Artificial intelligence is changing the way high school teachers do their jobs, from grading papers to planning lessons.
While it's saving time in the classroom, it's also raising new questions about proper use and potential misuse.
Watch the full story:
Educators at Great Falls High School are finding ways to incorporate AI into their teaching methods while navigating the challenges that come with this rapidly evolving technology.
"There's a very fine line of where teachers want to use it and teachers don't want to use it," said Great Falls High School librarian Hoppy Hopkins.
Hopkins has found AI to be extremely helpful in his work as a librarian.
"It's more sophisticated than just your average spell check with the red squiggly lines underneath," Hopkins said.
With AI growing rapidly, Principal Geff Habel and Hopkins started an AI task force, bringing together educators from each department to discuss how they should be using AI in their classrooms.
Habel emphasized that colleges and universities are leading the charge in addressing AI integration in education.
"We have to work on how we incorporate that as a teacher, and maybe make it work with us," Habel said.
There's significant potential for AI to transform the classroom experience, but educators are discovering that even smart technology comes with tradeoffs.
Hopkins recommends that students use AI for checking work rather than creating it.
"I wouldn't recommend a student to use it for creating something, but more for checking something. Can you check the tone of your essay? Can you check the spelling of your essay?" Hopkins said.
One major concern is how easily AI can be used to cheat.
"Obviously, it's very easy to use to cheat, and it's very hard for teachers to really, like, catch it at all," said Great Falls High School student Bladen Madel.
Zack Ringler, a history teacher and student council advisor at Great Falls High School, shared how AI has helped him build lessons, reviews and quizzes.
Rather than replacing his role as a teacher, AI has become a useful tool to help him better understand and connect with his students.
"I was trying to design a lesson with the Industrial Revolution, and I listened to the podcast that notebook LM created for me, and it was able to make some analogies for me that were relatable to kids that I would have never thought of personally," Ringler said.
Students have also found AI helpful when they're stuck on assignments.
"For English, I can use it to get ideas on, like, papers. Pretty much, if I really just don't know where to start, I kind of use it," said Madel.
Ringler noted that AI provides additional support for students who might not have access to help elsewhere.
"It's able to give them some additional help if they're not seeking it with teachers, or they don't have the support at home necessarily from parents or the parents have the time to help them. Now they can go into AI and use it," Ringler said.
Hopkins believes educators have a responsibility to prepare students for a future where AI is commonplace.
"If education isn't helping kids right now with AI and they graduate, let's say in four years and don't even go to college, we're doing them a disservice if the workforce is saying just AI it, or use AI," Hopkins said.
As AI continues to evolve, educators must keep pace with its advancements. The technology isn't going away, and the focus should be on proper utilization.
"It's not just there for you to eliminate the process of learning. It's there for you to utilize. It's not about, like, 'this needs to go away'. It's about how do you properly use it," Habel said.
Artificial intelligence is changing how students learn, how teachers teach, and how schools prepare for the future. It's not about replacing the human touch — it's about rethinking what's possible in education.
