What Should Schools Do About AI?
In the last few months, AI development has accelerated at incredible rates. Many are now saying that this genesis of AI is akin to the original explosion of the internet. Already, AI tools are changing industries across the board, and its impact on education in particular is a topic of discussion and debate. As this technology evolves, policies have so far not been up to date with its latest developments, and in the short term, schools need to stay abreast of the newest iterations of this new technology, and this document outlines a few proposals to this effect.
Reactions by Schools and Policymakers
Given the pace of adoption, policymakers and educators have recently started publishing reports and guidance in the last few weeks. However, most schools and educators do not have standardized policies and are tackling these challenges differently, leading to inconsistencies in the system and an overall lack of clarity, leading some schools to choose the easy path and ban the technology outright.
School districts in LA, Baltimore and NYC blocked access to ChatGPT, with districts in NYC choosing to roll back their decision. Conversely, school districts in Chicago and Philadelphia made statements saying they would not ban the technology. In fact, some private schools now offer “prompt engineering” as a part of the curriculum, taking a step further in embracing the technology and preparing their students for the future.
Last week the US Department of Education published a policy report on AI and the Future of Teaching and Learning. This report provides seven recommendations to educational leaders and practitioners:
Emphasize humans-in-the-loop, rejecting the notion of AI replacing teachers
AI models should be aligned to a shared vision for teaching & learning
Applications of AI must be based on principles of modern learning, including that of detecting bias and improving fairness
Prioritize building trust and establishing criteria for trustworthiness of emerging educational technologies that will incorporate AI
Educational leaders to inform and involve educational constituents so they are prepared to investigate how and when AI fits specific teaching and learning needs, and what risks may rise
Urges R&D leaders to prioritize investigations of how AI can address the long tail of learning variability, addresses context and enhances trust & safety
Development of education-specific guidelines and guardrails to achieve safe and effective AI for education
What can schools do?
1. Raise Awareness
Start a dialogue: We need to assess the position that teachers, faculty and students hold on the usage and place of AI tools in schools. A few options for this are a school-wide survey of students, and the formation of a committee of teachers and students.
Training and learning sessions: Both students and teachers will need to adapt to this new way of learning. Therefore, informational sessions for both students and faculty on how to effectively leverage AI tools, their limitations, and where the use of AI tools starts to threaten academic integrity would be a good idea. The University of Pittsburgh has developed some educational resources, specifically around ChatGPT
2. Implement Policies
Clear guidelines need to be set up to enumerate the schools’ positions on the use of AI tools; when and how it is acceptable, when and how it is not acceptable, and the consequences of a breach.
Several schools and universities have been developing policies that strike a balance between access to the technology in the classroom and ensuring that students are still creating work on their own and thinking critically. As we think of policies for schools in Washington State, here are some examples of how other educators are approaching it
In the long term, AI tools and education will evolve together, and the way we teach and learn will change. Policies and governance will evolve, just like the Internet forced a revolution in learning when it first became mainstream. However, schools need to get ahead of the technology in the short term, by implementing policies and holding discussions. This proposal is meant to initiate this dialogue in order to put a structure in place for the upcoming academic year.