AI in the Academic Setting
In a world where technology is rapidly advancing, AI has recently become more prominent in our lives. Artificial Intelligence or AI, is defined as ‘the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages” (Oxford Languages). It’s a technology intended to help make human life easier. It has both advantages and disadvantages, and is especially controversial in schools.
The Digital Education Council conducted a global survey in 2024, and the results demonstrated that around 86% of the students surveyed used AI. Many of those students are dependent on AI for their school work, so that means that as soon as an assignment is assigned, there are students looking up the answers on their phone or Chromebook. This has both educational and legal complications. Instead of the student, AI is the one who calculates the math problems and writes the English essays; consequently, not only is this affecting student development, but it can also be considered plagiarism.
Since it’s clear that AI has had a great influence at schools, we asked a few teachers and students what they think about AI.
First, we asked WHS teachers about their general feelings concerning AI. Mrs. Stanfield thinks, “AI can be useful in many fields, one of them being medicine; however it shouldn’t replace or be compared to human innovation.” Whether it be negative or positive, this form of intelligence seems to be taking over and starting to interfere in the daily lives of people.
As so many students are now relying on AI, we next asked what teachers believed about the effects of AI. In reference to Photomath, Mr. Drum said, “I think students feel that they’re learning, but they really aren’t,” which is why he discourages the program. Mr. Heid said, “AI impacts a student by robbing them of the ability to critically think.” When using AI to craft responses, it’s the computer thinking, not the student. Overall, it looks like teachers believe that this practice is harmful for students.
Seeing that these teachers face the challenge of their students using AI, the next logical question is how they determine if a student’s work is AI generated. Mrs. Stanfield mentioned how the sentence structure and vocabulary used will be general and not match the student. Mrs. Lugo agrees, adding that sometimes the writing is similar to one of a college student. “As an English teacher, I want to hear what the student thinks, not a computer. I can tell how the student writes versus the computer.” Mr. Heid stated.
So, it looks like most teachers agree that AI causes more harm than good. However, they’re not the only ones who can offer an opinion on AI in school. We interviewed a few students on how they think the usage of AI impacts their learning, and here is how they answered.
We started off by asking how often students saw AI being used in their classes. Nathaniel Grimnes said, “It’s not as common as people think, but I do see it used in math more than anything.” Referring to the usage of AI to craft responses, Lillian DuFour responded that “I noticed it has died down a lot this year, like it’s become less normalized, especially using it directly in classes.”
When the same students were asked about their personal opinions on using AI in school, Nathaniel expressed that they think it’s useful for references, but it should never be used as the final product, especially if it’s meant to be graded or used for profit. Lillian has a similar opinion: “It definitely hurts more than it helps, because you don’t learn much when using AI for your answers!”
A more neutral response came from one student when asked how AI impacts learning: “I think it’s both harmful and helpful. You can use it to review your work, but it’s easy to misuse.” This student also pointed out that people rely too much on AI.
While a lot of people are anti-AI, there are also many who disagree. Mr. Howard tries to look at the positive aspect: “How can AI help my students?” He also points out that as AI becomes more prominent, in the future it could become a classroom tool teachers can use to teach. He says it’s hard to pinpoint whether or not a student has used AI, and tends to give students the benefit of the doubt.
AI definitely has its pros and cons. It is an important tool that can take away the need for humans to perform tedious and repetitive tasks. AI also eliminates human error, overall improving efficiency in work settings. That being said, it can be misused and is sometimes inaccurate considering how it will sometimes create fictitious sources when used for research. The consensus seems to be that AI is helpful but shouldn’t be used to forge work in class. As technology continues to improve and become a part of life, it’s relevance is still up for debate: Can you think of a benefit to AI in schools?
