When ChatGPT was first introduced in 2022, concerns quickly arose about its potential misuses and abuses. Teachers began relying on new artificial intelligence (AI) detection technology when grading essays and other assignments. Many in-class assignments avoided the digital sphere altogether by returning to pen and paper. Grammar-checking technologies, long used by students to edit their writing, were discouraged as they began to incorporate AI elements.
Two years later, students and staff at Brighton High School are being actively encouraged to recognize the benefits that AI offers as a tool in the classroom.
This change in perspective has particularly accelerated over the past year. BHS principal Tracie Richards acknowledged the school’s initial hesitancy to address the technology; now, however, the administration is making strides to find a way to incorporate AI into the educational curriculum in an ethical and constructive way.
“I think that over the past couple of years, we’ve really focused on ways that we can use it to our advantage but then also [taught] how to use it responsibly,” Richards said. “So, I think that’s kind of been the shift away from being scared of it to, ‘how can we really use it to be responsible?’”
Richards has helped pioneer this mentality as a member of the Livingston Educational Service Agency’s (LESA) AI task force. The task force, which meets monthly, allows administrators and educators from across school districts in Livingston County to share ideas and evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures regarding AI use in schools.
“We’re all at different places, and that’s normal, so [we] just kind of [brainstorm and listen] to what people are doing to bring AI forward, and we take the good that other people are doing and what could work for us here in Brighton and just kind of share our experiences so that we’re not recreating the wheel,” Richards said.
The task force has helped Richards and other Brighton Area Schools administrators develop a cohesive vision, which centers around harnessing AI to enhance students’ educational experiences and fostering a supportive learning environment, for the schools to model future measures after.
BHS has already taken steps to implement this vision. Many English and social studies classes have encouraged students to visit sites like ChatGPT or Google Gemini as tools to help brainstorm ideas or develop research topics. AP Language and Composition students did just this as they explored topics and local applications for their public service announcement projects.
BHS media specialist Kathryn Alfaro helped guide students through the process of “priming” AI by entering certain information into the chat in order to receive ideas about local extensions of their topics. Alfaro has played a role in educating staff members about constructive uses for AI and providing resources for its use in the classroom. Now she is working to extend these opportunities to students.
“I used it a little bit last year, and this year, I personally have been trying to incorporate it into research projects. I feel like it naturally lends itself to them because when you are trying to come up with a research topic, sometimes we can have limited sight in terms of where we’re going, but we can use AI to broaden the perspective,” Alfaro said.
Many teachers have also started using AI to assist with grading and curriculum development. Alfaro referenced how the English department at BHS has begun using Brisk, a type of AI that helps create assignment rubrics, transform information into different presentation mediums, and offer feedback on student assignments. The district has also worked to provide educators with speakers and resources about how they can use AI to benefit both them and their students.
Despite these efforts to familiarize students and staff with AI initiatives in the classroom, both Richards and Alfaro made it clear that its use should be limited. Richards emphasized that AI should be used as an “enhancement, not a replacement, tool.” Alfaro said that for students, it is important to distinguish what constitutes an ethical use of AI compared to using it to plagiarize.
“I think that the strong difference is probably the intention behind a student’s usage,” Alfaro said. “Am I using this to do the traditional cheating, plagiarism method? Am I trying to pass someone else’s work off as my own? Versus, am I using this AI as a partner? Am I using it to have a conversation about the work and to elevate the work that I’m already naturally doing?”
Although the school and district as a whole have made significant strides in determining AI’s place in education, the future of AI at BHS is still unclear. For now, Alfaro said that she supports teachers using it at their individual discretion. Richards said that the district is still finding a way to incorporate AI into its strategic plan, and the administration at BHS is working on determining whether or not to include AI usage in the student handbook. Both educators agree that going forward, AI’s only use in the classroom will be a responsible one.
“It’s so important to have people instructing and teaching it in an ethical way,” Alfaro said. “So let’s be responsible with it, safe with it, ethical. I think that should be at the forefront of everything, so that people are using it responsibly and making the most out of it, and not using it as a tool to do what people fear that it’s going to do.”
This article is the first part in a series about efforts to integrate AI usage into education at BHS and the controversy surrounding it. Future stories will dive deeper into how teachers are utilizing AI in the classroom, what constitutes ethical AI usage among students, and further measures the school is taking to adapt to changes in AI technology.
