The world is starting to change, so how is the change coming to play in our beloved school? Two teachers, one from the Upper School and one from the Middle School, attended an AI conference. These teachers were Mr. Hill and Mrs. Tyoe.

What are the benefits of AI?

When asked about what benefits AI has, Mrs. Tyoe replied, “I think AI has a lot of benefits when it is used properly.  AI can be a great starting point and provide feedback on student writing quickly.”  She then added, “It is important to remember that AI comes with limitations and that not all information is true or meaningful.” 

Mr. Hill answered, “Time spent is time that you can’t get back and AI has the ability to allow us to spend much less time on things than we previously have spent a ton of time on.”

When asked whether she would use AI in the classroom, Mrs. Tyoe replied,, “I recently used AI to help give feedback on students’ essays in my 8th grade social studies class.  In some instances I had to tweak or delete feedback from the AI as it was not correct or was not an expectation I held.” “For me, when giving feedback I tend to spend less time on the positives of student work for the sake of time because I want to leave feedback that can help my students improve as historical thinkers and writers.  The AI feedback I used gave several sentences per student of ‘glows’ or things that went well in their essay and for the most part I was in agreement,’ “ she later added.

Mr. Hill discussed how he will use AI in his classroom, explaining, “As for my classroom I plan to begin using AI as a tool a little more frequently as a way to help you all learn better. Especially with writing, I think we have a great opportunity to get a third voice in the room to help you guys become better writers and speakers, but this only works if the technology is used the right way.” 

As you see, teachers here at Malvern enjoy the idea of AI, and they understand that there are benefits and downsides to AI. So, what do you think? Is AI beneficial or not?