While finals are right around the corner, many students are cramming for all of their finals. The more traditional ways people study are flashcards, practice tests, and rewriting notes. Now, with access to the internet in seconds, many students have been using platforms such as Chat GPT and Google Gemini. Some people have very strong opinions about whether or not AI use really is helpful when it comes to learning, or if it is used more often for cheating. Many teachers accept that AI is a part of the generation we are in and instead of banning it, they are promoting all of the ways that AI can help students.
Rochester High School has embraced the generation we are in by purchasing Magic School, an AI platform that provides tools for educators to help them save time and support their students. AI is able to produce hundreds of practice problems in 30 seconds, when your teacher would only be able to give you one or two. AI is able to read and annotate your essays and papers over and over, giving you suggestions to improve your work each time. Many students have used this resource for numerous classes because of its efficiency and simplicity. Throughout Rochester High School, there are conflicting viewpoints on AI use.
Mr. Klemm, a social science teacher at Rochester, expresses his gratitude for the platform due to the numerous hours it has saved him. Klemm says, “One positive has been the ability to quickly put together review quizzes. Another is that it does help me with coming up with scenarios for questions; Those used to take me a long time to formulate, and now I can just rewrite or adjust as needed.” Mr. Klemm has introduced the AI platform Magic School to the majority of his classes, and he says, “I do believe MagicSchool has a lot of benefits to have on-demand tutoring support and the ability to have it quiz you on different topics. Because it can focus on application questions more than Quizlet or other websites can, I think it helps people to have a better understanding of information.”
Some students tend to use AI to just get the answers instead of understanding why the answer is what it is. Magic School is not allowed just to give you the right answer if you ask for it. The platform helps you work through the problem and will direct you towards the right answer. Some students find this feature frustrating because they just want it to give them the right answer.
Caroline Hedden, a Freshman at Rochester, says, “I really like that I can study no matter the time and get instant feedback. I think it is beneficial for students to have 24/7 help whenever they need it.” Ashley Zeibert has different thoughts: “If a student uses AI on homework, then they will later struggle on tests and the final, because they have been relying on AI too often.” While she doesn’t think it can be beneficial inside the classroom, she thinks it could be beneficial in events outside of school.
With every new piece of technology or application, there are going to be flaws. Mr Klemm says, “The biggest one I see for both students and teachers is that AI cannot fully understand what all we have and have not covered in class. The lack of that human context is important, and it does make the ability to write proper prompts and make adjustments accordingly essential to using it properly.” While students could abuse AI and use it only for answers, there is also the concern of no personal connection. “Another is that sometimes AI can offer incorrect information. If someone doesn’t know the topic well enough to push back, they may end up learning the wrong thing in some cases,” says Klemm.”While AI is still new with lots of unknowns, it can be very beneficial for teachers and students.
If you are stuck or tired of studying for finals in your old ways, try out Magic School, where you are able to get practice questions and an instant explanation as to why the correct answer is the correct answer. AI is a part of the world we live in, so why not embrace it?
