It's back to school season. And like every August, parents, teachers, and administrators are getting ready—new backpacks, school supplies, lesson plans. We’ve been here before. But this year is different. This year ChatGPT and other generative AI applications are in the classroom from day one. So, here’s two words of advice as we embark on this adventure together:
First, prohibition teaches nothing. Trying to limit student access to these applications or issuing blanket rules and regulations will not contain the crisis. Instead, we—parents, teachers, and administrators—need to teach proper and responsible use of these new digital tools. We can do this by getting student directly involved with the technology and showing them when, how, and (most importantly) why to use generative AI. We did this before back when the Internet and Wikipedia were considered disruptive. And we can do it again. This is our superpower.
Second, AI is not cheating. If the existing game offers too many opportunities for dishonesty and plagiarism, it may be time to change the game. We need to be honest with ourselves: students are already using ChatGPT for writing, and they will turn to generative AI for images and illustrations. Consequently, we should not demonizing these practices. We tried this before with Napster, and it failed. Instead, we need to change what we do. This is going to take inventive thinking, experimentation, and a willingness to share both successes and failures. But that is our job.
It's back to school, and we all have something to learn.
