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The Student Union

Editor’s Note: Huzzah! Spring has come. As National College Commitment Day on May 1 approaches, you start to notice more and more proud high school seniors sporting their college “swag.” It is time to celebrate the warm weather and new beginnings. This edition is geared to applaud the accomplishments of our hardworking youth. Cheers from your faithful editor, Hannah Little

Learning in an Artificial World By Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson The use of AI-powered writing tools like ChatGPT is The program’s ability to generate its own “ideas” becoming increasingly prevalent in high school classrooms, is what separates it from a standard search engine “I was aware it was happening in the weeks that it was with students turning to the technology as a way to cheat on or even an academic journal or article. It is powerful enough invented,” said Ms. Whipple about the faculty presentation. “I assignments and exams. While these students see the to do both the research and the writing. Typically, a student did some research, and came back to the school with a whole technology as a convenient way to get ahead, teachers are would spend hours collecting information and sources, a presentation for the admin team.” worried it will lead to an increase in plagiarism and a decrease task that ChatGPT can perform in just minutes. Late last year, the research company, OpenAI, released in the quality of student writing. Senior Eiki Fukuyama also thinks ChatGPT is a useful a Chatbot known as ChatGPT, which can generate high schoolOne student, who asked to remain anonymous, said tool rather than a site used for cheating. and college-level essays in less than a minute. If this sounds a they had been using ChatGPT to complete assignments for “I honestly think it’s really helpful,” he said. “It helps several months. “It’s so easy,” they said. “I just type in a prompt little “2001: A Space Odyssey” to you, you’re not alone. me on assignments when I am struggling, and it gives me The program uses a database of thousands of academic and ChatGPT gives me a whole essay. It saves me so much suggestions. I use it as an outline that I build off of.” papers, information on the web, and literature to generate time, and I can get a good grade without even trying.” The new technology could force a shift in how many paragraph-length responses to nearly any question. When asked about the potential for plagiarism, the teachers have taught classes, as they now must include more In the weeks after the presentation, the faculty and student shrugged. “I don’t really think about it,” they said. “I in-class writing and assessments that require complex or mean, it’s not like I’m copying and pasting someone else’s work. administration worked to rewrite the plagiarism and academic obscure literature. ChatGPT is just generating text for me, so it’s not “I’m going to be doing more in-class writing just so really plagiarism, right?” I have a really good sample of what a student is able But teachers are not so sure. “These tools are to write,” Ms. Whipple said. “If there ever is a making it easier for students to pass off question, it becomes pretty obvious, like what you someone else’s work as their own,” said Brittany write in class versus going home and coming back Whipple, Ojai Valley School 10th grade Honors English with a beautiful, perfect essay.” teacher. “And it’s not just about plagiarism. These While changes in the OVS community and classtools are also taking away from the room remain subtle, this is a rapidly growing learning experience. Students are no longer industry, and decisions regarding how to deal with AI developing their own writing skills, and they’re not in school will continue to be in the spotlight in the learning how to think critically or creatively.” coming months and years. Ms. Whipple also mentioned that the use of “I think that down the road, in future discussions, these AI-powered writing tools is making it harder to we’ll be thinking about how we teach,” Mrs. Colborn detect plagiarism. “In the past, we could easily detect said enthusiastically. “I thought it was cool, it does plagiarism by checking student work against online some really cool things. I think it’s important to sources,” she said. “But now, with so many AI-generatremember to not be afraid of the new technology ed texts out there, it’s becoming much harder to tell … it’s better to learn how to instruct with it, as opwhether a student has cheated or not.” posed to banning it completely.” Teachers and school administrators are now While a lot of good journalism work went into looking at ways to address this issue, including implereporting and writing this story, it’s scary to think menting stricter plagiarism policies and Student-created graphic, depicting the Open Source AI logo that it took ChatGPT less than 30 seconds to write a educating students about the dangers of using AIstory, and to have that story end the same way this dishonesty section of the student handbook, and began powered writing tools. discussing the topic with students in English and Social Science OVS journalist would have ended it. ... classes. All students were required to sign an updated “academic Here’s how ChatGPT ended its journalism story: integrity” pledge, which included information about use of AI Thus far, you have been reading a journalism story tools to complete assignments. completely curated by ChatGPT. “We need to make sure that students understand that “The English department overviewed the policy and Several weeks ago, the real Ojai Valley School English cheating is not only wrong, but it’s also counterproductive,” worked as a committee to update that policy,” said Laurel teacher Brittany Whipple presented information about a new Colborn, the assistant head of school for Academics. “Then the said Ms. Whipple. “They need to know that the only way to chatbot to the faculty, which was news to many. She started truly succeed is by putting in the hard work and developing English teachers went back and worked with all their students the conversation on ChatGPT’s workings by demonstrating their own skills.” how it could respond to writing prompts — including one out to go over the updates.” Overall, the use of ChatGPT in high school In the OVS community and across the country, school of Humanities class on the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem classrooms is becoming a concern for teachers and administrators are having discussions about how ChatGPT can “Ozymandias” — at the click of a button. be used to benefit the learning environment and not be seen as administrators as it makes it easier for students to cheat The chatbot flawlessly pumped out expert essays and and harder to detect plagiarism. It also takes away the the enemy. short answers. opportunity for students to develop their own writing skills “I see it as a tool,” Ms. Whipple said. “I see potential in and think critically. It’s important for educators to address people who might struggle with executive functioning. … I see this issue and educate students about the importance of The presentation left many teachers classroom abilities for this, in English, as well as other academic integrity and the dangers of cheating. disciplines.” astonished. And anxious. OVS was ahead of the curve on many of the national discussions regarding ChatGPT. While many colleges and high schools around the country have flat out banned it, OVS wants to take a more future-minded approach to the ever-evolving and incredibly powerful technology. “What we’re doing is asking students not to use the generators to do 100% of an assignment,” Mrs. Colborn said. “They (the students) have to be respectful if a teacher doesn’t want them to use it at all, but some will let them use it; they just have to cite it.” Students have differing opinions on how they will use ChatGPT, and where to draw the line between using AI as a positive tool and using it to plagiarize. “I think (using AI) becomes cheating when it is generating ideas or opinions about the text,” said OVS junior Ben Manning. “If you were to ask the AI to summarize a book or give a description, that For their AP English Literature class, students pledge they will not use AI would be fine.” for their coursework.