There are many AI sites and apps available. “You don’t [stop students from using AI] – you teach them how to use it,” social studies teacher Melody Barger said.

As AI becomes more and more prominent in the world, schools are trying to adapt to having it in their classes. There is no way to say that AI is harmful or helpful due to its newness and ever-evolving aspects of websites and apps. 

“My experience has been mixed. Students who use it to write papers or cheat on tests have a huge downside. However, there are ways to use AI constructively. It can be used as a tool to help you write or rephrase something.” said social studies teacher Bob McKitrick 

Students at North High who are caught using AI to generate their projects may receive an automatic 0 in the grade book, but sometimes, a teacher may allow students to redo the assignment. 

“I have seen people have a whole presentation – even if it’s their elective. They will be doing nothing during the class period. You can tell when someone’s presentation isn’t their own by the way they present it,” said junior Aleise Sample.

At North, there is an “Academic Integrity with AI” policy which shows that you need to be able to cite your resources and complete your own work. Most AI resources don’t give you the websites in which they used; so if a student uses AI they aren’t following this responsibility and rule. 

“In my syllabus, I state that the use of AI is prohibited and considered plagiarism. My explanation is that I am here to evaluate your thinking, writing, and reading abilities. If you didn’t think it, write it, or analyze it, then I can’t give you credit for it,” said English teacher Jeff Church 

AI can be helpful if used correctly. McKitrick uses AI to help him word emails to send to his colleagues. The content and initial wording is his work, yet he asks AI for suggestions while writing. Some students also use AI to help them make study guides. 

“Since finals were coming up and not all my teachers gave me study guides, I asked AI to make me a study guide that I was able to study off of. I was scared at first, but realized that it isn’t considered cheating,” said Sample. 

When students use AI as a means of a resource rather than as a means to do the work for them, they actually learn something. But most teachers are scared of students uses AI to avoid doing work and learning. 

“To be blunt, ‘laziness’ and [the loss of] critical thinking [are what scares me]. If we have a society of individuals who can’t – or won’t – think for themselves, we’re in big trouble,” Church said.

Teachers are starting to change how they receive papers and projects to make sure the work is original. They will have students upload it in Turnitin, which shows the similarity that it has to other resources including AI, or they go to the history of the work to see if there was a copy and paste of outside resources. 

“The best way to teach students is in a classroom setting, with everyone interacting with each other. The best way to demonstrate knowledge of something is to be able to explain it to other people. These can’t be replicated with AI and are very solid methods to demonstrate learning,” McKitrick said.

Most schools don’t want AI in their classes because it isn’t being used in a meaningful way; while in other places they are using it to help with others writing emails to their bosses. 

I hear from friends in the ‘corporate world’ that it is used quite frequently for crafting emails, writing proposals, or making presentations. We just need to think about how best it can be used [in school],” Church said.