University of Calgary Associate Professor Soroush Sabbaghan has developed “SMARTIE,” an AI-powered tool that can evaluate and help develop course components with the goal of making academia more inclusive. “The app generates an inclusivity report saying that, for example, all your readings are from 2024, they are all from Canada, and they all are theoretical,” said Sabbaghan. “Now, for one course, that may be exactly what you want, but that’s probably not true for every single course.” SMARTIE has seen significant uptake since it was made freely available, including among UCalgary faculty members who have used it for fall curriculum planning. According to City News, the University of Saskatchewan and Ambrose University are also encouraging their faculty to use the tool.
