Next school year, a new half-year class will be offered to students. It will be a class teaching students how to use Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Former principal, current Chief Academic Officer, and District A.I. Coordinator, Keith Brook said, “A.I. can be very scary, very helpful, and very useful. Our mission is to get students ready for whatever life holds for them after high school. Like it or not, I think A.I. is a big part of life after high school for a lot of students.” Students can expect to learn more about A.I. and how to use it in life throughout this course. Brook said, “We acknowledge that there can be a lot of positives with the use of A.I. Kids are going to learn about what A.I. is, how it works, responsible use of it, and those kinds of things. We think it will be very helpful.”
Brook has a lot of faith in this class next year and hopes students will be able to take a lot away from it. Brook stated, “I hope it can be eye-opening for students. I hope that through this process, they can understand what generative A.I. is, how it works, and where it comes from. Also, I want everybody to see both sides of every decision, so if they’re able to see they’re not responsible with A.I., and what some of the outcomes can be, they will realize how this class will benefit them.” Students can expect to learn a lot during this half-year course, but Brook wants students to take away one thing most importantly from this course. He stated, “My number one thing is I hope that students can walk away with the knowledge that the first thing we want for any student is their safety, and to understand what the tools are they’re using. I want students to be safe. I want them to understand privacy settings. I want them to understand how it works, how it can benefit them, but if it’s not responsibly used, how it won’t benefit them.”
This class can help prevent some of the worries that administration has had with the use of A.I. Brook said, “I think there are always academic dishonesty concerns. One thing I do not want to see, as the Director of Curriculum for this district, is the absence of independent thought. I want rigor, I want challenge, and I want students to be prepared to be successful.” Brook shows concern that students could succumb to A.I. This class is a preventative measure, influencing students to keep challenging themselves and prevent becoming absent-minded instead of relying on A.I. He stated, “I do feel like A.I. does create an opportunity to take an easy way out. If we can show students responsible use of A.I, because it can be an amazing tool, but we still want your brain to be the driving force of the decisions you make. Not a chatbot.”
Next school year, Gloria Perez, current teacher, can be expected to teach the class. Brook stated, “Mrs. Perez will be teaching this class. This is a course she and I had been talking about for a little bit of time. It’s going to be offered through a platform called “Project Lead the Way.” She will be putting in a lot of work during the upcoming summer to be able to teach this class next year. Perez said, “I think it’s something we need to teach so students know how A.I. works and where its flaws are.”
Before this class is launched next school year, Perez has a lot of preparing to do. She states, “I have a one-week training in the summer, it’s 40-hours for the week. It’s all online, and basically, I will do the whole course (which is a semester-long) in that one week. It is intense, but I have done this with my other courses.” Outside of her training within that one week, Perez will also have even more tasks to accomplish. Perez stated, “During the summer, I will also prepare my digital notebooks and everything else for it.”
She hopes this class will help students benefit from A.I. like she has along with acknowledging some of the disadvantages. Perez said, “A.I. is something that I use frequently to help get my thoughts together. To also maybe make things sound better or organize my thoughts. Normally, when I have ideas, it’s just like a bunch of mumble jumbles, and sometimes it’s hard to get them all together in a cohesive manner.” Then follows by saying, “Students, I think, don’t also understand how it’s collecting data, and how it has biases; I think there are some things they need to be wary of.”
