Like all schools, Episcopal School of Jacksonville (ESJ) graduates’ achievements over time may be based in part on how well they work with technological advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI). To that end, Episcopal division heads and the Student Life office spent much time in 2023 delving into the world of AI, how it works and what it does well, what it does not do well and what it means for students as learners and even as humans.
With questions from parents, faculty and students around the use of AI for academic purposes, the school has developed a policy that applies to AI in the classroom for grades six through 12.
ESJ’s new policy reads: “Our approach and philosophy regarding this type of content is authentic to the future our students will live and work in, but more importantly is rooted in our mission and our learner-centered approach to education. Episcopal will teach students to utilize machine intelligence ethically and efficiently, ensuring that our programs and pedagogy continue to emphasize the irreplaceable value of that which makes us human.”
“The most important word in our policy is ‘human,’” said Natalie Herford, ESJ head of upper school. “We are — and our students are — first and foremost, human beings. No machine can take the place of our creativity, our joy for learning, our Harkness classroom discussions or our imagination. But we can use AI for learning with parameters placed around it.”
Ultimately, the use of AI in an academic environment comes down to what is permitted by the faculty member in a certain instance, and how that permission is understood by the student. Therefore, the importance of clear and precise direction is imperative.
Development of a hard line on what constitutes an authentic work by a student was part of the interdepartmental discussions this summer. Questions were developed that covered all the bases for how a faculty member should give direction for an assignment to students.
In addition, in the past, much of grading has depended on the final product a student submits. With the development of AI, the process the student goes through to create that final product now becomes exponentially more weighty for the grade because the learning is now shown differently. Learning now has become the process, instead of learning being the final product.
“With AI, it is easy to turn in a polished product and learn nothing in the process,” said Herford. “This is what ESJ is determined to protect against, using a few different methods. Episcopal is at an advantage because of the student-teacher relationships that are what make ESJ such a special community. We know our students, so we know when all of a sudden an assignment is submitted that doesn’t seem to jive with a students’ normal work product. Other methods include the increased use of Google docs and assignment checks throughout the project.”
Figuring out how to use the positive aspects of AI has also been important.
ESJ Faculty who are early adopters of the technology have found AI is useful for problem set generation, brainstorming idea generation and using AI as a tutor in certain circumstances. Faculty use the misinformation AI produces as a learning tool as well — students are asked to correct, edit and rework what AI spits out. This increases the emphasis on process, keeping the lesson learner-centered, and teaching that AI does not have all, or even always correct, answers.
“There is so much still to come with AI, both positive and challenging,” said Herford. “We will continue to tackle AI the ‘Episcopal way,’ ensuring our students are learning from it, that our grading system is reflective of the learning process, and that we use it as a tool instead of a crutch. The more comfortable our students are with many facets of AI, the better prepared they will be for their next steps after ESJ.”
