Guidelines for Your Course Outline

Scope and devices: This interim guidance is for in-person assessments that instructors schedule and conduct, such as midterms, quizzes, and tests. It does not address unsupervised take-home or online assessments.

Examinations facilitated by the Exams Office are governed by the Registrar’s exam procedures and conduct rules, which cover these devices. This interim guidance is intended to be consistent with them. 

Basis: This interim guidance supports instructors in exercising their authority to set the conditions of assessment in their courses. It is not a Senate policy and does not supersede existing Senate policies, including those on academic accommodations, academic integrity, and academic consideration. The Registrar’s examination regulations also continue to apply. Faculties and Schools may have, or may issue, their own direction on wearable devices to promote consistency within their units.

Devices covered: AI-enabled wearable technologies are wearable technologies with communication, recording, display, audio, connectivity, information retrieval, storage, computational, and/or AI-assisted capabilities (including but not limited to smart eyewear, smartwatches, smart rings, wireless earbuds, and AI-enabled pendants, pins, or recorders). In line with the Registrar’s exam regulations, they should be treated, in the same manner as other electronic devices that are not permitted during assessments. 

This interim guidance does not apply to medical devices such as insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, hearing aids, and cochlear implants. Instructors and proctors should not ask for proof or health details. If a device could be an earbud, they may ask the student only to confirm that it is a hearing aid or cochlear implant. The question should be prompted by the device, not by assumptions about the student. It should be asked once and discreetly, and the answer accepted, without inspecting or handling the device or delaying the student’s start. A knowingly false answer may be addressed under existing academic integrity procedures.

Exceptions: A wearable device may be used during an assessment only if it has been approved by QSAS as an accommodation or, for assessments they conduct, the instructor has explicitly authorized it for an academic purpose.

Approved accommodations, and any conditions attached to them, are communicated to instructors and the Exams Office through Ventus, along with any requirements for how the device is to be used. Instructors and proctors should follow those conditions.

Advance notice: Instructors are encouraged to inform students, before the first assessment to which this interim guidance would apply, that wearable and AI-enabled technologies are not permitted during assessments. The course outline and the LMS are suggested places to post this notice (see “Advising students,” below). 

Because this interim guidance is issued partway through the Fall 2026 term, notice by LMS announcement or in class at least two weeks before an assessment is sufficient for this term. In future terms, notice in the course outline would be expected.

Devices needed for accessibility reasons: Instructors should refer any student who indicates they rely on a wearable device for vision correction or another accessibility-related purpose to QSAS as soon as possible so that an accommodation can be considered. As of October 5, 2026, QSAS reports that no students currently have an accommodation for smart eyewear. QSAS reviews requests individually.

Accommodation decisions are made through QSAS and cannot be made by instructors or proctors at the time of an assessment. Instructors and proctors should not ask a student to disclose health or disability information.

Smart eyewear without an accommodation or alternative: A student may arrive at an assessment wearing smart eyewear or another prohibited device and say that it is needed for vision correction or another accessibility-related purpose. If the student has no QSAS-approved accommodation and no alternative (for example, conventional glasses or contact lenses), this interim guidance advises instructors to not permit the student to write the assessment. This applies only where the student received advance notice that wearable and AI-enabled technologies are not permitted during the assessment.

Follow-up for students not permitted to write: Instructors are encouraged to handle an assessment missed under this interim guidance in the same way as an absence from an assessment without a documented reason. Where the course outline addresses missed assessments, those provisions apply. Where it does not, instructors are encouraged to apply their usual approach to missed assessments consistently to all students in the course, and to communicate it to students in advance, for example in the same LMS announcement that gives notice of this interim guidance. This interim guidance advises that not being permitted to write does not, on its own, warrant a deferral, an alternative assessment, additional time, or a grade adjustment.

Responding to students: Instructors are encouraged to keep the response at the time of the assessment brief and consistent. Accommodation questions are directed to QSAS, and questions about how a missed assessment is handled are answered by reference to the course outline or the LMS notice. Instructors are not expected to discuss individual circumstances at the assessment.

Retroactive accommodation requests: This interim guidance does not limit a student's ability to request a retroactive accommodation under the Senate’s retroactive accommodation process. Such requests go to QSAS and, where QSAS finds the threshold is met, are decided by the student’s home Faculty Office, not the instructor. Instructors are encouraged to keep a record of the advance notice given and to refer these requests to QSAS without commenting on the likely outcome.

Academic integrity: Where a prohibited device is observed or suspected of being used to communicate, record, or retrieve information during an assessment, instructors and proctors should follow existing academic integrity and examination procedures. A student who is not permitted to write because they have no accommodation and no alternative should not be investigated for a departure from academic integrity on that basis alone.

Reporting: Instructors are encouraged to notify their Head or Associate Dean when situations involving wearable and AI-enabled technologies arise, so that emerging issues can be monitored and consistent approaches can be developed. Associate Deans may forward these to exams@queensu.ca.

Review: This is interim guidance. It will be updated as the University’s broader work on wearable and AI-enabled technologies develops.

To ensure students have prior notice ahead of scheduled assessments, it is recommended instructors include a communication in their course LMS (OnQ/Smith Learning, etc.) advising students that wearable and AI-enabled technology is not permitted.

For example:

Wearable devices during in-person assessments

(first person)

Wearable devices with communication, recording, display, audio, connectivity, information retrieval, storage, computational, or AI-assisted capabilities are not permitted for use during in-person assessments in this course unless I have explicitly authorized them for an academic purpose, or Queen’s Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) has approved them as an accommodation. Examples of restricted devices include smart eyewear, smartwatches, smart rings, wireless earbuds, and AI-enabled pendants, pins or recorders.

Where I authorize a device, the authorization is permission only. You are not required to own or bring a wearable device for any assessment.

If you rely on a wearable device for an accessibility-related purpose, and do not have an academic accommodation that permits the device for assessments, please contact QSAS as soon as possible. An academic accommodation must be approved before a device can be used in an assessment. Neither I nor proctors can approve an academic accommodation at the time of an assessment. 

If you do not have a QSAS accommodation, or my prior authorization, you are expected to arrive without a restricted device. If you own smart eyewear and need vision correction, you are responsible for wearing conventional glasses or contact lenses on the day of an assessment. If you have no conventional alternative to wear, you will not be permitted to write the assessment while wearing a restricted device. Not having a conventional alternative does not, on its own, change the assessment or entitle you to a deferral.

This statement does not apply to medical devices such as insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitors, and you do not need to disclose them to me.

Suspected unauthorized use will be addressed through existing examination and academic integrity procedures.

(third person)

Wearable devices with communication, recording, display, audio, connectivity, information retrieval, storage, computational, or AI-assisted capabilities are not permitted for use during in-person assessments in this course unless your instructor has explicitly authorized them for an academic purpose, or Queen’s Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) has approved them as an accommodation. Examples of restricted devices include smart eyewear, smartwatches, smart rings, wireless earbuds, and AI-enabled pendants, pins or recorders.

Where an instructor authorizes a device, the authorization is permission only. You are not required to own or bring a wearable device for any assessment.

If you rely on a wearable device for an accessibility-related purpose, and do not have an academic accommodation that permits the device for assessments, please contact QSAS as soon as possible. An academic accommodation must be approved before a device can be used in an assessment. Neither your instructor nor proctors can approve an academic accommodation at the time of an assessment. 

If you do not have a QSAS accommodation, or prior instructor authorization, you are expected to arrive without a restricted device. If you own smart eyewear and need vision correction, you are responsible for wearing conventional glasses or contact lenses on the day of an assessment. If you have no conventional alternative to wear, you will not be permitted to write the assessment while wearing a restricted device. Not having a conventional alternative does not, on its own, change the assessment or entitle you to a deferral.

This statement does not apply to medical devices such as insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitors, and you do not need to disclose them to your instructor. 

Suspected unauthorized use will be addressed through existing examination and academic integrity procedures.

Instructors are expected to clarify if and how Agentic AI can be used in their courses, and  recommended to discuss their stance with students through in class discussion and a syllabus statement (see exemplars below).

Minimal version

Agentic AI refers to tools that act autonomously on your behalf, including tools that log into systems, navigate platforms, or complete multi-step tasks without your continuous direction.

The use of agentic AI tools to complete or submit academic work on your behalf is not permitted in this course. This restriction applies regardless of any course-specific permissions granted for the use of generative AI. Such use falls within the definitions of unauthorized content generation and contract cheating in the Academic Integrity Procedures. You should not authorize any third-party application or tool to access institutional systems using your Queen’s credentials.

Expanded version

Agentic AI tools are applications that can act autonomously on a user’s behalf: completing tasks, accessing systems, and making decisions without continuous human direction. Examples include automated agents that can submit assignments, complete online activities, or interact with course platforms.

The use of agentic AI to complete, submit, or contribute to assessed work is not permitted in this course. This applies regardless of any permissions granted for the use of generative AI tools. When a tool acts on your behalf, the resulting work is not your own; this falls within existing definitions of departures from academic integrity.

You must not authorize any third-party tool or application to access Queen’s systems, including onQ, using your institutional credentials. Doing so creates risks that extend beyond your own academic standing.

In this course, you will work directly with agentic AI tools as part of the learning activities. Use of these tools is permitted for [specify: designated assignments / all activities / in-class exercises] as described in the course materials. You are expected to document your configuration of the tool, observe and record its behaviour, and submit your own critical analysis of the results. The tool’s output is not the assessed work; your engagement with it is.

All use of these tools should occur through [specify platform or credentials], not through your personal Queen’s account or credentials.