Our recent qualitative study with 28 educators across Canadian universities and colleges—from librarians to engineering professors—suggests that we have entered a watershed moment in education. We must grapple with the question: What exactly should be assessed when human cognition can be augmented or simulated by an algorithm? Participants widely viewed prompting—the ability to formulate clear and purposeful instructions for a chatbot—as a skill they could assess. Effective prompting requires students to break down tasks, understand concepts and communicate precisely. Several noted that unclear prompts often produce poor outputs, forcing students to reflect on what they are really asking. Prompting was considered ethical only when used transparently, drawing on one's own foundational knowledge. Without these conditions, educators feared prompting may drift into overreliance or uncritical use of AI.
