Prioritizing the Human Connection: GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE in Schools

GenAI is redefining how content is learned, created, and communicated. ”Unlike other new technologies that simply require a ‘rollout,’ the arrival of Generative AI is a force. The world is becoming different because of it, and the world has to change in response to it,” says Evan Kanouse, Director of Academic Operations.

Rather than being swept away by the wave of GenAI, GCDS is adopting a deliberate, thoughtful approach. “We’re approaching it holistically, considering all the angles—positive, neutral, or otherwise—where GenAI could impact our community,” Kanouse explains.

To do that, GCDS has convened several multidisciplinary groups throughout the school—from an Advisory Group, composed of board members, parents, teachers, and administrators to groups of classroom teachers—to think strategically about if, how, and where GenAI should be integrated into school. In addition, faculty members are seeking professional development and peer school networking opportunities to help them adapt and take advantage of the new opportunities GenAI offers.

Balancing Optimism with Caution

Days before the start of the 2024–2025 school year, the entire faculty and staff met with Greg Kulowiec, a leading academic technology consultant, for a professional development session to discuss the potential, risks, and implications of GenAI in schools. Kulowiec told the faculty that he believes that GenAI, in its best form, will enhance students’ creativity and critical thinking and be more than a simple source of information. GenAI will help push student and faculty thinking, prepare creative lesson plans, make assessments based on goals,” said Kulowiec. “We are already seeing that GenAI is a part of all the tools that people use. There isn’t going to be an opt-in feature. GenAI will be baked into the operating system.” However, Kulowiec tempered his optimism by addressing GenAI’s risks. He warned about the potential erosion of critical thinking, overreliance on AI tools, and inherent biases in these systems. “While I’m optimistic, we can’t just look at the benefits. We have to look at some of the concerns and figure out how we’re going to address those, then maybe flip those into opportunities.” “The narrative from tech companies is tempting: let the tool do the work for you. But the beauty of being alive is struggling with challenging problems. Why would we want to outsource that?”

Generative AI in Practice

GCDS is already exploring multiple AI tools for teachers to enhance differentiation opportunities, devise student specific tutoring modules, and inspire innovative teaching strategies. With a schoolwide license for MagicSchool, GCDS teachers, primarily at the Old Church Road campus, are experimenting with ways to integrate it into project-based learning.

However, adoption of GenAI is not mandatory. “We’re providing space for everyone,” Kanouse says. “Some teachers are advocates and feel the use of AI enhances the learning experiences for students while others feel there is no place for it as they are focused on the development of core academic and foundational skills. Both approaches are valid.”

At the Upper School, administrators shared this statement with the students at the beginning of the year to deter GenAI use without teacher permission: “Any use of Generative AI requires instructor permission as well as acknowledgment when signing the honor pledge. Failure to disclose the use of AI is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.” Some faculty members use a 5-tier AI stoplight system for student work: green means full use of AI with proper citations in a final project, yellow allows limited use with restrictions, and red prohibits AI entirely.

“Students and faculty members need clarity and opportunities to explore AI responsibly,” Kanouse explains. “We want to provide assignments across the stoplight spectrum, from traditional pen-and-paper tasks to open-ended AI experiments.”

Dr. Andrew Ruoss, Assistant Head of the Upper School for Academic Programs, says that the use of GenAI varies by department. For example, students and faculty in Economics classes are using Perplexity, a new AI tool, and AI is also being used in Computer Science classes. “Educators have to be rubber bands, not walls, in response to a technology that is changing so swiftly.”

The Human Connection

Kulowiec underscored that while AI excels at generating content, it lacks understanding of context or meaning —making the role of teachers indispensable. “The human connection is the fundamental thing. You know your students better than the machine does. You have context for their background, struggles, and successes.” Kanouse echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that AI should enhance, not replace, the human experience in education. “Our role as educators is to model responsible technology use and ensure that AI supports teaching and learning, rather than diminishing it.”

“Whether you’re an optimist or a skeptic, the goal is the same: understanding what’s best for students,” Kulowiec concluded. “The tools are here to stay. Let’s ensure we use them to elevate, not diminish, the human experience.”

GCDS AI Advisory Group Purpose Statement:

Our goal is to stay at the forefront of AI developments in education, ensuring our school remains innovative and prepared for the future. We strive to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and our core educational values, fostering a culture of informed innovation and decision-making.

We are committed to exploring, evaluating, and integrating AI technologies in ways that enhance student learning, improve the capacity of our educators to provide quality learning experiences, streamline administrative processes, and prepare our community of learners for a future alongside artificial intelligence and generative technologies.”

The arrival of Generative Artificial Intelligence is reshaping many industries and sparking conversations about its potential and pitfalls. Education is no exception. Schools like GCDS are navigating this transformational technology, which generates essays in a few seconds and creates “unique” images, music, audio, and videos from simple instructions.

FACULTY PERSPECTIVES:

TIM DONOGHUE, Upper School English Teacher

The tool can sketch out quick personas for a role-play activity or generate straw man arguments for a debate. But it can also create the full essay or presentation, obviating the need for students to do much generative thinking. This requires discipline. If our nation’s record with debt, climate change, and consumption is any indicator, I’m not so sanguine about our ability to maintain discipline with AI. I might finish a bike race in two hours with my traditional bike, but with an electric bike, I can finish that race in just over an hour. So what’s my actual time? Did they see my electric motor? Which version of my race results should I submit? This is how AI is scrambling teacher-student ethics.”

NINA BASINET, Head of Upper Elementary School

While there are no formal expectations for using Generative AI, we encourage our teachers to explore its potential as a valuable thought partner. This versatile tool can spark creativity and generate fresh ideas.”

TAYLOR JONES, Assistant Head of the Middle School & Math Teacher

I walked into his talk as an AI skeptic, and his presentation has started to shift my mindset. As a result of the information and expertise he provided, my colleagues and I have already started discussing how we can use it as a tool in our classrooms and lesson planning. Even just today we used it to help us brainstorm ideas for a new math project. While the entire landscape of GenAI is daunting and changing every day, it clearly has the potential to be a powerful tool. This session with Greg Kulowiec gave me a kickstart in the right direction.”

LUKE LAUBSCHER, Grade 4 Teacher

AI in schools and life has become woven into the fabric of our day-to-day proceedings. I am grateful for the efficiency it provides, allowing me to spend time thinking creatively and achieve some of my finest work, while also being wary of its downfalls and drawbacks. In particular, the largest downfall that I closely monitor—in both myself and my students as well—is the overreliance on the tools that AI provides. It is important that we are always teaching our students, and ourselves, to think critically and problem solve independently.”