Secondary students Amanda Cabusas and Justine Laurence Castro frequently use Artificial intelligence tools as CatWho has quickly gained popularity worldwide in the past two years. Since its launch at the end of 2022, Chatgpt – a free chatbot that offers instant responses to human prompts – has become both a friend and an enemy for students like Cabusas and Castro, and others in the university.
Cabusas is a student of the 11th year, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) of the Southwestern University (SWU) Phinma, a private school of Cebu City. She said that she first had trouble using the Chatppt, but finally learned to use it by reading articles explaining what it is for.
“I use it to get ideas about subjects that I want to know more, especially for articles, to clarify which concept to concentrate and shrink it more,” she said. “Although I don’t know much at the start, you get a grip on the concept … by applying prompts to generate ideas.”
Cabusas stressed that it sticks to the use of AI only for ideas, and not to copy of the generated text – well aware that the results can be inaccurate and generally take information from various sources without appropriate allocation.
Castro, a 12th year STEM student from the National School of Sciences of Cebu City (CCNSHS), is also aware that AI can be wrong. He uses it to get ideas and better understand lessons, while taking the results with a grain of salt.
“Whenever there is a confusing subject, I use AI tools like Chatgpt to help simplify the text and summarize the concepts that I cannot easily grasp,” said Castro.
“You can see the results generated by the AI which are very promising, but we must revise them because it is a question of maintaining integrity and self-control,” he added.
But not all students adopt a cautious approach to AI, and not all of them have their own personal rules to follow. What’s going on then?
Assigned learning quality
Elmer Boybanting, high school teacher at Swu Phinma, should be useful in education, if used in a responsible manner. But a major problem is when the students transmit the work generated by AI as their own – questioning integrity, having an impact on the level of learning and leading to over -dependence on technology that reduces critical thinking.
For example, Boybanting has seen an increase in the use of AI among students in its writing class, English for academic and professional purposes. “I started to notice that their release is not really original,” he said.
Another teacher, Rex Ebarle of CCNSHS, welcomes AI so that students have a better understanding of lessons even outside class hours. But like Boybanting, he was concerned with students’ submissions for writing activities, noting that there were very good outings which are sometimes too beautiful to be true. “In cases like these, Ebarle said he would ask students of their papers during lessons to check if they really understood the subject.
Although there are online AI detectors, teachers stressed that many of them are not reliable. This means that it becomes the teachers’ responsibility to judge what is generated by AI and what is not – a subjective process which is difficult in itself.
Given this burden, private and public teachers themselves admit to need advice on how to navigate the use of AI in classrooms. What should and shouldn’t be done? What are the penalties that must be in place? As Boybaning noted: “There are no tangible rules on what to do. There is no framework to follow in the way of teaching with the use of AI. ”
Lack of training, guidelines
Jules Agbao, who also teaches Swu Phinma and is one of the team responsible for writing the student manual of the school’s school department, said they were planning to update the manual to include the use of AI.
“Human control should always be the backbone of AI tools in the education sector. These are called tools to help, and not replace,” added Agbao.
For public schools in particular, Ebarle underlined the need for official training from the Ministry of Education (DEPED), so that all teachers know the advantages – and the disadvantages of AI.
“Subjects during seminars and workshops are often limited to teaching different types of materials, but I think they have to start focusing on AI and similar technology,” said Ebarle.
“Collaboration with good agencies, professionals and residents of the university who already know these AI tools very well are essential,” he added.
The regional director of Deped Central Visayas, Saurtiano Jimenez, said that private schools are likely to be ahead of the use of AI, given their resources. But he undertook to start organizing seminars and workshops in 2025 to help public teachers become competent in the use of AI, which he admitted to “part of our life now”.
Before these seminars, Jimenez also plans to conduct surveys between teachers to assess their first experiences. “Before carrying out guidelines, I must first study what these tools are by myself and how they work,” added the education manager.
According to Jimenez, there have been initial calls for the use of AI to be prohibited, but he thinks that AI tools can be considered as learning and improvement mechanisms in schools.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara himself has recognized that IA tools would have advantages for teachers and students, but the institute of a policy is necessary to guarantee responsible use. In a round table at Rapler Good social summit In October 2024, Angara said: “We are in the middle of a very revolutionary moment of technology, and that gives me hope.”
As “partner”
Looking at AI as a “partner” in education rather than restricting its use entirely is the recommendation of Jerel John Velarde, leader of the chapter of Ai Pilipinas Cebu and founder of Pilipinas datos. The Pilipinas Cebu describes itself as “an organization led by volunteers which aims to promote a community of dynamic AI … by providing a platform for learning, collaboration and innovation”, while Datos Pilipinas is a data startup.
“The annoyance or technologies of a similar nature will seriously limit us will allow us to allow our students to be competitive on the labor market,” said Velarde.
He urged teachers to think of AI tools as part of a “spectrum to do and help”, instead of adopting a black and white approach to these technologies.
“Teachers must learn it. It is very important that teachers understand it, know it, so that they can design activities (where) the use of AI is expected, “said Velarde. “(The AI is not) non -omnipotent and omniscient. It is a limited tool, but it can help us to advance the objectives more effectively.”
For example, said Velarde, AI tools can respond to imbalance in teachers / students ratios in classrooms, allowing effective learning. “Before, you could not answer each student asking a question after a conference. But now it changes with AI,” he said.
Velarde added that the tools fueled by AI can simplify tasks such as lessons planning and the creation of personalized tests. “Before, it takes time to be a personalized educator head-to-head. Now, with AI, each student can have their own learning plans, their own tests and their own notes. ”
But Velarde also stressed that the responsibility in the use of AI is crucial, humans, in the end, in the end. “A huge warning is that they must be responsible for everything that comes out,” he said. “You can never, never, never,” because that’s what Chatgpt said. “”
Human rights
On a larger scale, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education Farida Shaheed has called for countries to adopt AI tools and systems “only if they are integrated into the broader framework of education”.
“When developed in a responsible manner and in a framework of human rights, AI can promote social good, peace and development. However, the unregulated adoption of AI in education presents risks for democratic values and individual freedoms, while uneven access to AI tools in and between countries aggravates educational disparities, “said Shaheed In his report in October 2024.
Shaheed’s recommendations for countries include the creation of “robust and legal ethical frameworks” for the use of AI in education, to recognize that AI should not replace the “essential role” of teachers and the implementation of “specific surveillance mechanisms … including the evaluations of human rights and the rights of the child”, among others.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur also advised schools “to encourage teachers to work with students on the thoughtful use of AI”, “invest in professional development to help educators explore the impacts of AI” and the “overhaul” of educational approaches “to improve critical thinking, creativity and ethical reasoning”.
Eventually, Integration of AI should not be done at the expense of quality education or lead to students – especially in countries like the Philippines – fall behind Compared to their peers from the whole world.
Stefania Giannini, Deputy Director General for the Education of the United Nations educational, scientific, scientific and cultural organization Unescosaid to the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco In early January: “From the point of view of education, what is important is that technology should be at the service of learners, not the other way around.” – Ravrele.com
Cris Fernan Bayaga is a journalist at the Campus of the University of the Philippines Cebu LanogThe official publication of students from the College of Communication, Art and Design. He is also a RAFO Aries Journalism Fellow to bring back.