ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As the school year reaches the six-week mark, some Rochester schools are already nearing the end of the first marking period. So, how have teachers been adapting to the rise in artificial intelligence, especially if they suspect that a student is using AI to cheat?
News10NBC’s Emily Putnam visited The Children’s School No. 15 in the Rochester City School District to learn how teachers are handling artificial intelligence in the classroom. Kathleen Maughan, an instructional technology resource teacher with the district, said the first step when a teacher suspects a student is using AI to cheat is to have a conversation.
“When you receive a paper that you’re not sure about, it’s like, ‘this isn’t my student’s standard writing.’ Hopefully you’ve built those relationships with your students that you know the work that they do, you know their voice, you know their tone, you know their style,” Maughan said. “So if you’re getting something that’s different, then sit down and have a conversation.”
A group of 45 teachers, called the AI Teacher Innovator Cohort, meets once a month to discuss AI in the classroom. Maughan said they advise against using AI detectors because they can be biased against students learning English, but AI can also be a helpful tool for those same students.
“Taking something that is a topic that our students can’t relate to and putting it through Gemini, asking it to make connections for our students and with their culture, with their community and making it that they can identify with the material has been huge,” Maughan said.
Maughan also described a new teacher-directed AI chatbot that the district is rolling out, where teachers input all of the source material and students can choose their own learning path.
The district continues to explore ways to use AI as a tool to support students and teachers. Read the RCSD’s guidelines for artificial intelligence here.
If you have a good question you’d like answered, send News10NBC an email at goodquestion@whec.com
The post Good Question: How does RCSD deal with students cheating using AI? appeared first on WHEC.com.
