Sonia Randhawa

Education continues to evolve as new technologies emerge, and more recently artificial intelligence.

Generative AI technology It has set off alarm bells in K-12 classrooms and higher education institutions. This form of artificial intelligence can be trained to generate high-quality text. A popular example of this technology is Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT).

Besides the obvious concerns about using this technology in an educational setting, many see its use as beneficial for both students and teachers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, AI technology can adapt to students' learning processes and be a tool to help educators meet the individual learning needs of students.

Academic institutions across the Upstate continue to explore the world of AI and the enhancements it can bring to the classroom.

Impact on students

Generative AI generates text and other forms of content from information and prompts provided by individuals. A concern in academia is that students will submit AI-generated content, making it appear as if they created it themselves. Many educational institutions prohibit this type of behavior.

Larry Miller, vice president of learning and workforce development at Greenville Tech, said the school made small changes to its educational policies to clarify appropriate and inappropriate uses of AI. For example, AI-generated content was included in the definition of plagiarism in the school's online learning policy.

Greenville County Schools does not currently allow students to use AI technology, and programs like ChatGPT are blocked from district devices used by students. Jeff McCoy, vice chancellor of academic affairs for Greenville County Schools, said the school system is looking at how AI will impact learning and how to ensure students have the skills they need.

“So how do we teach kids writing skills? And how do we help them understand that they can't just throw everything into ChatGPT, that they really need writing skills to edit?” McCoy said.

McCoy explained that GCS has fully embraced AI and feels a responsibility to teach students how to be good digital citizens. According to a report by the RTM Business Group, AI-enabled digital citizenship involves equipping students with the knowledge and skills to use the technology ethically and safely.

“We know our kids will be using AI in the workplace, so how do we teach them to use it responsibly and ethically?” McCoy said.

While higher education institutions are beginning to embrace supervised learning AI techniques, it's largely at the discretion of professors: Magdeline Hammond Hellwig, writing program director at Furman University, for example, allows her students to use generative AI, but only under her supervision, and under certain conditions.

“I teach them how to integrate ChatGPT and Gen AI into their workflow as part of their writing process — for example, how this can help with the brainstorming side of things, how this can help with the proofreading side of things,” Hellwig said.

Teacher Utilization

AI technology offers several benefits to teachers and staff in educational institutions.

GCS has spent the past year training teachers on how to use ChatGPT and Magic School AI, a platform that helps teachers create lesson plans and more. McCoy said the AI can save teachers hours during the week by performing administrative tasks on their behalf.

“While these tools can provide valuable support, they should not replace the important role of teachers in fostering meaningful engagement and facilitating personalized learning experiences for students.” GCS Position Statement It will be released with AI in 2023.

The school system's position statement emphasizes the ethical use of AI to augment classroom instruction and undergo ongoing evaluation in a manner that aligns with educational practice.

At Furman, Helwig experimented with using ChatGPT to create lesson plans and generate book summaries, and said AI technology has also caused him to rethink his own teaching methods, including how to design assignments that are authentic and engaging for students.

“If they perceive what we're asking them to do as a chore, they're not going to see any value in the task, and so asking ChatGPT to do it isn't going to short-circuit their learning,” Hellwig says. “They have to see value in it to get real learning out of it.”

Greenville Tech's learning management system also incorporates AI to help faculty create assignments and grading rubrics, and Miller explained that the university plans to develop clear policies and procedures for this type of AI use.

Classroom Integration

Academic institutions are still exploring the integration of AI into classrooms.

GCS is following a roadmap for implementing technology in schools: The district focuses on teacher training and establishing policies before technology is made available to students.

“The training is going well and I think it's largely completed, or it will be completed soon,” McCoy said. “I think the conversation we're having right now is getting teachers used to using it for students and how do we put guardrails in place.”

GTC has established an AI task force to evaluate its use and develop policies and procedures for its use in the classroom. The task force, which will include a mix of faculty and staff, will work over the summer and present recommendations at the start of the fall 2024 semester, Miller said.

“My charge on this task force is to make sure we have representation from AI optimists and AI pessimists,” Miller said. “We have to make sure we're avoiding the risks and leveraging the full potential of AI.”

Miller also joined the Complete College America Council on Equitable AI, which launches in 2023 and is focused on providing equitable access to AI tools to institutions whose students have historically been excluded from access to AI resources.

“AI is going to change everything, some of it for better and some for worse,” Miller said. “We thought this was a great opportunity to have the voice of Greenville Tech represented in a national organization, especially for our students.”

AI Detection

Generative AI has the ability to generate high-quality text in just a few seconds, and without effective software that can detect AI-created content, many teachers are forced to rely on old-fashioned plagiarism detection.

Magdeline Hammond Hellwig, director of the writing program at Furman University, said spotting the AI is easier than you might think: She explained that the AI uses information it knows about students, their writing style, and other contextual clues to detect what they've written.

“ChatGPT's voice is a little flowery and dramatic and bombastic,” Hellwig says.