How the Classroom Network Can Solve Your AI Uneasiness

The rise of AI in pretty much everything is generating more than just record-speed content, it’s also provoking strong feelings and opinions across the Internet. Generative AI first raised fear about ethics and cheating in university student assignments. Then it was Hollywood actors and screenwriters, who are meeting the rise of generative AI with emotionally charged protests and strikes about AI use in scriptwriting and actor likenesses.

The debate has now entered primary and secondary schools, where educators are torn about what to do. In a July 5, 2023, article from K-12 Dive, author Lauren Barack said, “The potential of AI generates strong emotions in everyone” in education. She quotes a social studies teacher from Illinois as saying, “Some teachers are thrilled and see this as a game changer and a lot are cautiously interested. And some are angry. All of these are okay.”

Yet despite the controversy, K-12 Dive revealed that ultimately “many educators are taking the…rise of ChatGPT and other AI tools as a sign they need to work on how to adopt AI for educational use rather than fight it.”

This if-you-can’t-beat-em-join-em attitude is a necessary evil. For educators, if generative AI is going to be a part of life, then students need to learn ethical usage — how to be in control of the outcomes and the integrity.

In any case, the quest for quality education is a top goal. Will these tools stimulate or hinder the caliber of educational outcomes for students? It remains to be seen, but the result will depend on what educators decide and that fine line between what is ethical and what isn’t when it comes to AI usage in life. As other industries settle on those limits and boundaries, it will better determine how students learn to use it too.

While it will take time to hash all of this out, educators can rest easy with the knowledge that AI has already been tried, tested and proven safely beneficial in one area of the school: within the network. With a cloud-driven architecture that’s built to make education easier for everyone, intelligent networking solutions like Extreme for K-12 Education foster next-generation educational experiences and relief from technology overwhelm. Extreme helps build networks with AI elements that make education easier for everyone in four ways:

1. Intelligent machine learning, data analytics, and AI automation handle the redundant tasks for IT staff so they are free to truly support users across the network — enabling teachers to be teachers instead of techies
2. Secure and reliable connections across school districts, local and remote, means every child has access to quality education and educational tools
3. AI intelligence keep staff learning from regular data streams so they can proactively add more sophistication to educational approaches — more personalized and more informed
4. Cloud-based management enables IT to be everywhere at once, controlling and handling the myriad of school activities that are now increasingly augmented with network-reliant technology — so things can keep running smoothly and consistently, while IT teams rest easier.

The network is already the best strategic asset any school will have today. And AI helps create a more efficient network so you have a more efficient return on your technology and edtech investments.

While the nuances of AI usage at the student and individual level have yet to be firmed up, it’s clear that AI in the network is now table stakes — especially for schools focused on delivering high-quality education. The good news is that there has been proven progress in the network, and it’s a reliable way to incorporate AI with positive impact on students and the community at large.

Looking for what's next in your school network? Extreme can help.