The unrelenting arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has forced many institutions, especially schools, to quickly adapt to the new and ever evolving technology. Over the years, many AI programs have been released, yet software such as ChatGPT may pose a problem when it comes to students developing their ability to learn and think critically. With just a short prompt and the click of a button, paragraphs upon paragraphs can be generated without guidelines or parameters. But ChatGPT is not the only AI on the market. Mater Dei promises a more responsible and education-friendly approach to the technology. 

Magic School AI serves as a proofreader, idea generator, and a feedback tool all in one. Each English teacher can assign an online grouping of classes called a “room” for their block to determine which features they should make available to their students. There are also programs that are specific to teachers as well, such as a rubric generator and a lesson planning feature.  

Honors English I teacher Anna-Lisa George has already explored Magic School AI in her classes. The students were given a day to see what the program had to offer. 

“With my freshman Honors English classes, we did experiment a little with the writing feedback feature,” George said. “So students had a complete draft of an essay, and they entered it into the writing feedback tool, and then got results.”

While George noted some limitations of the AI, she also learned about the value it may have in the classroom.

“Some students felt like they got valuable feedback, and others were a little bit disappointed that it didn’t seem to accurately read their papers,” George said. “[But some] did get some feedback that at least gave them the opportunity to look back at those parts of their papers and decide for themselves whether or not they thought it needed revising, which I personally think is helpful.” 

Magic School AI was released on May 22, 2024, and is constantly updating and improving to better suit the needs of educators. According to its website, over 4 million students and teachers use the program. Joshua Long, Honors English II and AP Language and Composition teacher, is one of these many users. He enjoys the more comedic yet informative features that Magic School has to offer. 

“I like the feature where you can [talk with a character]. So it could be a character from history, like Gandhi [or] Martin Luther King Jr., or a fictional character, like Jay Gatsby,” Long said. “There’s [also] a rap battle feature where you can have two [characters making] raps against each other. So you could select a protagonist and an antagonist [of a] novel, and create some ridiculous rap battle.” 

Long has made himself familiar with many different versions of AI, from ChatGPT to Google’s Gemini. He notes the issues with the lack of academic restrictions these programs have, something that Magic School attempts to fix. 

“The issue is that [ChatGPT and Gemini] violate academic integrity [in] so many different ways,” Long said. “To put it bluntly, it’s so easy to cheat with ChatGPT. [But] the goal with Magic School is to put parameters on what the AI can and cannot do.”

With the ethical restrictions Magic School has put in place, students are able to better focus on improving their own writing, rather than just blindly using whatever AI has generated for them. Long hopes students use the program to their advantage, and to supplement their own papers rather than replace them. 

“I think [Magic School should be used for three things]: generating ideas at the beginning of the writing process,  then getting feedback once they have a draft, and then maybe the final touches with proofreading,” Long said. 

Students have started to make use of Magic School AI as well. Sophomore Sofia Rudolf has used the program for several essays, and enjoys the assistance it provides with her writing. 

“I’ve used it sparingly, here and there for a few papers, other times just for random ideas,” Rudolf said. “I like the writing feedback [feature]. It gives you some really good feedback for essays or other papers you want to use, it doesn’t just tell you flat out [what to do]. It just gives you suggestions to go off of.”

When using this tool, it is important to note that Magic School is just that—a tool. It exists to aid a student in the writing process, not create the essay for them. Rudolf believes that, if used correctly, Magic School does contain many benefits. 

“[While] I will say it does give more incentive for people who don’t want to try that hard to cheat,  I do think there are some good things to come out of [Magic School],” Rudolf said. “The idea generator, if you use it properly, can give you some helpful little [ideas].  

Senior Angela Karanja has used the program in her AP Language and Composition class to support her research. She finds it helpful in getting started with her essays. 

“I’ve used features mostly related to essay brainstorming or writing, like the sentence starter feature,” Karanja said. “I’ve also used Magic School to generate general information on a topic for an essay and to do basic research.”

Another concern with AI is outdated information. AI like Chat GPT do not contain data past 2023, which may impact its results. Students like Karanja hope that Magic School may add a search engine to provide more up-to-date information to students, to aid with research. 

“One feature I think works really well for other AI applications that I’d like to see in the program is a search engine feature,” Karanja said. “That way the text being generated can reflect real time, updated information.”

While AI’s takeover of the internet was swift, and at many points imposing in its power, programs such as Magic School AI promise to take a more subtle, helpful approach. Instead of replacing teachers, Magic School strives to act as an assistant, and aid their students in turn. George hopes that students will use Magic School responsibly, and in a way that helps them better develop their own writing skills. 

“[Students should] use it properly,” George said. “For example, if they used the proofreader, set that down next to their original and looked at it line by line and decided what changes they want to make, that would be a great use of it.”