The students of Champion High School are making the most of platforms like ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence capable of answering questions and writing essays in a matter of seconds.
“I think it’s good for students to know how to use AI to aid them instead of hurting them,” said Christine Andersen, an English teacher. “I think AI is great for getting feedback.”
Andersen says she has noticed a change in the students as these systems are becoming more popular.
“I was seeing a lot of students not doing the work in class because they were relying on [AI] to do their work,” Andersen said. “After they started banning [AI sites] and I started making the assignments due during class, I started to see changes again.”
Champion is enforcing some policies that will make using AI more difficult.
“A lot more of the assignments are going back to being handwritten, I’ve noticed,” said junior Hayden Owens. “I’ve also seen how more teachers start checking for originality.”
There are many AI platforms like Grammarly, Linguex, and Ginger that are built for perfection with generated responses.
“Learning comes from mistakes and using AI doesn’t allow us to make mistakes unless we specifically ask it to,” Andersen said. “In order to aid in learning we need to properly utilize it.”
AI can come in handy when needing personalized feedback for very specific responses.
“If I have a specific question, then the AI software can be really helpful when it’s hard to find it on a site like Safari,” Owens said
Even as a teacher, Andersen uses AI to help her make sure the students can get a good learning experience.
“When I come up with discussion questions, sometimes I use it to see if they’re relevant,” Andersen said.
The rapid pace of AI development indicates it might be beneficial for teachers to also be familiar with it.
“My only concern is that kids are going to be smarter than teachers,” said Economics teacher Michelle Hastings. “If teachers aren’t keeping up with it, then students are going to take over.”
However, many students use AI as a tool for studying and in a way that’s beneficial to their learning without cheating.
“I think it’s good for helping problems and issues you may have but I don’t think it should be used in a way that hurts your learning ability,” junior Austin Wahl said.
With the popularity of these tools on the rise, there are concerns about students using it dishonestly. Many students view it as an easy solution, taking advantage of its increasing popularity to cheat without repercussions.
“As it can do really cool things with generating quick responses,” Owens said. “When taking advantage of it, you’re only hurting yourself in the long run.”
AI can also be beneficial for challenging classes for notes and to get relevant information.
“For AP United States History (APUSH) we have notecards and stuff to study with and I can use AI to either get more information about it, and I find that in a way it helps me study easier,” said Wahl.
Even when AI is used as a way to do work, it can still offer valuable benefits by serving as a model.
“When you use it to show an essay assignment then it allows you to see what a good essay looks like,” Hastings said.
AI platforms can also be used to get an explanation on something that may be hard to understand.
“For math you can specifically ask AI how to do the problem and it can give you a specific step by step guide on how to do it correctly,” Hastings said.
Using AI for work purposes shouldn’t be taken advantage of because engaging in dishonest behavior can undermine trust and integrity, thereby damaging relationships and moral character.
“Teachers need to be the guide. It’s just like drinking; once you can do it, it doesn’t mean you should do it too much. They need someone to know how to use it for good,” Hastings said.
If AI’s capabilities are unrestricted, it may be prudent for teachers to monitor actions. Despite advancements in detecting fraudulent work, educators possess the knowledge necessary to identify genuine understanding.
“Teachers need to verbalize expectations and guide them and check on them to make sure they know what to do,” Andersen said.
This form of technology can assist students towards recovery and catching up on work missed over a period of time by providing information on lessons they missed.
“I think in a way it has helped with problem solving being like a bandaid solution to things. I can see using it when you are under stress, if you need a little bit of help after missing a couple days of school so you don’t lose momentum because this school is really competitive,” Andersen said.
