AI is creating new opportunities and challenges in the classroom, according to the annual Time for Class 2026 report from D2L, a global leader in learning innovation, and Tyton Partners, an advisory organization for the global knowledge sector. The report, “The AI Tipping Point: From Monitoring Students to Engaging Them,” examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping teaching, learning, assessment and workforce readiness across higher education.
The report found that 71 percent of administrators use AI weekly, and are the most active daily users, at 43 percent. Meanwhile, 61 percent of students and 52 percent of instructors also report using the technology on a weekly basis.
The report states that as AI becomes a regular part of academic life, institutions are moving beyond the question of whether AI will affect teaching and learning and toward a more urgent challenge: how to integrate AI in ways that improve engagement, strengthen assessment and prepare students for future careers.
“This year’s Time for Class report puts data behind what we’re hearing across higher education: AI has moved from the margins to the mainstream,” said Dr. Cristi Ford, chief learning officer at D2L. “Students are using AI, and increasingly, they see it as part of the future they are preparing for. Administrators and instructors are coming to the same realization: AI cannot sit outside the learning experience anymore. The institutions integrating AI across the learning experience, instead of controlling it from the sidelines, are the ones that will lead.”
The report finds 32 percent of institutions have implemented a central AI policy, yet only 22 percent of faculty members at those institutions say the policy is effective. Only 12 percent of institutions have scaled career-connected learning across all departments, while 67 percent of faculty members say AI literacy is essential for students’ future careers.
Nearly 50 percent of faculty members are modifying assessment design because of AI, including 24 percent who are redesigning assessments around AI and 23 percent who are reverting to in-class or proctored formats such as blue books.
Faculty members redesigning assessments around AI report fewer challenges with cheating (54 percent of integrators versus 66 percent of defenders) and student attendance (43 percent of integrators versus 55 percent of defenders) than faculty members reverting to in-class or proctored formats.
Faculty members citing cheating as a top challenge rose from 36 percent to 55 percent since 2024, while 40 percent of students rank workload anxiety as their top classroom challenge. In addition, 61 percent of faculty members say they embed real-world projects into coursework, but only 26 percent of students report experiencing one.
“Our research with D2L shows higher education has reached a pivotal point in AI adoption,” said Catherine Shaw, associate partner and head of innovation and delivery excellence at Tyton Partners. “The institutions best positioned for the next phase will be those that treat AI not just as a policy issue, but as a teaching, learning and workforce readiness strategy. The data suggests integration-focused approaches are more effective than restriction alone.”
