Seven weeks ago, Turnitin launched its preview for its AI writing detection tool. As of May 14, the company has processed at least 38.5 million submissions for AI writing, and, to no surprise, they’re uncovering AI-written text, according to a recent blog post from Turnitin’s Chief Product Officer Annie Chechitelli.

According to the data, 9.6% of their total submissions contain over 20% of AI writing and 3.5% contained between 80% and 100%.

“It’s important to consider that these statistics also include assignments in which educators may have authorized or assigned the use of AI tools, but we do not distinguish that in these numbers,” Chechitelli wrote. “We are not ready to editorialize these metrics as ‘good’ or ‘bad’; the data is the data.”

She also stresses that the data is imperfect. Like with any plagiarism or AI detector, there’s a chance that they’ll mistakenly flag a student’s assignment.

“As a result of this additional testing, we’ve determined that in cases where we detect less than 20% of AI writing in a document, there is a higher incidence of false positives,” she wrote. “This is inconsistent behavior, and we will continue to test to understand the root cause.”

Such mistakes could also leave educators puzzled about how to resolve the issue of suspected cheating by students. Based on feedback from teachers using Turnitin’s AI detector, Chechitelli notes that many simply don’t know how to react and approach students after their assignments are flagged for AI-written text.

Fortunately, the company has published several resources educators and district leaders should take advantage of when considering AI’s capabilities for enhancing student learning—when used ethically—in the classroom. Here’s a look at all five:

• How to approach a student misusing AI: This guide helps educators learn about how to approach this conversation with a student, starting with collecting “clear and definitive documentation.”
• Discussion starters for tough conversations about AI: Discussions surrounding the issue should support honest, open dialogue. Start with addressing the students’ strengths demonstrated in the assignment, their weaknesses and then their apparent misuse of AI.
• How to handle false positive flags: While false positive rates are small, it’s important that educators know how to begin the conversation when it occurs.
• Handling false positives as a student: Before submitting assignments, students should make sure they know the rules regarding AI use and what is and isn’t acceptable.
• Ethical AI use checklist for students: Educators encouraging the use of AI in and out of the classroom should take steps to ensure students are upholding academic integrity by following these guidelines.

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But that can change.

Three years after its release, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for the first time updated its #StopRansomware guide this week as ransomware and double extortion continue to plague K12 schools.

For some, this may be a much-needed refresher course ahead of the 2023-24 school year considering the number of targeted cyberattacks, experts warned leaders.

In partnership with the FBI, National Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the guide reflects on lessons learned over the past several years in addition to some recommendations leaders should consider for keeping their student and staff data secure. The recommendations cover best practices for ransomware and data extortion prevention as well as a checklist district and IT leaders can follow.

More from DA: Do school districts stand a chance suing social media giants?

What’s new?

As cyber criminals continue evolving their tactics, it’s imperative for schools to stay one step ahead to mitigate the risk of ransomware. To maintain relevancy and maximize effectiveness, CISA added some of the following changes to its guide:

• For the first time, the FBI and NSA have been added as co-authors for their contributions and insight.
• Implemented recommendations for preventing common initial infection vectors, including advanced forms of social engineering and compromised credentials.
• Updates to recommendations for addressing cloud backups and zero trust architecture (ZTA).
• Expanded its ransomware response checklist to include threat-hunting tips for detection and analysis.
• Mapped recommendations to CISA’s Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs).

“This document is a one-stop resource to help organizations reduce the risk of ransomware incidents through best practices to detect, respond, and recover, including step-by-step approaches to address potential attacks,” according to CISA’s website.

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Two South Carolina school districts—Fort Mill Schools and the Clover School District—are among the latest to take aim at social media companies for their negative impact on students. The lawsuit targets Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Snapchat and Google, which owns YouTube.

“We’re hopeful that this will maybe help some of these companies put in some extra safeguards for kids,” Chief Communication Officer of Fort Mill Schools Joe Burke told WCNC. “We heard last night that a lot of kids on this platform are in the 8 to 12 range which shouldn’t even be on those platforms.”

Also this week, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new mental health advisory addressing social media use and its effects on youth mental health.

“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis—one that we must urgently address,” Murthy said in a statement.

While social media poses a clear and immediate threat to students, as the headlines suggest, do school districts stand a chance in their fight to reduce the risk?

Dr. Aaron Saiger, professor of law at Fordham University, says their chances may be slim.

“I am not optimistic about the success of these lawsuits,” he says. “Many, many products have adverse effects on children that create costs for schools. These costs include, but are not limited to, mental health problems for students. Without making any claims about relative magnitude, products that come immediately to mind include television shows, phones, sugary foods, sneakers and music. All of these products arguably harm children but also bring value—which includes enjoyment—to their users.”

He adds that we’ve seen these heightened states of fear and “moral panic” before surrounding new behaviors and technologies that young children take a liking to.

“TV shows, rock music and video games have all been viewed by adults as a scourge that needed to be stopped lest they destroy children and childhood,” he says. “In earlier periods, these conflicts played out over genres like films and even novels. This is not to deny that new kinds of entertainment often do create new problems. They do. But they also create value that hidebound adults cannot—or do not want—to see.”

That being said, he doesn’t think the lawsuits are “preposterous.” If a company produces a potentially harmful product and doesn’t take measures to mitigate the negative effects it has on its audience, they’re responsible for it.

“A company is liable for placing a dangerous product on the market if it failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate the danger its products pose, or if its product is so ‘inherently’ dangerous that the dangers vastly outweigh whatever compensating value it offers,” he explains. “My lay understanding of social media is that it is not the latter; social media provides an enormous value to many people, including children.”

“I do not know whether there are ways to mitigate the bad effects of social media on children that would be realistically achievable and reasonably effective,” he adds. “For example, could companies actually enforce minimum age requirements, and would that help mental health? If there are such steps, social media companies would be wise to take them. But such steps, to be reasonably effective in this context, cannot destroy the value of the product.”

More from DA: By the numbers: The pandemic and its ‘complicated’ toll on K12 education

Another complex element is the idea that students are seemingly addicted to social media, something that Murthy points out in his advisory.

“Small studies have shown that people with frequent and problematic use can experience changes in brain structure similar to changes seen in individuals with substance use or gambling addictions,” the advisory reads.

Another national survey revealed that one-third of girls ages 11-15 reported feeling “addicted” to a social media platform. But according to Saiger, it’s a loaded term in this context.

“It comes from medicine and implies a physical dependency,” he says. “Courts might well hold that it is per se unreasonable to try purposely to ‘addict’ children. But companies are entitled to design products that consumers enjoy using and therefore want to use more of.”

But the lawsuits clearly put pressure on social media companies, he notes. As with the general surgeon’s advisory, they stir public conversation and potential regulatory intervention, regardless of whether the lawsuits are dropped or resolved in favor of the company.

“They might also motivate state and federal regulators to look into the issue,” he says. “The companies might reasonably look for proactive measures that would satisfy some of the districts’ complaints in order to head off adverse regulatory action. This could look like a win to the districts.”

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Enabling new forms of interaction between educators and students, and more effectively personalizing learning are among the potential benefits of AI, the agency says in its new report, “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations.” But the risks include a range of safety and privacy concerns and algorithmic bias.

Educators and policymakers should collaborate on the following principles:

1. Emphasize humans-in-the-loop: Educators and students can remain firmly at the center of AI if users treat edtech like an electric bike rather than a robot vacuum. On an electric bike, humans are fully aware and fully in control, and their efforts are multiplied by technological enhancement. Robot vacuums complete their tasks with little human involvement or oversight beyond activating the device.
2. Align AI models to a shared vision for education: The educational needs of students should be at the forefront of AI policies. “We especially call upon leaders to avoid romancing the magic of AI or only focusing on promising applications or outcomes, but instead to interrogate with a critical eye how AI-enabled systems and tools function in the educational environment,” the Department of Education says.
3. Design AI using modern learning principles: The first wave of adaptive edtech incorporated important principles such as sequencing instruction and giving students feedback. However, these systems were often deficit-based, focusing on the student’s weakest areas. “We must harness AI’s ability to sense and build upon learner strengths,” the Department of Education asserts.
4. Prioritize strengthening trust: There are concerns that AI will replace—rather than assist—teachers. Educators, students and their families need to be supported as they build trust in edtech. Otherwise, lingering distrust of AI could distract from innovation in tech-enabled teaching and learning.
5. Inform and involve educators: Another concern is that AI will lead to a loss of respect for educators and their skills just as the nation is experiencing teacher shortages and declining interest in the profession. To convince teachers they are valued, they must be involved in designing, developing, testing, improving, adopting, and managing AI-enabled edtech.
6. Focus R&D on addressing context and enhancing trust and safety: Edtech developers should focus design efforts on “the long tail of learning variability” to ensure large populations of students will benefit from AI’s ability to customize learning.
7. Develop education-specific guidelines and guardrails: Data privacy laws such as the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children’s Internet Privacy Act (CIPA), and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) should be reviewed and updated in the context of advancing educational technology. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) could also be reevaluated as new accessibility technologies emerge.

More from DA: Why your fellow superintendents are facing more no-confidence votes

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The announcement came Thursday in an op-ed from Chancellor of New York City Public Schools David Banks on Chalkbeat. While their initial decision to ban the technology was justified, he writes, “It has now evolved into an exploration and careful examination of this new technology’s power and risks.”

“Naturally, our best-laid plans are sometimes disrupted by the advance of technology and innovation,” he notes.

Now, the school system is encouraging its educators and students to learn and explore this “game-changing technology” and share those experiences across their schools. In addition, they’re supporting teachers by giving them resources and real-life case studies of AI implementation in schools to “improve administrative tasks, communication and teaching,” the op-ed reads.

“We will also offer a toolkit of resources for educators to use as they initiate discussions and lessons about AI in their classrooms. We’ll continue to gather information from experts in our schools and the field of AI to further assist all our schools in using AI tools effectively.”

Other school districts, however, remain locked in on their decision to ban the chatbot. Seattle Public Schools made its decision in December to encourage “original thought and original work” among students, SPS Spokesperson Tim Robinson told Axios. But some see such restrictions as a losing battle.

“Banning ChatGPT is like using a piece of paper to block this flood that is coming,” University of Washington Professor Jason Yip told The Seattle Times. Although students don’t have access to it on district-owned devices or its network, they have unlimited access at home, which they can leverage to email themselves the answers, The Seattle Times adds.

Similar to NYC’s approach, SPS leaders anticipate that they will revisit the issue in the coming months.

“This is all so new that the digital team at the district is talking about it constantly,” Robinson told The Seattle Times. “There is nothing set in stone. I think the directive will be modulated here in the future.”

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Other districts have already embraced it, and they have been for some time. Manor Independent School District in Texas is helping students understand how to leverage generative AI for learning.

“Our energy doesn’t need to be focused in trying to stay ahead of what the kids can find on their own devices anyway or at home anyway,” Manor New Tech High School Teacher Samantha Miller told KVUE. She said the district isn’t worried about cheating because of their teaching methods.

“You have to present things [using] oral communication, [showing] your ability to speak clearly and concisely in an engaging manner,” she said. “That’s not something ChatGPT can do for you.”

In Ohio, Alliance City School District Superintendent told The Repository in April the district’s plans to incorporate ChatGPT in its classrooms.

“We can’t stop the hands of time. It’s going to be here,” he said. “Our students are going to use it in the workplace someday. Why not teach them how to use it?”

The post Why New York City Public Schools reversed its ban on ChatGPT appeared first on District Administration.

Schools are getting creative in how they face and address these challenges through the use of emergency teaching licensures, partnerships with private entities, and tutoring toolkits. Many of the initiatives involve technology that districts and schools began using during the pandemic and have evolved to continue to turn complex challenges into opportunities.

Opportunity #1: Personalizing the path to intervention

Well before the pandemic, educators recognized the power of using technology to help meet the individual needs of students. But now, as students need support in one or more subjects, personalized learning is being seen as a non-negotiable by many educators. Now more than ever, teachers need better ways to pinpoint specific gaps to design individualized experiences and these interventions must have the flexibility to guide an individual student, a group of students or an entire class.

In Cumberland Valley School District in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, the district used a diagnostic assessment technology to identify gaps in math skills among fifth graders. While initially the assessments were provided in lieu of state tests that were canceled during the pandemic, educators quickly realized that the detailed student data they received was far more powerful than state testing alone—because it could inform real-time instructional decisions. Department leaders could see what skills students were missing and create individual plans for them to close those gaps, which led to accelerated progress that boosted student motivation.

Opportunity #2: Advancing equitable access and engagement

Over the past few years, the implementation of virtual and tech-enabled learning has soared. The increase in one-to-one device policies, as well as the use of educational apps and other technologies, is solidifying the reality of anytime, anywhere learning. Those investments are opening possibilities for districts and schools to provide more equitable access to students in a variety of environments and circumstances. From expanded course catalogs to flexible digital content, districts and schools are making more choices for where, when, and in which style students learn.

Rural schools are often leading the way in taking advantage of the benefit of virtual learning. In rural Wisconsin, Oconto Unified School District is using technology to expand what courses it offers students. School leaders in the district felt limited by geographic location—and educator capacity—to add more science, foreign language, and other elective classes. When the district partnered with an online education partner, it opened up a new set of options for students, helped the district maintain their enrollment, addressed family and community educational needs, and ensured Oconto Unified School District remained the school option of choice.

Opportunity #3: Supporting educator capacity

Teachers remain one of the most influential factors in student achievement. But educators across the country are feeling burnt out. In many areas, that stress is aggravated by teacher shortages that force educators to juggle increasing responsibilities.

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The right learning technology can help teachers focus on what they do best—teaching and connecting with their students. To find the right solutions, districts need to consider resources that increase teacher capacity, including supporting the daily work of educators through tools that blend in-person and tech-enabled learning experiences.

Digital curriculum that uses video can be a powerful tool to increase capacity. At Decatur City Schools in Alabama, teachers started using digital curricula to offer virtual and in-person learning options to students simultaneously. While that could feel like adding more to a teacher’s plate, it instead allowed teachers more freedom. Teachers were able to walk students through live instruction, and subsequently let students work independently using recorded videos. The flexibility gave students more choices in how they learned without overwhelming teachers with more work.

Opportunity #4: Investing in educator-focused innovation

As classrooms adopt more technology, the tools need to work together more. The technical term for this is interoperability. Too often, edtech is not built with teachers or the classroom in mind, forcing teachers to—on top of everything else they have to do—figure out how to connect information from one tool to another. Prioritizing the adoption of secure, easy-to-use tools that integrate to create a unified platform is essential for district and school leaders.

The educators at Mitchell Community Schools in Indiana understood the frustration of having too many platforms. Their educators used so many online learning tools that they found it difficult to gain expertise in one. It was also challenging for their educators to make decisions based on an overwhelming amount of data from numerous sources.

Educators pushed their leaders to find a simplified solution. Using simplification as a guiding principle, the district found a new online learning platform that could serve many roles. The switch made it easier for educators to see student progress and gaps and resulted in steady student academic growth.

The problems district and school leaders face today are complex. But with creative thinking and the right learning technology, they can find and seize the opportunities within those complex challenges.

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While some educators have been quick to embrace this change, many institutions have missed significant opportunities to utilize these tech tools—often due to a lack of training, funding, infrastructure, or resources.

Today, it’s essential for educators to embrace these recent technological advancements. When leveraged with effective pedagogy, they present a massive opportunity to transform and reimagine how students learn while increasing educational access and improving outcomes across the board.

Since teenage learners are just starting to explore career options and define their interests, technology can have an outsized impact on high schoolers. Here are a few ways this technology can benefit high school students.

High school technology is personalized and interactive

Online education platforms are on the rise, providing invaluable support for students to receive a personalized learning experience. They allow teachers to tailor lessons and assignments to each individual’s learning style, interests, and needs. In the online classroom, students can more easily have one-on-one interactions with teachers to assist them in areas where they need it most.

For example, Penn Foster students can enroll in individual high school courses online in subjects they’re struggling with. Teachers are still able to give students real-time feedback on their work, track their progress, and make adjustments as needed. Some students who may benefit from online learning include those struggling with mental health who feel uncomfortable in a physical classroom, or work better in a self-paced and student-led environment.

Using AI/ChatGPT to enhance education

Rather than banning new AI tools like ChatGPT, educators should embrace the many opportunities that it offers to inspire and engage their students.

More from DA: What’s driving K12 staff layoffs? It’s much more than expiring ESSER funds

When utilized effectively, ChatGPT can build critical thinking skills, essential for success in academic and professional settings. Teachers can ask students to analyze and critique the responses that the AI platform provides, a practice that builds valuable critical thinking in the process. Teachers can also turn this process into an assignment by challenging students to produce a better product than what the platform offers.

ChatGPT also provides immediate, real-time feedback to support students’ writing skills when teachers may not be available. The tool can produce writing prompts to provide inspiration and jumpstart research and brainstorming to generate ideas. Ultimately, these burgeoning AI tools allow teachers to shift from rote instruction toward the development of these critical skills.

Access to resources

The growing array of high school technology tools can play a pivotal role in enabling ubiquitous access to learning. Online libraries, free apps, and interactive tutorials are just a few examples of the many resources now available.

Previously, only a select number of students across the country were able to find and afford private tutors. But with affordable online education platforms, students now have access to self-paced, accessible learning, regardless of their location or economic background.

By leveraging new technology in the classroom with effective pedagogy, we can transform the future of education and make the learning process more efficient, accessible, and engaging—preparing students for success in the 21st century.

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The global K12 education market, led by the North American region, is set to grow by 17.7% through 2031—from $103.5 billion in 2021—with artificial intelligence providing yet more opportunities for new revenue, according to this spring’s Research Dive report. But decreases in government funding could be a drag on growth, say the analysts who also broke the K12 market into several subsegments:

• Type: Public and private
• Region: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East and Africa)
• Application: High school, middle school, pre-primary school and primary school
• Spend analysis: Hardware and software
• Deployment mode: Cloud and on-premise

While the private K12 sector was slightly bigger in 2021, the global public schools market will grow faster through 2031 as administrators work to further personalize instruction, particularly via online programs staffed by certified teachers. “However, the public school system has significant obstacles, such as a lack of proper infrastructure, insufficient budget, a staff deficit, and limited facilities,” the report warns.

The North American market is predicted to be the most lucrative, due to “massive spending” on edtech while high school will be the most dominant sub-segment by 2031. Growth in the latter will again be driven by technology spending aimed at increasing the quality of instruction.

Software will be more profitable than hardware by 2031 as schools rely more heavily than ever on applications that manage student information, help teachers prepare instruction, facilitate student collaboration, and simplify administrative operations. Finally, when it comes to deployment, cloud computing will show the strongest growth as schools look to minimize data storage costs and boost access and mobility.

More from DA: Sexist comments sink one superintendent during a week of high-profile hires

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As a mom of a middle schooler who recently tried to pass off an essay written by ChatGPT as his own, I can see the downsides. But, as a former principal, I can also see the upsides. I was never fortunate enough to have a budget for an assistant, which meant that when I got spread too thin, important things could fall through the cracks. Or, get left until the last minute. Or, just not get done at all.

But with ChatGPT on the scene, school administrators suddenly have a lot more support. Take the schedule, for example.

As a trained AI assistant, ChatGPT can create your building schedule. As with any assistant or scheduler, ChatGPT needs to be given all the parameters. Different from a human assistant, however, ChatGPT will spit out a draft in mere seconds. Even better, it can then make refinements per your instructions. ChatGPT is in dialogue with you—so it remembers its previous task and can iterate on it. Imagine the possibilities:

• Show me a version of the schedule with 50-minute blocks
• Show me a version of the schedule as a 4×4 block schedule
• Show me a version of the schedule with a rotating flex block

Then get a response in a heartbeat. If there’s a staff member or teacher doing the schedule, all the better. Now they can oversee the process and have time to take on another helpful task. That schedule project you’ve put off because creating all the variations in order to land on the right schedule for your building is too complicated and time-consuming?

Now it becomes not only viable but manageable.

ChatGPT and K12: Enlist AI to be your ghostwriter

Keeping up with all the communications is no joke. As a middle school principal and a head of school, I spent a lot of time crafting the perfect email responses and updates; not to mention reports to the board. But with a few simple directions, in some cases, ChatGPT can help with writing these messages, and then, you can revise. It’s nuanced enough to take directions on tone. It’s not that you couldn’t do this without AI, it’s that with AI, you can do it faster.

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If time is money, with ChatGPT as your free ghostwriter, you suddenly have a lot more to spend.

Supporting teachers with ChatGPT

There are so many ways ChatGPT can help teachers. They can have ChatGPT help generate lesson plans and assessments, and suggest primary sources with links. They can upload student work, ask for ideas about how to strengthen that work, and then conference with students.

Research clearly shows the more teachers are in communication with home adults, the more their students achieve. Requiring teachers to send weekly updates home or to be in close communication with parents or caregivers of at-risk students is easier with an AI teacher’s aide. Having a platform that gives you all the information about a given student in one view, and then the ability to message students or parents from that same screen is also very beneficial.

ChatGPT then ensures that a tired, frustrated, or simply overworked teacher can communicate with patience and tact. Every time. No matter how hard their buttons have been pushed. School-home communications are the cornerstone of successful schooling.

So, when a tool comes along that facilitates easier, better communications for school leaders, school administrators, and teachers, it’s good to jump on the bandwagon. Especially when there’s virtually no learning curve.

Just ask my middle schooler!

The post 3 ways school leaders can combine ChatGPT and K12 to save time appeared first on District Administration.

Proofpoint, an American enterprise security company, released its findings from its latest edition of the “Voice of the CISO” report, a survey of 1,600 chief information security officers. Included in the report is an insight into what is believed to be some of the most prominent cybersecurity threats they face every day and what leaders expect to see over the next year.

The findings come at a time when ransomware attacks continue targeting school systems, sometimes resulting in breaches of thousands of files containing sensitive personal information belonging to students and staff.

According to the report, 68% of surveyed education CISOs said they feel at risk of facing a material cyberattack within the next 12 months. Additionally, 61% said they feel “unprepared to cope.”

In addition, 52% of CISOs in the education sector say their organization “is likely” to pay ransom to prevent and restore lost data. However, more than 60% say they’re confident that their organization can detect and remove threat actors before losing any sensitive information.

More from DA: Many teachers no longer feel safe. Here’s what they want from their district leaders

How CISOs perceive threats

Across all sectors, these are the most dangerous threats cybersecurity and IT leaders must look out for:

• Email fraud (33%)
• Insider threats (30%)
• Cloud account compromise (29%)
• DDoS attacks (29%)

“Security leaders must remain steadfast in protecting their people and data, a task made increasingly difficult as insiders prove themselves as a significant contributor to sensitive data loss,” Executive Vice President of Cybersecurity Strategy for Proofpoint Ryan Kalember said in a statement.

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