Many students like to use AI to help them with assignments, studying, and maybe even tests, but they deserve to know the harms of using AI for schoolwork. While using AI to prepare you for an assessment can help increase your understanding, using it for tests can lead to inaccurate results. These are supposed to be evaluation of students’ knowledge, and if they are being done with the use of AI teachers are unable to target specific areas of struggle for students.
What is the problem with AI access in schools? Well, when students can access AI easily and cheat using AI on assignments and tests, teachers can’t grasp where they are in that topic, and students will lose the ability to do exams themselves in the future.
In the article “New Data Reveal How Many Students Are Using AI to Cheat”, it talks about how students are using AI for assignments and teachers are using AI detection software to check their students’ work. They believe that the focus shouldn’t be on using no AI but rather on using it in specific beneficial ways. It also talks about AI literacy being taught in schools. It says, “Of the more than 200 million writing assignments reviewed by Turnitin’s AI detection tool over the past year, some AI use was detected in about 1 out of 10 assignments, while only 3 out of every 100 assignments were generated mostly by AI.”
This many students using AI in their writing assignments raises concern. The students turning to AI use are the ones who are most in need of assistance, and unwilling to ask for it. In these situations teachers attempt to focus on these students but with the intervention of AI they are unaware that their services are needed.
On the other hand, students can use the accessible AI to study or to ask questions easily and get immediate answers. Without AI, access to resources, immediate feedback, and personalized learning would be troublesome.
On AI in Schools: Pros and Cons by the University of Illinois, they talk about how, even though there are a lot of disadvantages of AI, there are also some advantages of having that much access to AI. One of the biggest ones is the “access a wealth of AI-powered platforms to facilitate and enhance the learning that takes place in their classrooms.” Woodbridge is a well funded school, but AI can be very beneficial in more impoverished districts with less access to resources. If a student is interested in further exploring a topic, AI gives them the tools to continue learning without a premium. It can also be adjusted to fit a student’s needs with 24/7 availability, and personalized responses.
Teachers have schedules that they need to stick with in order to cover all the materials necessary within a year, while AI can target the specific areas of struggle of a student. While AI could be harmful, without AI, students may have a hard time finding the right materials for their success. Freshman Paige Heinemann stated that while “AI isn’t always the best but it helps students learn more, and it gives us better studying opportunities with its unique features.” Her perspective supports how AI, despite its flaws, is a valuable tool for learning.
Although AI can be helpful, it is important to remember the harm it can do to students’ learning. Some solutions to this problem of AI in schools could be that schools can monitor AI usage in schools, and students have to ask for permission from teachers to access AI, and have a talk with the students about the pros and cons of AI. On 8 Tips for Schools to Avoid Chaos in the Age of AI, it gives some tips to help control the use of AI in schools. For example, they say schools could provide acceptable and prohibited uses of AI so students can still get the help they need while also staying safe and not cheating.
Next year, Woodbridge will be paying for a special AI program that students will be able to use that is safe and helpful. This is one way that can help stop the problem of AI in schools, and other schools could learn from this.
While the introduction of AI has led to increasing amounts of academic dishonesty and deterioration of critical thinking skills, its ability to provide immediate feedback can be extremely beneficial to a student’s increased understanding of a subject matter. The determining factor of how AI affects students is the way it is used and how the school addresses and takes action towards this problem. In order to make sure students are making an informed decision, administration can begin an open dialogue with students, to discuss ways to use AI beneficially. As for students it is recommended to reach for human resources like extra help from teachers or PAPER the tutoring rather than turning to AI.
