Adding to the tech toolkit at private schools

Go back in time, said Garth Nichols, and there have been an incredible number of technologies that have changed the world when it comes to education and how we teach — and artificial intelligence (AI) is just the latest.
“The blackboard was an incredible technological advantage in the 1840s and ’50s because the teacher could actually write things instead of just talking,” said the vice principal of experiential education and innovation at Havergal College, a Toronto-based independent girls’ school.
“The television, when it first came into the classroom, was something that impacted education because you could rewind things or broadcast live. The photocopier, the calculator, the internet, smart devices, it goes on and on and on. So artificial intelligence is a shift, but educators are really quite good at navigating those shifts.”
In a world where the capability of artificial intelligence seems to change every day — from the ability to write essays, songs or screenplays, to creating deepfake photos and videos of well-known public figures, to mimicking voices and helping you make online purchases — several private schools in Canada are making it part of their student’s learning experience.
This, said Nichols, is not only about utilizing AI as part of a school’s toolkit of technologies to help their students learn, but also to ensure students understand the ethical issues, proper uses, and potential misuses, biases and dangers that can also come with its usage.
“This is the world that our students will be entering into, but also the world that they are shaping,” he said. At Havergal that translates into a course called Digital Wisdom, which is taught to students in grades five through eight. While not a technology skills course, nor an internet safety course, it is focused on helping the students better understand and ask questions about the digital world they live in and how it shapes and affects their lives.
“They have to be aware of who they are now and who they will be in the future. What the world is now and how they want it to play out in the future. And to be able to shape and understand their own biases they have or are being subjected to through social media and internet,” said Nichols.
“To some extent, it is like a fish not realizing the water they are living in,” he said about the lenght the students are already interacting with some form of AI, whether it be while online shopping or through apps like Snapchat.
“We draw their attention to it — and once again they become very curious about it. One of our school’s values is ‘inquiry,’ so we really pride that process. We give them case studies, ideas, questions and, once they dig their teeth into a subject, you just watch them go.
“When we put them in front of some case studies, they were really inquisitive and had critical questions about it as well. They were asking questions about where it draws its information from and asking questions about copyright. And, about creativity. What does this mean for the creative pursuits, like poetry and art. If you create art through an AI program, is that really art? If you write a poem and put it through a language model like ChatGPT and ask it to make edits, is it no longer your poem?”
Bob Tarle is the executive director of innovation and technology at the Toronto French School, which has students in pre-school to Grade 12. He said it is important for schools to expose their students to the newest technology because it is what will be waiting for them in their post-secondary studies and in the workforce.
“We are very focused on getting students thinking and talking about the social and ethical implications of AI,” he said. “It is very important because AI is only getting better and at school we have always had to deal with academic integrity. That is not new, but this is something we have added to the list.
“In the past, you may have had a tutor write your essay, or there was plagiarism, and now we have AI that is replacing a student’s writing. I think where education will eventually land when it comes to AI is that it is useful tool for research and for gathering ideas, but your writing must be authentic — we want to hear your voice and we need to hear your voice.”
It is ‘voice’ that is helping the Toronto French School to teach its grade seven and eight students about the benefits, ethical use and potential dangers of artificial intelligence. They are learning about how AI can be used to create deepfake audio recordings by writing scripts, inputting themselves reading those scripts into a program and then hearing that program predict how their voices would sound saying something completely different. 
“The look of wonder on their face is really something that illustrates the importance of the role of a school in reflecting on the ethics and social impact of the technology,” said Tarle. “A fourth-year computer science student from the University of Toronto also speaks with the students through Google Meets and shows them what is under the hood of these technologies, demystifying some of how it works and then helping them critically about how it is and can be used.
“It is important that they can do it in a structured, group environment where we are discussing it, framing it with questions, and they are not just in the magic box of their iPhone where they do not actually know how it works.”
Ensuring students are learning in an environment where the ethical implication of using artificial intelligence is also part of the curriculum at the York School, which offers junior to senior school classes.
“Our value proposition from the beginning has been placing technology in the centre,” said Justin Medved, the school’s associate head of academic innovation. “We were one of the first schools in the country to go one-to-one laptop in the 1990s, well before many of our peers joined us. We have always been small enough that we could be nimble when it comes to embracing change and technology. “
He said creating good digital citizens involves meeting with students to talk about how and when it is appropriate to use AI as a tool in their education, and how to spot content that may have been AI-generated and that they should question how that content was created.
“What we are trying to do now is let them see behind the curtain, to understand the types of technologies, that are visible and invisible and a little bit about how they work so they can have agency and be protective of their own information as well as, on some level, be OK with how AI is making their experience better or more personalised.”
In late January, Medved and Nichols both spoke about AI at the Connects Unconference offered by the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario. Its four sessions included presentations on the use of AI on teaching, learning and school operations. Among those who attended the event was Scott Ramkissoon, the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) coordinator and middle school science specialist at Toronto’s Rosedale Day School.
“It was a good opportunity to see what guidelines other schools are implementing,” he said. “It is something that they are going to be using, so we need to be there to guide students in the correct and ethical use of it, and make sure that it is equitable for everyone who is able to use it, while still maintaining integrity.
“Some teachers are on board and others are really hesitant. It’s all over the place depending on their level and comfort with technology. If you aren’t sure how to prompt the technology properly, then you aren’t sure what you will get out the other end.”
Nichols said that is why they are approaching AI with caution at his school, Havergal. It has created a learning team made up of faculty that is experimenting with different platforms and programs and how to use it. The school is also looking into the safety and security of the programs, including how and where the data you input into it is used and stored.
“I think the more AI comes into the students’ lives, the more appreciative they are off the in person, human interaction, and that there are always things of beauty, of art and wonder, and creativity and shared energy that cannot be replicated,” he said. “It probably helps the students appreciate the experience or being together on campus even more.”