The Challenge
Before stepping into her role as a lecturer, Aqeelah spent a few years as a tutor in the extended curriculum program in the Text In the Humanities course, where she saw firsthand just how much support her students needed - and, unfortunately, how difficult it was to meet that demand. At that point, tutors, who were mostly full-time students themselves, would be dealing with at least 20 to 30 students, all of whom needed after-hours, personalized assistance and support.
As a tutor, she was often the first person students turned to when they felt overwhelmed by academic writing, confused by assignments, or unprepared for the pace of university. She could offer guidance in small groups or during one-on-one sessions, but she always felt herself running into the same barrier - her time never matched their need.
Tutoring hours were limited, and once those slots ended, students were left to figure things out alone. For many, having to tackle the course content alone and only being able to seek guidance at very specific times, like during specific office hours, was tough and intimidating, and this was clear to both Aqeelah and her colleagues. She could see their potential, but she also saw how fragile confidence could be when help wasn’t available in the moment it was most needed - the unfortunate truth is that many, if not most, students find asking questions in lectures intimidating, so they avoid it, often to their own detriment.
Ultimately, this issue created pressure for everyone. Students desperately wanted more support and feedback, especially when they were ready to engage with the material. Aqeelah, on the other hand, wished desperately that she’d be able to provide it, but the reality was that she was working within a system that simply couldn’t stretch far enough to cover the gap.
Integrating AI Tutors and Simulations to Enhance Engagement and Independent Learning
When Aqeelah and Professor Taryn Beranard, Vice Dean of Teaching and Learning, started integrating Mindjoy into the tutoring process, they structured it around both weekly AI tutors and ongoing course support. Thus, each week, students were given access to AI tutors aligned with the topics that had been covered in the past week, so they could work through exercises, ask questions, and get instant guidance on assignments. The AI tutors acted like a consistent first line of support, available anytime students needed a quick explanation or extra practice outside the limited tutoring hours, and they were also used to engage with the course content and perform consistent assessments too.
Alongside the weekly AI tutors, Aqueelah and Professor Bernard also created a general course AI tutor that included all the content from start to finish, giving students the choice to probe specific course material or revise more broadly, depending on their needs as well as the tasks at hand.
Another key feature Aqeelah used was the interview simulation tool. Since the course includes a great deal of teaching students how to engage with people in interview settings for the purpose of data collection, she chose to use AI tutors to be used for practice.
Students were able to choose from a selection of five participants (that she had carefully created, all with their own backgrounds and profiles) and use the speech function to ask questions. That way, students could see for themselves when questions were well understood or required refinement - that is, rather than having a human tutor tell them the questions needed to be rephrased, they could see for themselves that the questions weren’t easy to answer or understand. This was not only helpful in terms of time saving, but it also allowed students an additional level of autonomy within their own learning.
The Impact
Using Mindjoy changed the rhythm of both Aqeelah’s teaching and her students’ learning. With the weekly AI tutors, students had constant, on-demand support, which meant they could tackle assignments or clarify concepts the moment questions arose.
This shift gave them a sense of independence, while still knowing additional, human guidance was there when needed. The general course tutor has been an excellent tool for providing on-demand support at all hours of the day, encouraging students to ask questions when they may not have otherwise, and the interview simulation allowed students to practice skills they had previously only discussed in theory, allowing them to be far more prepared for the real thing.
For Aqeelah, Mindjoy eased the pressure of being the primary source of support. She could focus on higher-level teaching and mentoring, knowing students had reliable tools at their fingertips. The platform created a structured, scalable way to extend her reach without stretching herself too thin. It also allowed her to see patterns in students’ progress by means of the Insights tool, helping her tailor her lectures and workshops more effectively.
“I can see exactly how they’re understanding what's being asked of them and I can see exactly what they're giving back. So that's encouraging,” Aqeelah told us.
Overall, Mindjoy didn’t just supplement her teaching and the tutoring process. It became an integrated part of her approach to teaching, making her work more efficient and her students’ experience more responsive and engaging. It also allowed students to embrace an additional degree of autonomy in the learning process than had been possible in the past.
