Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of education, bringing both exciting opportunities and significant challenges to the classroom. From helping students brainstorm ideas and receive instant feedback on assignments to assisting teachers with grading and test preparation, AI is proving to be a valuable tool for both learners and educators. However, its growing presence also raises concerns, such as increased academic dishonesty, the risk of spreading misinformation, and the potential for students to become overly reliant on technology. As schools continue to explore the role of AI in education, understanding its advantages and drawbacks is more important than ever.
If you could not tell, this introduction above was written by AI. This shows that AI can be very useful in the classroom, but also proves the point that it can cause students to be dependent on it and use it to do assignments for them. The purpose of this article is to dive into the various pros and cons of using AI in school. This is relevant to Anderson, as AI has recently been blocked schoolwide.
Some pros to AI in the classroom include its ability to brainstorm topics, provide immediate feedback on assignments, and prepare students for tests. Many students have trouble thinking about what to write about for journal entries or notebooks. If you ask AI the right questions, it can help you get some starting ideas with interesting, complex topics for essays or other writing assignments. It can also give students specific feedback on their performance on tests and quizzes. AI is able to analyze work and give immediate responses on whatever you ask it for, whether that’s grammar or structure, which Grammarly can be useful for. AI can be useful for preparing for a test by giving students example problems to work through for a math test or review questions for science or history. ChatGPT is a commonly used source for these things. According to the Office of Communications and College of Education at the University of Illinois, students can use AI in these ways to enhance their understanding of subjects they may be struggling with, among other things.
It can also be useful for teachers, which proves the point that AI can be useful for more than just students. It can support educators when grading or help them create assignments like general classwork or review for quizzes and tests. As AI can analyze pretty much anything within seconds, it can give teachers helpful feedback on answers to short answer questions or even essays. It can also be a good use for creating assignments as it is able to take a simple prompt and create something out of it. You don’t necessarily have to rely on it for creating assignments or grading, but it can definitely be a good helping hand.
Despite all the pros of AI use in the classroom, there are certainly cons as well. This includes things like academic dishonesty, inaccurate information, and students’ reliance on technology. AI makes cheating very accessible, as it is a powerful tool and is able to do assignments for students. It can write entire essays or answer basically any question you ask it. However, AI isn’t always fully accurate. As AI uses certain algorithms, it can be only as smart and accurate as the algorithm. If the source it uses produces misinformation, the AI might use it and produce it as true information, which in the end confuses the students. This can really affect children, as they may be using it to study and ask questions, which can cause them to study misinformation for tests or other important assignments. Finally, AI can cause students to become very reliant on technology. As AI is able to do work for students and can heavily help people, some students have started to use it for everything they do. Some students have become codependent on using AI and are unable to do some very necessary life skills.
As shown in the article, there are many pros and cons to the use of AI in the classroom. It can be a helpful tool for both students and teachers, but can easily be overused. As Anderson has blocked AI, we as a school are unable to see how it would work at our school. Do you think that Austin ISD should allow AI to be used as a helpful resource in the classroom or keep it blocked?
