As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other forms of technology become more commonplace, teachers have been forced to constantly compete with tech. This has predictably resulted in a significant crackdown on technology use in the classroom this year. The rise of teachers restricting technology use in class, like cell phone pouches, has sparked debate about integrating technology into learning versus avoiding it. Like most things, technology is neither all good nor all bad. However, it is necessary to draw a clear line between what is acceptable and what isn’t in our education.
Although we’d all like to pretend we can multitask using our devices and paying attention during class, we all know that such multitasking makes it nearly impossible to absorb material. A 2023 article by the NeuroLeadership Institute reveals how the human brain truly can’t focus on more than one task at a time—rather, when “multitasking” with, say, our laptop in class, our brains are rapidly switching between paying attention to the teacher and using our laptop. Undeniably, it’s a tough pill to swallow, as it’s certainly easier to believe it possible to enjoy a game of Block Blast or a couple of Instagram Reels while simultaneously paying attention. This is unfortunately not the reality, however, and the sad truth is that if students have laptops or phones out during class, the vast majority will find it difficult to focus on whatever the teacher had originally asked them to take the devices out for. Admit it—you focus better when your teacher collects your phone at the start of class. You take better, more efficient notes, and remember them better, when you handwrite instead of typing. All of these are difficult truths to acknowledge, because admitting them requires us to accept that using phones and laptops in class, although definitely enjoyable, impacts our learning negatively, and that teachers are undoubtedly correct to be managing this distraction however works best for them, including taking devices.
AI, like other technologies, has the potential to be a great tool for students, within boundaries that must be respected and enforced. I’m a huge proponent of using AI to generate practice tests or questions, especially for AP courses with a standardized question style and course material. This method of using AI is a valuable tool that should be utilized by students to improve our learning. The line we must draw is substituting our own work, revisions, or ideas for those of an AI model. Of course, generating full works like essays using AI is beyond inappropriate. However, even using AI to generate ideas for a project is most certainly dishonest. Part of a project is being creative; we shouldn’t be using technology to skip the part of school that forces us to exercise creative thinking, lest we accept the deterioration of such thinking in academia.
It’s also critical to reject the use of AI for essay revisions. Although this method is significantly less offensive than generating a full paper using AI, it’s still crossing the line. To experiment with AI’s revision capabilities, I put my freshman year Kite Runner essay into ChatGPT for revision. I found that the changes made were significant—the paper emerged with an entirely different voice, using complex structures and vocabulary that I couldn’t have possibly known as a freshman. The essay was transformed from a strong freshman essay to something that resembled a college paper, confirming my suspicions that even if the original work that you put into an AI model is yours, the revisions AI gives will likely result in writing that is elevated far beyond your skills. It is because of instances like these, where students may misuse AI, that we must set clear boundaries for its use in school.
None of this is to say that technology doesn’t deserve a place in our learning—just not in the classroom. Quizlet or Knowt, for instance, are great tools to help memorize vocabulary. These tools can be valuable to the learning process, but they should still be limited in their use in the classroom, because whenever a device is introduced in the classroom, so is a distraction. As a whole, AI and technology in our learning process have immense potential to enhance our education, within certain limitations. As technology continues to advance, it is vital that students and teachers alike recognize the importance of preserving a traditional education, one that isn’t overly inclusive of technology, in order to combat distraction. These resources can still be enjoyed, like using AI to generate practice questions or Quizlet to study terms, but finding a balance between the two is critical as education and technology together continue to evolve and intertwine.
