KALAMAZOO, Mich. — With one click of a button artificial intelligence is taking over everywhere we turn; generating ideas, prompts, stories and beyond what some ever anticipated possible.
Now, AI is creeping into the classroom.
Teachers across Michigan are learning how to navigate the massive change with limited guidance on a state level.
“As teachers we need to teach our kids how to use AI properly because AI is here to stay, it isn’t going anywhere,” Darcy Hassing, Lakeview High School English and Communications Teacher, said.
Hassing said she is studying how AI can be incorporated in her the classroom, saying transparency with students is key.
“I tell them, I know it’s there,” Hassing said. “I know you guys play around with it, there is nothing wrong with it, but we need to talk about the right way. There are so many ways you can use it ethically, brainstorming, generating ideas. The inappropriate ways are to have it do your work for you and passing it off as your own work.”
Chat GPT has been blocked by the district, although students may still have access to it at home.
When showing Hassing’s students ethical and unethical ways to use AI, she turns to online tools for help.
“The guidance at the state level is not a ton,” said Tom Letz, Associate Director for Training and Development at the Michigan Association for Secondary School Principals, or MASSP.
“Different people are thinking about this and trying to find ways to make it work,” Letz said. “But from an overall is there a directive of how this should happen, there is not. Why don’t principals and superintendents want to give these answers because in a lot of cases we are all learning this together right now.”
While working on their plan, Lakeview has already implemented detective devices through Turnitin.com.
“When students submit their work, it will run it through a plagiarism detector and AI detector,” Hassing said. “We don’t use this as a ‘gotcha’ tool, we use it as a teaching tool.”
Outside of computers, Hassing told News Channel 3 teachers themselves can spot usage.
“If you have a student for a really long time and they’re writing, you catch onto what their writing style is,” Hassing said.
College professors have made incorrect assumptions, when grading papers and tests, Letz said.
“Colleges got in trouble for not giving kids credit because they said they had cheated, and they hadn’t,” Letz said.
MASSP is beginning to host AI conferences across the state to enhance understanding between all sectors.
Letz told News Channel 3 principles, superintendents, teachers and students are all welcome, adding these are the first of many conversations to come.