As generative AI such as ChatGPT rises in popularity, an increasing number of students are using it with no set rights or responsibilities to write, summarize, help learn, and sometimes, even give answers to assignments.
For the past three months, a student group has been working to draft district-wide AI responsibilities and a bill of rights. This bill of rights is meant to ensure all students and educators benefit from ethical and equitable use of AI in a teaching and learning environment. It will be published later this year, as early as May. The bill aims to foster equitability, student privacy, transparency in school, and more.
After the release of ChatGPT in November of 2022, the Ann Arbor Public Schools’ (AAPS) Office of Teaching and Learning and Office of Instructional Technology & Information Services came together to explore what AI could mean for teaching and learning. They brought together four AAPS staff members to start thinking of ideas for acceptable AI usage in AAPS:
- Kate Bellows: Instructional Technology Consultant for Secondary Schools
- Chris Thomas: Teacher & Instructional Technology Consultant for Secondary Schools
- Heather Kellstrom: Executive Director of Instructional Technology & Information Systems
- Melissa Gordon: Huron High Business/Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher
Prior to the start of the working group, Bellows said that Thomas worked with another group of students to create drafts of the policies. “We all felt that it was a vital part of our processes,” says Bellows. “[We] felt that because it impacts our students, they needed to be in the driving seat to help us draft our guidelines.”
On October 23, 2024, Bellows, Thomas, Kellstrom, and Gordon pitched the AI bill of rights and the student brainstorming group to the Board of Education. It was approved, and the student group started working on a draft soon after.
AI is still a new, complex thing for students and educators to grapple with. “It has taken all of us, staff members and students, some time to figure out how we can use AI in teaching and learning in ways that support understanding,” says Thomas. “Now we are all using that growing expertise to figure it out together.”
On November 12, 2024, a Google Form went out to AAPS students about AI usage. Over 200 submissions were received. This provided crucial information about AI usage, and also asked students if they wanted to join an AI brainstorming group.
“I joined the group because I thought I could bring some valuable information to the table,” says Alex Phibbs (‘26). “I use [AI] to help me do research on the various tech projects that I’m working on, to get more concise answers, and figure out which programs are the best for my application.”
District AI rights/responsibilities will impact students the most, which is why they are helping draft and give feedback to these documents. However, students aren’t the only ones being affected by these.
“The student symposium work group has done great work,” says Bellows. “But now we are involving other stakeholders as well: admin, teachers, librarians, the board of education, the superintendent and her leadership cabinet, and this takes a bit more time.”
Later in the 2024-2025 school year, the student AI bill of rights, student responsibilities, and staff responsibilities will be published, along with other announcements about AI in the district.
“We will have many avenues where we will be releasing and sharing our work together,” says Bellows. “We would like to have our policies released with our Board of Education, through our district websites, through email communications with all students and staff, and we’ll have opportunities for professional development too. This list isn’t exhaustive, and we are open to suggestions, as well. We will also be talking about this with [students] in the work group in the coming months.”
