OCDSB students want a say in board's new AI policy
Many 'not really sure' about how to use AI ethically, says student trustee
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board laid out its digital strategy in a meeting earlier this month, and students say they want to be a part of refining the way it deals with artificial intelligence.
The "equitable access to technology plan" was presented at a meeting of the national capital's largest English-language school board on Oct. 8.
The board has plans to increase the accessibility of technology by putting a Chromebook in the hands of every student in Grade 7 and up.
It also plans to establish guidelines for how artificial intelligence can be used as a learning tool.
According to Sandy Owens, OCDSB's general manager of business and learning technologies, the framework will support students in using critical thinking when it comes to AI tools.
It also may take some time to establish because it's such new technology.
"This is brand-new learning for a lot of the people in our district," she said during the meeting. "It's not going to be ready in the very near future, but we're hoping in the next few months."
The OCDSB isn't the only board in the region making the shift.
Ottawa Catholic School Board director of education Tom D'Amico told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that students will have access to tools including Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini this year, alongside lessons in AI literacy.
"We learned from the pandemic unfortunately that there's a great digital divide out there," he said in an interview last month. "We were fearful that if we didn't get on top of AI, that digital divide would get worse."
'Anxiety and trepidation'
When used properly, AI can help students learn to solve math problems, come up with creative approaches to assignments, or generate visual interpretations of creative writing projects, said OCDSB student trustee Sharanya Sivasathiyanathan.
It can also help teachers find new ways to engage students or explain concepts, Sivasathiyanathan told CBC Radio's All In A Day last week.
She said students are eager to begin using AI tools like Generative AI, Chat GPT and DALL-E because they know they'll need to use them later on.
"There seems to be a lot of anxiety and trepidation around entering a workforce … that will be leveraging these tools when students don't have a great understanding of how to use these tools responsibly, safely and effectively," she said.
Student trustee Jeffrey Zhang told All In A Day it's inevitable that students will run into AI in their lives or in the workforce.
That's why he thinks it's important to teach them how to use it now. Right now, Zhang said, most people aren't clear on what responsible AI use looks like.
"Students really are not sure about when and where they're supposed to use AI, how they can use AI beneficially," he said. "Teachers are not sure how to look for AI in students work."
Zhang added moderation is important, but that's why having the guidelines are crucial to implementing AI in classrooms responsibly.
"Of course, there's a line where it comes to how much is too much AI. How much of the work is actually your own?" Zhang said.
"When it comes to learning, AI has a very big spot in ensuring that both teachers and students are able to put their best work forward."
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With files from CBC's Ottawa Morning and All In A Day