As artificial intelligence skyrockets in use among students, the William S. Hart Union High School District’s AI Taskforce gave a presentation during Wednesday’s governing board meeting to show how district staff can use AI to their benefit and improve student success.
Following the district’s strategic plan aimed to guide staff toward continuous improvement, Hart High School Principal Jason d’Autremont and Valencia High School teacher Casey Cuny, 2024 California Teacher of the Year, shared highlights from focus area 1.4 of that plan, which is aimed to utilize technology effectively to promote student engagement and support learning, according to the meeting’s agenda item.
The district’s AI Taskforce, made up of junior high and high school teachers, staff, instructional coaches, and technology coordinators, was introduced during the meeting with the goal to help prepare the rest of the district on how AI can be used effectively.
“We need to make sure we have the infrastructure in place with our staff and our teachers in the classrooms to make sure that our students are well prepared,” d’Autremont said during the presentation. “So, our purpose is to handle this with (Clarity, Accuracy, Relevance, Ethics),” he added, also known as CARE.
According to the presentation, over 70% of teenagers are already using AI and staff want to encourage students to use it responsibly. In order to do so, “We want to set our mission of our task force to create guidelines and guardrails.”
The Hart district’s AI use guidelines follow a “traffic light” system — red meaning prohibited, yellow meaning limited AI use is allowed, and green meaning AI use is approved, according to the presentation. Teachers label each assignment with the appropriate color.
One way students can use AI is through a retrieval practice method. A document can be uploaded into an AI chatbot and ask it to create a series of quiz questions in relation to that document.
Once students submit their answers, it will identify the questions answered incorrectly and will then let the AI server formulate a personalized study plan, provide feedback, and re-quiz them, the presentation stated.
Cuny, in video form during the presentation, said that studies have shown this way of learning has doubled recall scores on both multiple choice and short answer questions.
Elaboration tutor is another form of using AI, Cuny said. Students can input a topic of their interest and AI will then respond with a claim and piece of cited evidence where students must then elaborate on the topic.
This allows them to still use their critical thinking and writing skills, and according to Cuny it’s been well received in the classroom. He also requires his students to submit the AI feedback with the assignment.
“Good teaching will always be good teaching, and the science on teaching and the science on learning has not changed. But I think AI can actually help us amplify that, increase critical thinking and increase engagement,” Cuny said, adding that he urges teachers to become AI-literate for a variety of reasons, including making teachers’ jobs easier.
Another reason Cuny wants teachers to know how to use AI is so they can catch the “rampage cheating” that has increased since AI was introduced, which has made him worry and question whether students are really learning in school.
He also added that there are no reliable AI detectors.
Following a district-wide survey, 400 responses indicated that 74% of those teachers do not use a form of AI, which is why the district’s task force was created, to help educators gain a better understanding of it.
Some guardrails teachers are sharing with students include:
- No forklifts: Your brains should be doing the heavy lifting.
- AI is not your friend — it is a tool. Don’t go telling it all of your secrets.
- Explain the why: Bias, hallucinations and ethics — always explain why there are certain parameters on AI.
