Kelly Gibson, a veteran English teacher with 27 years of experience at a small rural high school in Oregon, has transformed her approach to AI in education after initially fearing ChatGPT would enable widespread cheating. Two years ago, during Thanksgiving break 2022, former students alerted Gibson to ChatGPT’s capabilities, warning her that students could use it to cheat on essays. This prompted her to spend days researching the technology, initially leaving her “terrified” about its implications for academic integrity.
Rather than fighting against the technology, Gibson decided to integrate ChatGPT as a teaching tool. She experimented with the AI over the holidays, feeding it essay prompts and discovering both its capabilities and limitations. Early versions made basic mistakes, such as confusing quotes from different Shakespeare plays. However, Gibson recognized the technology would only improve and began exploring constructive classroom applications.
By January 2023, after receiving permission from school administrators, Gibson introduced ChatGPT to her 12th-grade students through structured experiments. One key activity involved having students write introductory paragraphs, then using AI to complete the essay, followed by students critiquing and editing the AI-generated content. Students were initially disappointed with the AI’s output, finding arguments repetitive and lacking depth.
Currently, Gibson’s students primarily use AI for editing purposes—cleaning up sentence structure and ensuring grammatical consistency after completing their essays. She has abandoned AI detection software after experiencing false positives, including her own writing being flagged as 70% AI-generated. Instead, she employs alternative assessment methods, including handwritten in-class essays alongside take-home assignments where AI access is permitted.
Gibson acknowledges some students likely use more AI than intended, but argues that students determined to circumvent academic integrity would find ways regardless. She compares the AI revolution to earlier technological disruptions like spellcheck and SparkNotes, which teachers eventually learned to incorporate effectively. Her approach emphasizes teaching students to use AI as a tool while maintaining critical thinking skills through thesis-creation and research requirements before accessing AI assistance.
Gibson predicts that AI literacy will become standard in education, similar to how previous technological tools were eventually embraced. She believes that as training improves and best practices emerge, educators will increasingly integrate AI while ensuring students develop strong independent thinking skills rather than becoming dependent on artificial intelligence for their cognitive processes.
Key Quotes
Instead of spending all my time trying to catch students using AI to cheat, I’ve found ways to implement it in the classroom.
Kelly Gibson explains her fundamental shift in approach after initially fearing ChatGPT. Rather than engaging in an unwinnable battle against AI usage, she chose to integrate it constructively, representing a pragmatic response that other educators are beginning to adopt.
I began to despair, thinking I’d have to reinvent myself as a teacher. However, when I tried planning lessons and generating worksheets with ChatGPT, I saw how helpful it could be.
Gibson describes her emotional journey from fear to acceptance, discovering that AI could enhance rather than undermine her teaching. This realization transformed her perspective and led to her innovative classroom integration strategies.
As an English teacher, I feel that not teaching students how to use this new tool would be like earlier days in my career when some educators didn’t want students to use spellcheck.
Gibson draws parallels to previous technological disruptions in education, contextualizing AI as the latest in a series of tools that initially sparked resistance but eventually became standard. This historical perspective supports her argument for proactive AI integration.
It’s hard to say what AI tools will look like a few years from now and whether they will stop being tools and start being a brain that impedes critical thinking.
Gibson acknowledges the uncertainty surrounding AI’s future impact on education, expressing concern about the balance between helpful assistance and cognitive dependence. This nuanced view recognizes both opportunities and risks in AI adoption.
Our Take
Gibson’s approach represents pragmatic innovation in an education system often resistant to change. Her willingness to experiment with ChatGPT immediately after learning about it—rather than waiting for official guidance—demonstrates the proactive mindset educators need in rapidly evolving technological landscapes. The failure of AI detection software she experienced foreshadows broader challenges institutions face in policing AI usage, suggesting that collaborative integration may be the only viable long-term strategy.
Particularly insightful is her dual-assessment method combining handwritten and AI-accessible assignments, which maintains academic integrity while preparing students for real-world AI usage. However, her acknowledgment that some students use AI detrimentally raises questions about equity—students with stronger foundational skills benefit from AI assistance, while struggling students may use it as a crutch. As AI capabilities expand, Gibson’s concern about tools becoming “a brain that impedes critical thinking” will require ongoing pedagogical adaptation and vigilance from educators worldwide.
Why This Matters
This story represents a crucial shift in educational philosophy regarding AI integration in classrooms. Rather than the predicted “cheating epidemic,” Gibson’s experience demonstrates how educators can proactively adapt to technological disruption. Her approach offers a practical blueprint for schools grappling with ChatGPT and similar AI tools.
The implications extend beyond education to workforce preparation. Students entering careers will inevitably use AI tools, making classroom exposure essential for developing appropriate usage skills and ethical frameworks. Gibson’s methods—combining AI-assisted and traditional assessments—provide a model for maintaining academic rigor while embracing technological advancement.
This case study also highlights the limitations of AI detection software, which produced false positives even on human-written content. This suggests that punitive approaches to AI usage may be ineffective, supporting Gibson’s collaborative strategy instead. As AI capabilities continue advancing, her prediction that educators will receive better training and develop standardized best practices appears increasingly necessary. The education sector’s response to AI will significantly influence how future generations understand and utilize these powerful tools, making early adopters like Gibson important pioneers in shaping AI literacy standards.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-ai-chatgpt-classroom-cheating-essays-2024-11