AI in Nebraska education: Schools debate how much AI regulation is enough

Nebraska Public Media News is taking a look at how artificial intelligence is impacting classrooms across Nebraska, from kindergarten through higher education. This is the second story in a series that will explore several areas of AI in education, including school policies on AI, how educational institutions are implementing the technology and the safety concerns around it. Some interviews for this reporting were found in Nebraska Public Media News’ recent AI in Education survey.

When students at Nebraska’s largest school district return to the books this fall semester, they’ll be operating under a new policy that addresses artificial intelligence.

The Omaha Public Schools District over the summer added in its Code of Conduct that “using generative artificial intelligence tools to answer questions or complete assignments in place of original student work without proper citation and teacher approval” would be considered cheating or plagiarizing.

OPS also has a tab on its website under Digital Citizenship to help families discuss AI.

It’s one example of an AI policy developed in a Nebraska school district as educators continue to navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in – and outside of – the classroom. Nationally, more than 80% of teachers reported using an AI tool in the 2023-24 school year, according to a Center for Democracy & Technology survey. More than half of teenagers say they’ve used an AI chatbot for help with schoolwork or finding information, according to the Pew Research Center.

Andrew Easton, chief learning officer for the Nebraska Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council, said many districts have put policies into place to make sure students, teachers and their data are safe, along with laying out responsible AI use.

“A lot of those policies actually put the classroom practitioner in the position to be the one who makes the decision as to the degree to which AI maybe becomes a part of the the learning experience for students in some capacity,” Easton said.

Westside Community Schools, also in Omaha, has a page dedicated to artificial intelligence, outlining the district’s goals with AI, what ethical use of the technology looks like in classrooms and an example of a syllabus statement high school teachers can use.

There are also certain tools, Google Gemini and Apple Intelligence, that are approved for students in grades 7-12 and staff to use. Staff can also use ChatGPT through a teachers program. Other non-approved tools are blocked on student devices, according to the website.

Lincoln Public Schools has outlined several ways teachers can utilize AI and allows access to Google Gemini tools for educators. However, the district does not provide access for students to the AI tools. Students are required to cite any works developed using generative artificial intelligence, whether it’s their own or another source they found.

At the college level, policies are left open-ended to allow professors the freedom to decide if AI fits into their courses, but cheating is still not allowed. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln updated its policy to clarify that “taking all or part of work that someone else or an entity prepared” is considered cheating. Instructors must also clarify in their syllabus what AI use looks like for their course.

Policies are similar at the Omaha and Kearney campuses. The University of Nebraska recently launched the NU AI Institute to look into how faculty, staff and students are utilizing AI. Nebraska Public Media News will dive into that topic more in the third story in this series, along with a look at how other college campuses are tackling AI.

‘A tool for teaching’

Easton said the council wanted to create a place to support K-12 district leaders as it figures out how to navigate artificial intelligence, so it launched a website outlining some resources.

“[It’s] not necessarily a full endorsement or something that we're saying these are the only ones that are credible,” Easton said. “But rather, if you're lost somewhere between having nothing and a Google search, we would love to help support you in the space between that and say, these are some of the places that might be a great place to begin that portion of the journey for you.”

Easton said many districts have some sort of policy in place, whether it’s a separate AI policy or one that is covered by a technology policy. He added that it’s important for schools to also have guidelines that explain how that policy can be used in the classroom.

Eileen Heller, an education consultant for professional learning at Educational Service Unit #3 in the Omaha-area, said seven out of the 18 districts the ESU serves have a policy on artificial intelligence, but now, the challenge is translating that policy into practice.

“We've dealt with that even here at ESU 3. We have an AI policy, but that policy is written for lawyers,” Heller said. “It's really written for that lawyer to be able to protect you if ever needed in a court case, but when I read that policy, that policy just looks scary to me. It tells me I can't do things with it. I just kind of shut down.”

Those guidelines would help teachers understand the best ways to use AI in their coursework. Heller said she tells teachers to look at their learning goals and focus on the verb, like analyzing or summarizing.

“You want them doing the analysis. You want them doing the summary creation, whereas you can lift up the AI to assist them in things,” Heller said. “Maybe it's brainstorming topics, or maybe it's taking their writing piece and asking it for feedback on the way that they've structured something.”

She added that teachers can also utilize AI to assist with ways to better support multilingual students or kids who are on an individualized learning plan.

Heller’s ESU is planning a four-day regional training series for its school districts to bring together a team of school leaders and teachers as they map out what artificial intelligence use will look like in their school. There will be national and local speakers, as well as time to start planning.

Adam Larson, assistant director of the professional learning department at ESU 3, said AI in schools is complex, which is why the ESU is spreading out the four days during the school year: one in September, November, January and March.

“The way that each school district is going to handle how they implement artificial intelligence into their system is going to be different,” Larson said. “We want to give everyone all of the best practices, all the research we can, and then give them time and space to work in their team to figure out how they're going to incorporate this into their systems to make it work best for them.”

Heller said there needs to be professional learning for teachers to understand AI so they can help their students navigate the technology.

“There's this disconnect between probably a higher use on the student level, especially as you go towards the secondary, middle school, high school, according to the national research, the use of AI by students, whereas most students are saying, ‘Our teachers have not talked to us about this,’ and I understand why,” Heller said. “I would not want to talk to somebody about it if I didn't know about it myself.”

Students grapple with proposed policy

This summer, 98 students from across the country met in Boston to discuss and create legislation about artificial intelligence in schools. They set out to tackle a challenge facing many schools across the country: how to regulate artificial intelligence as the technology becomes more popular. Landry Kraus, who will be a freshman at the consolidated district Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca, was one of them.

Students talked about each amendment in the bill as a large group, then broke into subcommittees for each section. Kraus was in the group covering the parent section of the bill.

“It got pretty heated,” Kraus said. “We were in some intense conversations on why we should have it or why we shouldn't, and it got to the point where the leaders had to cool us off because it was getting pretty gruesome.”

The bill, called “The Student First Act,” covered several different areas of AI use, including how students, teachers and parents should interact with the new technology. It contained a requirement for schools to provide instruction on AI literacy; banned the use of AI before eighth grade for editing, brainstorming and studying; and allowed both teachers and students to make the choice to use AI or not.

Kraus said he was initially against the bill because it didn’t feel finished, but he changed his mind after a few changes were made and following a conversation with his new friend from Alaska, who supported the bill.

“Most schools in Alaska, they have zero regard for AI,” Kraus said. “They don't allow it at all, so he wanted this to hopefully change his schools’ and administrators’ in his school perspective on how we can implement AI to their school.”

Kraus went to the America’s Youth AI Festival in July with his dad, David Kraus, who is superintendent of Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca, and another student. The trip to Boston was paid for by The School Superintendents Association and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

David Kraus said even though his district has started exploring AI, the conversations and presentations he saw in Boston made it clear that his district would need to dive deeper.

“It reminds me of when COVID hit us, and all of a sudden we had to be expert leaders in COVID,” David Kraus said. “It's kind of similar now with AI, where we need to be the leaders of AI and policy and protection, and I don't think we have the quick knowledge.”

He said school leaders and teachers are playing catch up with students when it comes to artificial intelligence. According to Deloitte, 76% of people 16 to 29 years old have used an AI tool, compared to 58% of those 30 to 45 and 36% of those 46 to 59.

Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca leaves it up to teachers to decide how and when to use AI, if at all. he’s seeing teachers start dabbling in AI, especially after training with a representative from an educational service unit.

David Kraus said he wants to expand the district’s approach to implement more curriculum around AI literacy for teachers and students.

“Our teachers didn't go to school for AI. They aren't experts in AI, and some don't even use it,” he said. “How do we find those people that are experts in AI and teach?”

He received a curriculum in Boston that he believes could help with that, but he plans to look at it more himself first.

“The teachers left there with some great ideas on how to start using it to enhance their teaching, and instead of it being a tool for cheating, (it) became a tool for teaching,” Kraus said.

Landry, his son, wants to see more parents and teachers learning and understanding AI, and he hopes the policy he helped pass will inspire districts and parents to do just that.

“We grew into this. We know how to use it in many ways that they don't,” Landry said. “They haven't wrapped their minds around what it can do and how it can be good, but also how it can be bad. I feel like we need to educate them and make them see what it is and how it actually works.”