From Helping With Homework to Cheating on Tests: How Will ChatGPT Affect Bay Area Students?

When Balboa High School teacher Michael Rosenberg first discovered ChatGPT — the AI-powered chatbot that generates human-like answers to questions — a few months ago, he had just assigned an essay to his senior economics class. His prompt asked students to argue in favor of either capitalism or socialism. So, just for fun, he submitted the prompt to the chatbot.

“Instantaneously, it spit out, I would say, a C-level college paper, honestly. But I was blown away,” he said.

He started to wonder how this new technology would affect his students. Surely, they knew about ChatGPT and its capabilities. But would they resort to plagiarizing an AI robot?

So, when the class turned in their final essays, Rosenberg ran them through another AI software, ZeroGPT, that detects AI-generated content. A lot of them were flagged.

“Some kids who had been on the very low end of writing all of a sudden [that were] showing me the quality of work that they were showing, it was just like, ‘Wow, this is not you. There’s no way it’s you. Impossible,’” he said.

A few of his students admitted to using ChatGPT to write their essays and were given the chance to rewrite them. But Rosenberg wonders how this new technology — if used improperly — could affect their futures.

“I don’t know how the heck you’re going to be able to get a diploma, let alone go on to post-high school, whether it’s community college or university,” he said.

High school teachers and administrators everywhere are wondering how to approach this new technology in the classroom. Some schools are banning it outright, while others are switching back to traditional pencil-and-paper exams to avoid plagiarism.

In an email to KQED, Laura Dudnick, a representative from San Francisco Unified School District, said they do not currently offer any guidance for students regarding ChatGPT.

“As with any changes that may affect the educational space, we will continue to monitor for any updates regarding AI,” wrote Dudnick.

Rosenberg isn’t sure how to proceed and hasn’t received guidance from his school’s administration. He typically assigns a final essay at this point in the school year.

“I’m very nervous about how to do it,” he said. “I probably will not assign that final essay unless we have some very strict parameters in there.”

Education experts worry that ChatGPT could hinder the development of reading and writing skills in high schoolers — who are already struggling in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I may actually not be ready for college, or the level of writing that college is asking of me, if I have been only using this tool to do my writing in high school,” said Frank Worrell, professor of school psychology at UC Berkeley’s School of Education.

But the implications aren’t all bad, he said. In fact, for some students, ChatGPT could actually act as a learning tool.

“For students with learning disabilities in writing, ChatGPT is a wonderful tool for them because this is an area in which they are particularly challenged,” he said.

For example, Worrell said, teachers could assign an essay prompt and have students simultaneously submit the prompt to ChatGPT. “And then, as part of the lesson, compare where ChatGPT is stronger, where you are stronger. And that way, students get to learn how to use it and learn the limitations of it,” he said.

And while teachers are figuring out how the technology can be used for good in the classroom, some Bay Area students are finding creative ways the software can help advance their learning.

“One of my friends was telling me that they were studying for a quiz and they put in some information about what the test was going to be on, and ChatGPT spit out like a bunch of mock questions,” said Maya Bhatt, a high school junior in Danville.

Bhatt herself is passionate about writing, for which she said ChatGPT isn’t particularly helpful.

“I actually found that [ChatGPT’s] writing lacked a lot of emotion,” she said.

She said her teachers haven’t communicated with her or her classmates about ChatGPT, and she wishes they would lay down some expectations and parameters.

“Having that conversation with the teacher in an open manner, you know, not so much, like, ‘Never use it, like, what are you doing, don’t use that,’” she said. Instead, she wants acknowledgement of the technology and advice on how to use it from her teachers.

Worrell agrees that teachers and staff should engage in an open dialogue with their students. That promotes trust within a school, which, he said, is critical to its functionality.

“Students need to like their teachers to believe in their teachers. Teachers need to believe in their students. Teachers and administrators need to believe in each other. When they do not, the whole schooling enterprise falls apart,” he said.