Staff and students at District 87 schools like Bloomington Junior High School [BJHS] are now on the same page about the use of Artificial Intelligence [AI] technology.
Resulting from a District 87 task force on AI policy, BJHS students are allowed to use AI in the classroom. BJHS uses MagicSchool AI, a more heavily-regulated and limited alternative to AI staples like ChatGPT or Gemini.
MagicSchool allows students to use it for help in school without being able to use it for off-task needs.
“It is a contained AI, so it's not letting them go all out and ask all kinds of questions,” said Crystal South-Law, an eighth grade social studies teacher. “So it's contained; it's very controlled.”
Forming policy
Current guidelines at all District 87 schools ban use of AI as a substitute for schoolwork that requires original thought. Use of AI to complete assignments, projects or tests without permission from the teacher is prohibited. Students with Individualized Education Programs [IEPs] may have additional authorization to use it as an aid. The policy also allows for school staff to use AI content detectors to check for AI use or plagiarism.
Other schools have similar policies. Unit 5 and Tri-Valley, for example, have nearly identical language to District 87’s in their student handbook.
South-Law was a member of the task force that helped form policy. She also took classes over the summer to learn more about AI technology and how it can be implemented in a classroom.
While some educators are wary of including it in their classrooms—due to environmental concerns or learning impacts —South-Law said students would graduate at a disadvantage in the workforce without some experience.
“Around the country, there are schools that are specifically teaching how to be AI-responsible,” said South-Law. “And I think it's important that my students are just as competitive with those kids who are coming out of that type of situation.”
The task force was the result of several years of discussions within the school district about how to approach AI in District 87 schools. South-Law said discussion ranged from ways to implement it in the classroom to exploring whether an outright ban was warranted.
Use in the classroom
Student ability to use MagicSchool and other individual software with teacher permission has completely changed technology classes at BJHS.
“You can create classroom settings inside of it that are purposeful for students to use that really limit down what they can do,” said technology teacher Jeff Platt.
Platt’s seventh grade students can use AI in graphic design assignments, allowing the students to focus more on the design itself rather than taking up too much class time on research. It also gives an opportunity to teach students about how to most ethically use AI and how to spot incorrect information if any comes up in its responses. Platt’s class also uses AI image generation from the online platform Canva both to complete assignments and to learn some of the ways to spot AI-generated content.
South-Law continues to work toward implementing a clear way to show students when and when not to use AI in her class assignments. Next school year she plans to include symbols on lessons and slideshows to note how much or little AI is allowed to be used for a given task.
“Setting that goal, that requirement, or setting that parameter for the kids, so that they know,” she said.
Current students in her classroom, she said, understand when and when not to use AI. For example, an essay: AI can be used for brainstorming and it can also be used for spell and grammar checks. Sites like Grammarly, as well as writing software like Google Docs or Microsoft Word use AI to check for mistakes, clarity or brevity—those functions are also allowed. Still, it is not allowed when it comes time to write a rough draft of an essay, a rule that students will sometimes attempt to skirt around.
“A lot of times you'll see language that is way above their language abilities,” said South-Law. “You’ll see hyphens left in. Even writing a sentence, a complex sentence, kids aren't necessarily at that level, right? And so you see those things copied and pasted. A lot of times they'll copy and paste and the bold will still be there because of ChatGPT.”
When South-Law suspects a student may have tried to pass off AI writing as their own, she avoids accusation as the first step.
“I am not going to lose a relationship with a student over that,” said South-Law. “What I am going to do is say, ‘What I would like you to do is, I would like you to rewrite this. And could you write it on paper for me?’ I think that’s better than losing my relationship.”
South-Law prefers the eye test over AI detection sites like GPTZero. She said her students learning English as a second language, for example, have their work more often labeled as inauthentic by AI detectors simply because of the way they write.
“They do a lot of the things in writing that AI might do," she said. "And so there are biases even within those detectors.”
Students that wish not to use AI for assignments will be allowed to do so.
“You can still go out to encyclopedia pages, and all the different sources that are out there,” said Platt. “You can go to the library to do that research.”
The extra protection provided by MagicSchool meant to keep students out of trouble has already helped in Platt’s class. A year ago a student asked MagicSchool for relationship advice. The software worked as intended, responding with a message to the student that such use is not intended, and notifying Platt when it happened.
“But if they go out to unfettered access, it's going to give an answer. We need them to learn. That's not what you use it for, it's not a person,” said Platt.
“We either teach the right way to use it and the safeguards that you need to have in your brain as you use it, or we end up with, eventually, adults that believe things that are just so outrageous that you should really know the difference,” he added.
MagicSchool access was purchased by the district to give access for teachers as well as students. Platt said teachers can use it to create projects and set up spaces for kids to use within the classroom. While he says a number of classrooms use it for this purpose at the middle and high school level, he does not think elementary schools are doing the same.
Platt said for instructors, MagicSchool is geared toward teachers that are generally less tech-savvy. Being a technology-oriented person, Platt has been able to use Gemini for more difficult tasks like coding.
“Whenever you're doing any kind of code, the starting point is always the hardest part. So it gives you that first starting point, and you bring it up,” said Platt.
He then looks over the code and makes his own improvements to make it more functional when needed. Explaining the process to his students gives him a chance to teach about critical thinking and problem solving.
“You have to have those multiple areas of knowledge to be able to really effectively use—not to create some text—but to create something useful.”
