Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly improved in quality and become a part of everyday life for many people. This year, it will be experiencing limited use at Hayes.
Because of its quickly-adapting nature, experts are still working to fully understand AI. Due to this, the district has been working hard to make sure that it is being implemented at Hayes in a way that allows it to be used appropriately.
Starting last year, an AI framework was developed for all of the Delaware City Schools buildings. This toolkit is focused around different areas: human agency, data privacy, AI literacy and academic integrity. The framework helps ensure that AI is being used correctly at all schools.
AI has many different capabilities that can be used both positively and negatively. Without the framework, rather than using it to help their learning, students may have the ability to ask it for answers or to write an essay for them.
“Since the beginning of time… a small percentage of students have tried to find ways to cheat or be academically dishonest,” said Aaron Cook, the director of secondary curriculum and assessment for DCS. “This is another tool that can allow for that, but hopefully we are creating assignments [and] building relationships for students that allow us to be less [concerned] about monitoring and more about teaching and learning.”
The biggest concern for AI usage at Hayes is making sure that students are using it responsibly. Many teachers and students say it is easy to take advantage of AI and rely on it heavily. Sites like ChatGPT are free to use and students may use these sites to give them answers, rather than using them to explain why those answers are correct.
“[With] teenagers using it, we just have to be really careful about training them to use it the right way and use it to not just do the thing for you, but to help you think more critically,” math teacher Kathy Kraus said.
On the other hand, some students have discovered ways for AI to help them but still be used appropriately. AI can help with summarizing different pages, explaining vocabulary and showing how to solve math problems.
“I’ve used it to help me with history notes,” junior Rebekah Ellis said. “Sometimes you read stuff in the textbook [or] an older document [and] it’s hard to comprehend. Or I’ll have a paragraph where I just want [AI] to summarize it into notes for me.”
Since AI is still a new technology, opinions on it are constantly changing. With any new tool or technology, it takes time and research to fully understand it and form an opinion. People who may have opposed AI at first have accepted it as they learned more.
“I used to be really against it… but I think my opinion has shifted a little bit to where I can see that it could be a positive thing,” Ellis said.
Outside of Hayes, AI is being used more and more. Many colleges, including The Ohio State University, have begun implementing it into their curriculum. At OSU, freshmen are now required to take a course on AI to ensure they have achieved AI fluency.
Kraus’s husband is currently taking classes at OSU and has first hand experience with this usage of AI. Students are taught to use it to assist them with problem solving instead of relying on it.
“Ohio State is encouraging them to use ChatGPT and different things as a thought partner,” Kraus said. “I think it’s helping to push them to think more critically.”
OSU and other colleges aren’t the only places starting to encourage AI: Companies are also beginning to look for employees with knowledge of it. A big part of why Hayes has begun using AI is to prepare students for their future outside of high school. If a student is taught ways to use AI properly, it can help them with college and even their future career.
“I view it as, ‘what’s the best [thing] for [high school] students to work with…to set them up for success after Hayes High School,’” Cook said.
