CLEVELAND — When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it made generative AI accessible to the average person. It didn’t take long to start making an impact in the classroom.
“People were scared,” said Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management Professor Michael Goldberg. “And now it’s a reality. Students are using it. Faculty is using it.”
Goldberg said he has embraced AI in the classroom.
“I try to get out ahead of it, and say, ‘Hey, this is a tool that is here and that we need to use. I’m using it, you’re using it,’” Goldberg said.
He said he now designs his assignments and tests with AI in mind.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve already run these exam questions through three different generative AI platforms. And frankly, the answers were quite good. So I know what these tools were able and capable of doing,’” Goldberg said. “Then the challenge to the students is, ‘How do you give me something better?’”
Dale Berkove graduated from Case Western Reserve University in the spring. Berkove said he started using ChatGPT shortly after it came out.
“I think for a lot of people, in particular in the more technical fields, will say, ‘Yeah, I don’t actually know how I got through some of these classes beforehand,’” Berkove said.
Goldberg said students using AI is the next step.
“This is the reality of what we’re going to be living with now and in the future,” he said.
At the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, staff are also embracing AI.
“I think we’re now on an exciting journey in relation to how AI is being utilized in the classroom,” said Shawn Braxton, the district’s Executive Director of the Division of Information Technology.
Braxton said students do not have access to AI in the classroom, but teachers do. He said teachers use Copilot, a generative AI developed by Microsoft, to help develop lesson plans for students.
He said the district is workshopping how to give students the opportunity to benefit from AI directly.
“The AI tools that we’re attempting to use are AI tools that will not give students the answer, but help them to develop the answer on their own,” Braxton said.
Braxton said CMSD doesn’t have a timetable for when students will get in-class access to AI tools, like Copilot or ChatGPT. He said the district is still working to determine how to give students access while also maintaining data privacy and security.
