AI for school students: A learning assistant or a productivity killer?

In recent years, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has drastically increased all over the world, including in Bangladesh, due to advanced technology.

The use of advanced AI chatbots like ChatGPT has become widespread across various aspects of life, particularly among school students. They have discovered AI to be a great tool for helping them complete numerous tasks, assignments, and homework.

However, while AI tools promise convenience and quick solutions to students, they also bring difficult challenges and questions for schools. The prevalence of AI has also dramatically increased students' abilities to cheat and get away with it. 

This brings up questions about how much 'learning' is taking place in schools. School teachers have remarked that they come across dozens of students who use AI to bring in homework or send in assignments without doing any of the work themselves, on a daily basis.

Students are often tech-savvy, so they know how to use AI in ways that reduce the chance of being caught. This makes it difficult to find out if their work is original or AI-generated.

In schools that follow the Bangla Medium curriculum, AI has not yet taken a strong hold due to the lack of AI tools that can incorporate the Bangla language. For English Medium schools, the impact has been far-reaching. Teachers are redesigning assignments, administrations are revisiting policies, and entire curriculums are being reevaluated due to the advent of AI. 

Adapting to the new environment 

Artificial Intelligence has grown rapidly in a short period of time, and many educators now understand it's here to stay. Instead of resisting, they know they must adapt to this new reality.

Yafa Rahman, Vice Principal and senior Business Studies teacher of Adroit International School, recognises the importance of rehauling the school curriculum and syllabus to adjust for AI usage.

"Talks about integrating AI in the school curriculum is a global concern, and my school has had meetings with Pearson Education on how best to do that as well as train teachers to use AI in a beneficial way while being able to spot unethical AI use. This is an ongoing discussion, and we will see many changes soon," she said.

She and her school also use AI to prepare assignments, class structure, and content. "Students rely on technology so much that if we incorporate any technology into the learning process, students instantly become more interested," she added.

"For assignments meant to show knowledge and understanding, I've returned to using pencil and paper to prevent AI use. For reflective assignments, I encourage students to use AI but remind them to think critically. You do not always have to agree with what AI generated, and key facts and figures must be checked with reliable sources."

Olivier Gautheron, a science teacher at International School Dhaka (ISD)

Yafa tries to create her syllabus in such a way that even if students use AI, they can still develop their writing structure and ideas within the classroom.

Indeed, schools have modified assignments and homework patterns to emphasise on critical thinking skills and personal reflection, such as including more frequent oral assessments. 

Focusing on these ideas helps students think independently and ensures that AI supports learning instead of replacing it.

Olivier Gautheron, a science teacher at International School Dhaka (ISD), has earned the "AI Essentials for Educators" certification from Edtech Teachers in the United States.

He says, "For assignments meant to show knowledge and understanding, I've returned to using pencil and paper to prevent AI use. For reflective assignments, I encourage students to use AI but remind them to think critically. You do not always have to agree with what AI generated, and key facts and figures must be checked with reliable sources."

AI detection and consequences

Even though students often get caught submitting AI-generated work as their own, most school teachers still depend on their experience to detect it. However, this is different from universities, where AI detection software is commonly used.

One reason might be that unlike at the university level, school teachers are often more intimately familiar with their students and their capabilities. Due to this, they believe that they are able to recognise when a student submits AI-generated work.

However, Olivier admits that detecting AI-generated work manually isn't always accurate and can sometimes lead to mistakes.

"I believe it all comes down to knowing your students and their abilities. There's a high chance of mistakenly identifying student work as AI-generated when it's not," he said, explaining, "For example, I once thought a student's assignment didn't sound like his own words. After talking to him about it, he openly admitted that he used software to improve his writing, without altering his ideas. This is perfectly acceptable, as the purpose of the assignment was for students to generate their own ideas."

However, he believes that technology is not the answer here. "Although software exists to detect AI, there are other software to make them undetectable. I believe that the best way to detect inappropriate use of AI is asking your students directly. If I feel that a student's work quality is very different from previous tasks, simply asking them to clarify a few ideas of their work is enough," he said.

Another big reason is that not all schools are affluent enough to buy AI detection software and provide access to all their teachers. So, the teachers have to often work under those constraints.

However, the teachers assured me that the penalty for AI use was not harsh. Students will often get marks for submitting AI generated work since that is also considered an attempt.

In the worst cases, they are simply asked to resubmit their work, instead of being punished.

Potential for transformation

Emran Taher, a Cambridge Examiner and a senior English Language instructor at Mastermind school, believes that AI tools have brought an excellent opportunity for educators to update their teaching styles to increase student engagement.

"It is not just the students who use AI. Teachers and schools are using it too. I can keep my syllabus up-to-date and incorporate more relevant topics and examples instead of just relying on textbooks. This helps grab students' interest while reducing issues like bunking classes," he said. 

Emran also stated that he utilises AI tools to incorporate differential learning in his classroom. It is a teaching method that aims to provide students with a learning experience that is suited to their levels and tailored to their specific needs. 

By providing information like a student's class, age, topic of study, and other contexts to an AI tool, it can analyse students' learning patterns. This helps Emran meet each student's needs, ensuring no one is left behind. He firmly believes, "There are no bad students, only bad teachers."

It is clear that AI is fundamentally changing English Medium schools' approach to teaching and learning. While there is great potential for transformation and growth, there are also certain risks that have to be addressed. 

While AI can help facilitate greater student engagement, idea generation and breakdown of difficult concepts, it can also allow unprincipled students to use it to get out of learning.

As Dr Shivananda CS, principal of Glenrich International, explains, finding the right balance is important. "On the positive side, AI can boost creativity, offer personalised learning support, and help students with difficult topics. However, there are concerns, like students relying too much on AI and not developing their own voice."

"The key to handling AI's impact is finding a balance between using AI and encouraging original work," he concludes.