Seminole County, Florida – The Seminole County School Board is set to approve a code of conduct and ethics for the 2024-2025 school year, which will include punishments for students who submit AI-generated work without credit or consent.
Using AI to submit assignments or complete exams or quizzes is prohibited unless expressly permitted by your teacher, and any permitted use of AI must be clearly indicated in the assignment.
If a student submits an AI-generated work without following these guidelines, it will be considered plagiarism.
News 6 caught up with Shawn Gard-Harrold, SCPS's assistant superintendent of ePathways, to discuss how the district is approaching AI technology.
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“As we saw ChatGPT start to evolve, we quickly blocked it from our system, and then students started turning on the hotspot on their phones and accessing ChatGPT from the hotspot,” Gard Harold said. “So once you start to realize that trying to block this stuff is never going to be the solution, you have to have a conversation with your students about how you can tackle this.”
Gard Harold said the district recognizes that AI is used every day in nearly every industry.
“When you meet with health care professionals, when you meet with people in advanced manufacturing, when you meet people in finance, AI is being used in all of those industries,” Gard Harold says. “And if students don't understand that AI will impact whatever field they go into, they'll be behind the times. So our job is to make sure that students understand when to use artificial intelligence, how to verify the sources, and how to apply it in a way that's meaningful and that represents their values.”
Students in Seminole County are already learning about artificial intelligence: Hagerty High School and Crooms Academy are home to two career and technical education programs in artificial intelligence.
“We're not saying hide from AI or run from AI,” Gard Harold says. “We're really trying to get students and teachers to understand that we live in a world where AI is a part of it.”
As students, teachers, and school boards struggle to figure out how to use AI in the classroom, questions are arising about whether AI is doing more harm than good.
A majority of teachers have uncertainties and concerns about the downsides of AI in K-12 education, according to a fall 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center.
Nearly a third (32%) said there were roughly equal numbers of benefits and harms, while only 6% said there were more benefits than harms, and 35% said they didn't know.
News 6 asked Central Florida school districts how they are approaching the use of AI, and you can see the responses we received below.
Brevard County
Brevard County School District superintendents said they are currently gathering input from stakeholders regarding the use of AI in schools, concerns around its use, and benefits associated with its use. They will consider the responses they receive and the information they gather and consider any necessary changes to policies and codes of conduct.
Marion County
Marion County Public Schools approved a plan June 11 to advance students as follows:
Any intentional or willful unauthorized use of another person's copyrighted work for academic purposes and/or improper use of notes/materials and/or improper provision of information in the completion of academic assignments or tests is not permitted, including the submission of artificial intelligence generated work in place of a student's original work.
Marion County Public Schools Policy
Orange County
Access to AI will be blocked for all students on the school network. Staff will regularly monitor district devices for unauthorized programs or usage and respond accordingly. The student code of conduct outlines penalties for misconduct and violations.
Osceola County
Responsible Use of AI by Students
A. When using AI programs, students should be aware that they may be sharing personal data with AI bots, and furthermore, the information they upload may impact their own privacy and the privacy of their peers.
B. AI programs may have implicit bias and present misinformation. Students should be aware that AI is not always a factually accurate or trustworthy source of information and should be able to provide evidence from official sources to support claims about the AI. All users should also be aware that bias and discrimination may exist in AI tools and applications.
C. When students use AI tools or applications, they should think critically and be sure to fact-check using primary sources.
D. Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Dual Enrollment (DE) college courses may impose additional limitations or restrictions on the use of AI tools and applications.
E. Academic Integrity means that if a student uses AI in any capacity, the student acknowledges the use of AI in connection with their schoolwork, including but not limited to attribution of AI text, images, multimedia, etc., when using these items in schoolwork or assignments. Use of AI must also comply with other school district policies (e.g., Student Code of Conduct), if applicable.
F. Students may not use AI tools or applications to avoid creating their own original work.
G. Students may not use AI tools or applications if their teacher has expressly prohibited their use.
H. Student access to certain websites using AI may be permitted, but privacy guidelines and age restrictions should be considered before allowing such use.
I. Any unauthorized use of AI tools and applications, including hacking and data tampering, is strictly prohibited.
J. Students who use AI software using personal devices or with personal credentials should be aware that the AI platforms to which they upload information collect various forms of data that may impact their own privacy and the privacy of their peers.
Osceola County Schools Policy
Volusia County
The school board adopted the policy in May, which outlines the use of AI by students and faculty and the consequences of doing so. You can read the full article below.
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