South, southwest suburban high school districts prepare to implement new AI programs

Chicago Tribune

17 hours ago

South and southwest suburban school districts are using the summer to prepare to implement several artificial intelligence tools, training or guidelines in the classroom, embracing the technology as it becomes harder to outright ban it.
Several high school districts, including Orland High District 230, Bremen District 228 and Oak Lawn District 229, have expanded technology committees and implemented guidelines on AI in discipline codes, giving teachers autonomy to use AI but prohibiting certain uses, such as generating content.
'Because it's been embedded in so many programs now, we had to come up with a clause in our policy that actually covers that. I mean, AI is just everywhere,' said Marcus Wargin, assistant principal at Oak Lawn Community High School. 'We knew we didn't want to say no to AI, so we just wanted to put some guardrails in place.'
District 228 has experimented with AI and recently purchased several programs to launch this fall. One AI program, entitled DFFIT.me and founded in 2023, helps teachers convert class content to different languages, reading levels and content that is more closely related to the students interests, which 'makes a big difference,' said Jim Boswell, director of operations and technology.
The district also plans to pilot the AI program Magic School, which gives students access to tools for reviewing and brainstorming ideas while ensuring the teacher has control over access to the tools. Students can even chat with an AI version of Abraham Lincoln, Boswell said.
'It comes down to taking off some of the tasks that get in the way of teachers interacting with their students, and we really do believe at a core level that AI is going to allow our teachers to be more in touch with their students, or be able to help their students more, rather than less, because it's going to eliminate things that are taking time away from students,' Boswell said.
At the administrative level, District 228 is using AI licensing for general data analysis, such as student performance, 'turning hours of work into seconds,' said Boswell. He said staff is trained to fact check and edit the information.
Oak Lawn High School has already allowed teachers and students to use AI technology for school projects that went well last spring, according to Wargin.
Students used Chat GPT to research how Oak Lawn could build a healthier, more sustainable food culture while other students used AI to manipulate their own pictures in a photography class, which taught students to 'ask what was ethical,' he said.
District 229 also required mandatory staff training on AI use, along with integrating AI education to students on a 'grand scale,' incorporating it into the media center's training for freshmen and other classes, Wargin said.
This coming year, Wargin said the district plans to educate students on the ethical use of AI, along with how to prompt it and understand if data is accurate. The use of AI could also vary from teacher to teacher, Wargin said, as long as student data is protected and students are still generating their own original ideas.
John Connolly, District 230 chief technology & operations officer and a board member for the Illinois Educational Technology Leaders, said schools have rescinded bans on AI because even if the technology is blocked from a school's online network, students and staff are still able to access it on their phones and personal devices.
District 230 decided against purchasing any specific AI programs and instead plans to continue exploring options and increasing training, Connolly said.
'The technology is moving so fast and there are so many things being introduced on the AI front, so that's why we're in an exploratory stage where we're seeing how all these technologies are coming along and how they can be used,' he said.
Since about two years ago, Connolly said, teachers have faced an explosive prevalence of AI in the classroom. Sheli Thoss, an English teacher at Stagg High School entering her 34th year of instruction, said she increased the number of in-class and hand-written assignments to avoid opportunities for the use of AI and also to get to know individual student voices.
'Obviously we don't want AI to do students' thinking and that's kind of the catch is like, there are very appropriate uses for it and there are very inappropriate uses for it, so we have to kind of find that balance,' Thoss said.
Thoss said she's discovered several students using AI to write assignments, but in response gives those students an opportunity to redo the assignment in front of her. She also addresses the issue individually, a method she has found particularly effective.
'It's just a matter of reminding kids that you believe that they can do it, that you know they have the skills to do it and making sure as well that if they're not, asking them what's going on and why they're making this choice,' Thoss said.
'I've found in my own opinion that when you address it and catch it one time and handle it with some kind of kindness and an opportunity to redo it, that they don't do it again,' she said.
District 230 held its first large-scale AI training in March for more than 75 teachers and staff. Attendees spent three hours discussing how to leverage AI, along with the pros and cons of using the technology. The district also added guidelines on the use of AI to its discipline policy for the first time last summer.
Connolly said while the district has not purchased any AI-specific programs for the classroom, the district made data privacy agreements with companies they had already partnered with as the companies embed AI into existing programs, such as Microsoft's Copilot or Google's Gemini.
The district also embraced the use of AI for the district's wireless system in 2022 through a company called Juniper, which helps the district better manage the efficiency of its network.
District 230 might reevaluate its stance next year, Connolly said, after using this year to explore different uses and types of AI tools in the classroom.
'It's going to be really interesting to see some of our existing applications, how they build AI within them, to take them to the next level and a lot of those are instructional tools,' Connolly said. 'It's also really important for us to work with our teachers on this to make sure that we're supporting what our teachers need.'
Both Bremen's Boswell and Oak Lawn's Wargin said while there have been some concerns around the ethics of using AI, teacher feedback has been generally positive about its efficiency.
'We have a good vibe going amongst our staff about the use of AI and its potential,' Boswell said. 'This next school year is getting the rubber to the road and being able to get teachers trained, developing student literacy for AI.'
Several districts plan to communicate about the effectiveness of each program, essentially collaborating through 'group sourcing' to find the best resources, Boswell said.
'I have friends or colleagues in every department in every district near us, and some are trying different tools than us, and we get together and discuss which ones are going well and how our experience is going with our tools,' Boswell said. 'I think over the next several years, we'll probably hone in on some that are the most successful.'