More states and school districts are rolling out guidelines and policies for how educators and students can use generative artificial intelligence in their work.
These guidelines usually focus on bigger-picture strategies, such as aligning AI use with the district鈥檚 mission and vision, thoroughly vetting the tools, and providing professional development.
But as more teachers try out generative AI tools for their work, some are asking the question that the guidelines don鈥檛 always answer: Should we tell students when we鈥檙e using AI?
Anecdotally, teachers say they have used ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to create lesson plans, give students feedback on assignments, build rubrics, compose emails to parents, and write letters of recommendation for students.
Jacob Singer, a high school English teacher for Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Wash., said he and his colleagues have had conversations about whether teachers have an obligation to tell students when they鈥檙e using AI.
鈥淪ome teachers were saying, 鈥楴o, we鈥檙e teachers. We have gone to school, we practice these skills. We鈥檙e proficient, if not highly proficient. This is saving us time. Therefore, we should be able to do those things, and we should not have to tell students about that,鈥欌�� Singer said.
But for Singer, not telling students when he uses AI is something he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 feel comfortable with.鈥�
鈥淚 feel that no matter what our school policy is, I will always probably tell students when I鈥檓 using AI,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not written out how I鈥檓 using [AI] on the [assignment], I will explain it to them before I go into using it, because that鈥檚 my comfort level.鈥�
However, most educators do not share that perspective.
An overwhelming majority鈥�80 percent鈥攐f educators said it鈥檚 not necessary to tell students or parents when teachers use AI to plan a lesson, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of 1,183 teachers, principals, and district leaders conducted in March and April. Most educators also said the same when it came to creating assignments, building assessments, and tracking student behavior in the classroom.
鈥楾here is no need for them to know鈥�
Many educators simply see AI as just another tool they use in their job鈥攍ike a calculator or a lesson plan from a curriculum provider, according to open-ended responses to the EdWeek Research Center survey.
鈥淯sing AI to speed up my work as a teacher is not something I feel like I need to share with students or parents,鈥� said a high school career and technical education teacher in Louisiana in an open-ended response to the survey. 鈥淧arents don鈥檛 know what website I use to create other resources so there is no need for them to know that AI was used to create something else.鈥�
Other open-ended responses said that the way most teachers have been using AI is just as a starting point, and then they edit whatever the AI tool produces with their own context and ideas. So, it doesn鈥檛 make sense to tell students they used AI for brainstorming, they said.
Mark Erlenwein, the principal of Staten Island Technical High School in New York, said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 imagine you鈥檙e going to see a lot of teachers giving credit to AI for the creation of an activity.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 give credit to the calculator that calculates all my budgetary calculations. I don鈥檛 give credit to Excel for helping me do the budget,鈥� Erlenwein said. 鈥淚 think we have to come to an agreement as to what intellectual property needs to be relinquished鈥� when we use AI.
For Erlenwein, transparency is important in areas where 鈥渁uthenticity鈥� and 鈥渙wnership of intellectual property鈥� counts, he said.
For instance, if a teacher uses AI to create a sample essay for students to read, the teacher should be transparent about that. But if a teacher uses AI to come up with lesson plan ideas, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 necessary, because you鈥檙e using it as an efficiency tool.鈥�
Transparency could help model appropriate use
Experts who have been studying the use of AI in education say that teachers should be transparent with students about how they use the technology, because it helps model appropriate use for students.
鈥淪ince AI is so new and we are all trying to figure out how to best use it, I think it would be great for teachers to share their uses with their students,鈥� said Glenn Kleiman, a senior adviser in the Stanford Graduate School of Education, in an email to Education Week. 鈥淎I provides an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate how they learn about and explore using the new capabilities AI provides, by sharing what they do, how they evaluate the results, and things they try that don鈥檛 work well, with their students.鈥�
Pat Yongpradit, who leads the TeachAI initiative and is the chief academic officer of Code.org, said that teacher transparency with students could open up questions, such as: How does a person effectively use a generative AI tool? Or when should the user cite a chatbot?
It鈥檚 also 鈥渁 great opportunity to have a discussion of academic integrity,鈥� Yongpradit said.
Singer agreed that one of his responsibilities is showing students how to use technology鈥攏ot just 鈥渉ow to make things faster, simpler,鈥� but also 鈥渉ow to use it in a more productive way,鈥� and modeling behavior and transparency is essential for that responsibility.
Some students agree that when teachers are transparent with how they鈥檙e using AI, then students can learn the right and wrong ways to use the technology.
鈥淲hen a teacher is clear about how they鈥檙e using it, they can show their students that they are not using it in a bad way, and that there is potential for AI to be used for good,鈥� said Yasmeen Galal, a senior at Woodlands Regional High School in Beacon Falls, Conn.
鈥淧romoting that sort of environment where people are honest about it will ensure that students are using AI ethically or not using it when they鈥檙e not supposed to,鈥� Yasmeen said.
For Singer, it鈥檚 also about the kind of student-teacher relationship an educator wants to build. He鈥檇 rather not be a 鈥渟age on the stage,鈥� and not being transparent with his AI use feels like he鈥檚 hoarding the knowledge. Instead, he wants 鈥渢o walk with students and along with them鈥� as they explore this new technology.
Palash Kapoor, a senior at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, said he would 鈥渨ithout a doubt鈥� want to know if a teacher uses AI in their work, and he 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 take that in a bad way at all, like the teacher is incapable or anything like that.鈥�
鈥�69传媒 would be very open and appreciative of that fact,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t helps establish a trusting relationship, which I think is very important in the classroom.鈥�
