As technology advances, opportunities for tools that students and staff at EHS can use continue to become apparent. One of the tools that has grown in popularity in the past three years is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has boundless potential and uses, but it remains important to the educational world to discover AI’s boundaries relating to student usage.
In 2022, AI gained major traction worldwide due to its various uses. One of AI’s most notable engines was ChatGPT, a generative chatbot developed by Open AI notorious for its efficiency and accuracy. ChatGPT’s software and similar software provide the opportunity to cheat on various assignments at the high school level.
With solutions to assignments at the fingertips of many high school students today, the loss of critical thinking and problem-solving skills is a main concern for many teachers.
EHS English teacher, Emily Sorenson, said, “There are tools available for both teachers and students that are a great benefit to our academic goals. It can make our curriculum more approachable and make modifying assignments for IEPs and 504s faster and more efficient, but it has also introduced the opportunity to think less and with just a few clicks get the right answer.”
AI’s technology has revolutionized how students learn, and it can be extremely beneficial if it’s used in the correct way.
Unfortunately, with how quickly AI has evolved into a tool, it’s currently not entirely clear how it should be used. “I think it’s a disadvantage until they learn to use it as a tool. Right now, I really believe that it’s threatening their critical thinking skills,” added Sorenson.
The development of AI has given countless opportunities, but it’s important to use it appropriately.
EHS teacher, Chris Love, said, “On the teacher’s side, it’s been extremely helpful. I’ve taught for so long that I have used it a lot for assignments that I just didn’t get a lot out of it. I’ve been able to download the slides I use, pop it into ChatGPT, and prompt it well to improve the way I ask questions. The depth of knowledge that it has, the way it scaffolds questions, and the way it prepares students for the next level is great.”
It’s clear that AI is able to be used in a beneficial way, but it’s about realizing the line between appropriate and inappropriate. For Love, the line lies between whether or not critical thinking and problem-solving skills are still being utilized on different assignments.
It remains unclear how AI will affect students and society. Its impact is being wrestled with and it’s difficult to teach skills for how students should use AI.
Love said, “Right now it’s a disadvantage because we are wrestling with how best to use it. I’m trying to push kids to use it in a peer-edit way. I think you can gain a lot by prompting chatGPT to improve an essay a student wrote, for example. If you can get specific with it, it will give very beneficial feedback. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of room today to teach students how to use it. There will be a time when it will be extremely advantageous.”
The more AI is learned about, then the more AI will become a beneficial tool for students, and it’s important to remain cautious of using AI just to get answers fast.
Essentially, although ChatGPT and AI may be new, the idea of cheating isn’t. ChatGPT merely makes the process of cheating more efficient and easier, but even cheating on assignments still devoids the individual of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The short cut many students take and continue to take isn’t new, but the efficiency and effectiveness that AI offers is new and presents a serious danger to education that could result in the loss of numerous important skills for students today.
AI’s impact remains blurry to society and education. The most important tasks as of now are to be diligent in teaching how to appropriately use AI and to manage its usage.
Finding how to benefit from AI, but also remaining with important skills is imperative to today’s changing educational environment.
