the history of the Luddites in his March 19 Food for Thought presentation entitled Who Were the Luddites? Technology, Power, and Labour: Lessons from the Past. In a past life, Matt taught labour history at the post-secondary level.

Luddites refers to people who resist new technology. Those of us online or at the Library Summit Centre learned that the original Luddites were machine breakers in early nineteenth-century England. These skilled artisans knew that the machinery being brought into the factories to speed up production were a threat to their way of life. Shifting skills from humans to machines would result in lower wages or job losses. Without any state supports at the time other than workhouses with high mortality rates, workers knew that the machines would likely lead to the breakup of their families or, perhaps, premature deaths.

Because collective bargaining had been illegal in Britain since 1799, machine wrecking was the only form of resistance open to workers. They called themselves Luddites after Ned Ludd, a mythical mill worker who supposedly was the first to wreck a machine.

Matt then described for us two visions of how we think about technology. There is classical determinism, which sees technology as autonomous and dominant over humans — a dystopian view common in science fiction. And there is progressive determinism, which sees technology as positive — this is the vision we are living with today.

Is there a place for technology that lies somewhere between these two visions? Yes, says Matt. He concluded his talk by describing the fields of study around science and technology that have developed since the 1970s. However, because the links between technology and sociology have not been well defined, the ways in which technology contributes to greater inequality have not been thoroughly studied. Matt believes it would be beneficial to examine who benefits from technology and who is disadvantaged by it. And, to bring the discussion full circle, Matt suggested that the Luddites in their own way understood this.

The session concluded with a thoughtful Q&A where attendees drew parallels between what the Luddites went through more than 200 years ago and the challenges we are facing today with the increasing power of modern technology, in particular GenAI.

Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person at the Library Summit Centre (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.

Get updates to LTC News by joining LTC News | Teams channel.

BCIT Selected for BCcampus OER Grant

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Last Thursday, BCIT learned it had been selected as one of the recipients of the 2025–26 BCcampus Open Education Institutional Grant worth $33,000. The Open Education Working Group, consisting of Rosario Passos from the LTC, Ian Linkletter from the Library, and Julia Alards-Tomalin from the School of Construction and the Environment, worked hard on the grant proposal and were immensely pleased to learn their application was successful. They are appreciative of the support shown to them by the BCIT leadership team as they were pulling the proposal together.

The selection process was rigorous — only three grants were available, but there were 19 applicants in all. BCcampus informed the team that their application stood out for its potential impact on the Institute and for demonstrating support of advancing open education.

Need help developing a PD Day Session?

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Close-up of smiling man in green Disney shirt presenting to a group

If you have a favourite topic you’d like to share with the BCIT community on PD Day but need some help, the LTC can provide assistance.

We can help you develop resources and give you ideas on how to make your presentation engaging and interactive. Session ideas should align with one of four streams—education, work, wellbeing, or technology.

To apply, complete the Presenter Application and submit it by Friday, April 4, 2025.

For more information, see PD Day 2025: Coming Together for Student Success.

Food for Thought: A Deaf Gain Perspective

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Jamie Finley, research assistant with Natural Health and Food Products Research Group and former BCIT student and researcher, was the presenter at the March 13 Food for Thought session held at the Library Summit. His talk, entitled A Deaf Gain Perspective: An Overview of Best Practices for Deaf Students and Interpreters, offered a wide range of information. Did you know that the origin of poster sessions at academic conferences was for the benefit of deaf attendees? Or that Wladislav Zeitlin, a 1920s scientist who studied how to transmit moving pictures using electricity (research that eventually led to the first televisions), was deaf? Jamie mentioned these examples to make his point that innovation by deaf scientists to improve accessibility for the deaf often results in better accessibility for all.

Two systems for interpretation are currently used with deaf students. Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) involves someone typing text that is read on a screen, while sign language interpreters translate ASL into speech (or vice versa). Research has shown that student achievement is the same regardless of the method used.

Jamie then discussed ASL interpretation in more depth. ASL does not have official language status in Canada and there are issues in interpretation when English is not the common language. Currently, there is a shortage of interpreters, which means they need to be booked quite far in advance. There is also the matter of the “translated deaf self.” Because it’s not possible to look at the interpreter and the speaker at the same time, there is always a trade-off between what is being said and the personality of the interpreter, which can lead to interpretation issues when the interpreter is not well known to the deaf person.

The hearing attendees at the session were able to experience the significant role an ASL interpreter plays as Jamie’s presentation was in ASL.

Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person at the Library Summit Centre (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.

Get updates to LTC News by joining LTC News | Teams channel.

Food for Thought: Preparing Our Students for Life in an AI-influenced World

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As educators continue to grapple with the challenges brought to their teaching practice by artificial intelligence, the latest Food for Thought session at the Library Summit offered valuable support to BCIT faculty.

Led by Erika Ram, an instructor in BCIT’s computing department and chair of the EDCO Educational Technology and Learning Design Committee, the March 5 session focused on what makes us human, and what essential human qualities students need to live and work in a world influenced by AI. Attendees left with activity ideas and an implementation plan for incorporating those activities in the classroom.

Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person at the Library Summit Centre (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.

Get updates to LTC News by joining LTC News | Teams channel.