A TOOL FOR GOOD?
An average day in the classroom consists of computers, pencils, and AI services that are being used in both a positive and negative way by students. Since the creation of Chatgpt, which was created on Nov. 30, 2022, Artificial Intelligence has continued to grow at a rapid rate, with over 100 million users in the first six months of its launch. However, the question raised is how students are being affected by the onslaught of work that is not being self generated.
“I have looked at lessons where students write something and then go into AI and see what suggestions are being made and how they could improve their writing…I am curious about incorporating a lesson like that into my curriculum,” English teacher Carrie Baldovin said about AI’s incorporation in the everyday classroom.
Currently California is one of five states- North Carolina, Oregon, California, Washington, and West Virginia- that have offered propositions to further the usage of AI in schools, in lesson forms just as Baldovin has looked into. Creating a policy for this newer form of technology is the first thing that states and school districts are establishing moving forward. PRJUSD’s school board was planning to bring the program Magic School to the community on Jan. 23, 2024, but was pushed back to the next board meeting on February 13, 2024. The board is considering bringing Magic School into classrooms as an extra resource for students and teachers to use in a positive way. Magic AI is attempting to be approved for a pilot program in favor of the faculty/staff in Spring of the 2024 school year. The pilot program of this new technology will aid teachers in training and educating students in ways to use AI responsibly, rather than using it as a cheat sheet. A long term goal for this program is that it will be able to be brought to schools where students can use AI beneficially in their classrooms.
“I had some ideas in my head of, what I wanted to do, and I wanted to see what ChatGpt said,” history teacher Seth Draine said, “some of it confirmed what I was thinking [for my lesson], which was nice to hear and other parts, not so much,”
The ability that AI has to help deliver real time feedback and provides students with access to materials outside of the classroom which allows for a wider lens of learning/development. In the article, “AI in Education” points out the examples that services such as Chatgpt, Microsoft Bing, Youchat, and many more offer limitless examples that could relate to topics that are already being taught in the classroom, in a more clear context.
Although AI is commonly talked about in classrooms and how it can influence cheating, students have found that it can also be beneficial.
“It helps you think through problems, because I mean, it’s not always correct and accurate, but I use it sometimes to help give me ideas in English about certain things to write on,” senior Hayden Jones said.
Students can benefit from using AI if they choose to use it in a way that allows them to better their work that they are submitting. For seniors this tool can be very beneficial, with AI spotting edits that may have been missed in the Google Docs or Microsoft word spelling and grammar programs helping their college essays. The technology that is used to detect the spelling errors is a form of AI itself, and so the question that is brought up is if it is ethical for students to use other forms of it to help create the best essay possible.
“I used ChatGPT for school by asking questions, seeking clarification on some topics, brainstorming some ideas, and even getting some help on homework. It was really useful when I started writing my [college] essays,” senior Peyton Bedrosian said about using AI to give edits on four of her college essays.
Artificial Intelligence is preached to students as something that will hurt them. This can be the case when used in the wrong ways but as this technology develops to be more advanced, it is beginning to assist both students and staff in a way that can aid them to success.
