HERRIMAN, Utah — Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and the technology seems to grow at a lightning-fast pace every day. While some may not yet embrace it, the Jordan School District is staying a couple of steps ahead of the tech by teaching students how to safely and effectively harness the power of AI.
You may not even realize it, but we have been using artificial intelligence for years. Spell check is a form of AI. But generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini are new technologies that require proper education and guidance.
In his AP government classroom at Herriman High School, Troy Jensen isn't scared to talk about artificial intelligence. In fact, he encourages students to explore it.
"Jordan School District has been great with the wild west of AI," Jensen said.
Jensen describes himself as "very much an old-school, chalk talk, direct instruction kind of person," but acknowledges there are good uses for AI in education. "We've catered certain AI technologies that are good, that allow for teachers to kind of create these scenarios for students to kind of review and practice," Jensen said.
In 2023, the Jordan School District became the first in Utah to take a deep dive into utilizing artificial intelligence in the classroom through a partnership with School AI.
"Any student can use these tools and get the information that they need that really provides so much equity and learning here, and that's why it's so important to us," said Jared Covili, administrator over digital teaching and learning for Jordan School District. "It doesn't matter whether you're a recent refugee into our buildings to a student who's grown up throughout our whole system, these tools give you both access to be able to get the learning you need in a way that can be meaningful to you."
Utah as a whole is trying to stay ahead of all the new developments. The State Board of Education was the first in the nation to create a position called the AI Education Specialist. Matthew Winters occupies that role.
"I think when we talk about students, it is we really have to think through how we want the students to be working with any new technology and provide them the support so they can do it appropriately," Winters said. "Getting ahead allows us to look at these things and go, what are some of the problems that are coming down the pipeline, so that we can have those conversations."
Back in the classroom, Jensen is teaching his students how AI is a tool to enhance the educational experience. "Use it to provide the resources, but not do it for you," he said.
He created a chatbot replicating Martin Luther King Jr., allowing students to feel like they are chatting directly with the civil rights leader.
Just as important as these immersive activities are lessons on how to fact-check and not to fully trust the information AI provides. "We need to understand the ethics that it could be wrong and it could be biased, just where it's gathering its material from," Jensen said.
So are those messages resonating with students?
"I mean, even before AI was a big thing, when I was a kid, my parents were very big on the whole, every news source that you find, everything that you read, you have to check it multiple times, especially if it's like something important," said Wiley Brown, a Herriman High School senior.
Members of Jensen's class say they know AI isn't there to be the know-it-all sole resource.
"It's important to like, go and find your own sources and be able to find the credibility from those sources, instead of the AI and whatever sources it deems as credible," said Jacob Aaronson, a Herriman High School senior.
But if used properly, like they're learning in this class, AI can be beneficial. "It's helpful sometimes to just kind of expand my ideas. It tells me things that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise," Brown said.
It can provide a unique experience while preparing students to harness the technology in the future. "If you're just sit in the classroom, you're not actually going to get anything super valuable, but as long as you put in your own effort, then you can definitely get a very good education," Brown said.
Other districts in the state have followed the Jordan District's lead in utilizing this technology. A new bill in the Utah State Legislature seeks to create policies on the use of AI in the classroom.
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