With the development of new artificial intelligence tools that claim to make learning easier, the line that separates academic integrity and cheating is blurring rapidly. To adapt to the current environment of learning, Pinewood is implementing behavioral expectations regarding the use of AI in the classroom.
“Unless you have explicit permission from your teacher, you can’t use AI,” Assistant Head of Upper Campus Haley Hemm said. “We are operating under the assumption that it’s never okay. But if you get approval, or your teacher asks you to use it, then it’s totally okay.”
There may also be certain restrictions such as a rule that ChatGPT can be used for research but not for replacing your own work.
Irresponsible ways to use AI could include using an online generator to create a digital picture for an art class instead of creating your own. Similarly, using ChatGPT to write an essay for a writing class would also be considered cheating.
However, AI can offer benefits to support learning in classes such as English teacher Michelle Gannon’s social entrepreneurship class, where she uses ChatGPT to write emails and summarize videos to simplify her workload.
“I feel like I’m kind of caught in the middle, right?” Gannon said. “I can see it as a really valuable tool, especially for certain classes that I teach, like social entrepreneurship, but I also see it as a real barrier to skill building in my writing seven class.”
Schools are grappling with the pros and cons of AI, and its impact on education. Head of Upper Campus Gabriel Lemmon believes that an essential component of education is to develop skills that will not be taught in the real world.
“The creativity that we are trying to develop in students could possibly be bypassed by AI,” Lemmon said. “The real dilemma for education is how do we avoid the pitfalls.”
Additionally, Hemm is concerned that ChatGPT may not encompass many diverse voices in its responses, and can provide inaccurate information. As of right now, it does not provide information about anything that happened after 2021.
As Pinewood navigates the future of AI in classrooms, the pros and cons behind AI technology become more apparent. Rather than trying to avoid this new technology, Pinewood administration is exploring ways to utilize AI effectively while also educating students on how to use it responsibly as a helpful tool.
