29 May Psst…Your School Is Using AI
There’s a lot of hype surrounding the use of AI these days, especially when it comes to if students should be using it in school. But what about the schools themselves? At tuition-free public SET High in San Diego, serving grades 9-12, we relish innovation and forward-thinking so we took the plunge! See how SET High and our students are using AI.
Room for Improvement
In a perfect world, schools would exist on a magical timeline where they could spend hours pouring over every student’s work and analyzing how to help. SET High teachers are very focused on their students – it’s one of our greatest strengths as a school – and with advances in AI, we can use it to give our teachers instant feedback about how their students are performing.
With a program we’ve created, AI provides a first look at data on a student’s personal online dashboard that feeds back valuable information and can lead to further investigation. It summarizes prior performance and compares it to current, offering a trend or a trajectory of where a student is headed regardless of their starting point (C to a D or even an A+ to an A-).
As excited as we are about using AI, we know that it’s a work in progress. SET High continues to find ways to improve and respects that a large part of its success is how teachers and staff respond to and use the information that makes it such a powerful tool to help SET students.
We realize that an AI program can’t pick up on student stress which could contribute to a poor grade or incomplete assignments. This leads us back to our staff and teachers: while grades are important, trusting relationships at SET High are more magical and precious than any data analysis.
Your Own Personal Coach
Another way AI assists our tuition-free schools is using it as a teaching-like tool that students use while learning material.
Take calculus for example.
The calculus teacher might introduce a math-teaching AI tool that they share with students. It can generate more questions and problems that are similar to what a student has solved, provide further explanations that help clarify, and provide prep quizzes so students know whether or not they’re prepared for a test. The teacher has visibility to the student’s chat history and knows what they’re learning and if they’re using the tool appropriately (no cheating!). We love this because we want students to take curiosity seriously and see where it takes them rather than be stuck in a holding pattern in class.
Or computer programming, which can maybe seem overwhelming if you haven’t programmed before. We can use AI to help, like Vibe Coding, which allows SET students to do more complicated things than they normally could do on their own. Even without understanding programming concepts yet, the program can introduce students to what’s possible, which is helpful when you don’t know what to ask. Students still need to learn the concepts to be versed in topics and subjects to make it work of course, but it’s like having your own personal coach as you learn.
Using AI for analytics and as a tool to let students learn as much as they want is an added bonus SET can use while continuing to focus on what we are known for: engaging classes, compassionate connection, and a dynamic school culture.
Did you know that we’re a California Distinguished School? Call (858)874-4338 or email tours@sethigh.org. Enrolling now..
About SET High
SET High offers each student individual attention from multi-talented, highly qualified teachers. Students at our twice-awarded California Distinguished School build a healthy camaraderie with classmates inside an intellectually rigorous environment that brings out their talents and personality, helping them develop their individual character and direction in life. With a wide variety of electives, flexible scheduling, dual enrollment college classes and more — our students regularly exceed their academic and personal expectations. Enroll now. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Find us at www.sethigh.org.