Appleton eSchool
Artificial Intelligence
A Message To Our Students: Large Language Models (LLMs) / AI / Word Predictors / Word Calculators
by Erik Hanson, Dean of Digital Learning | Director of eSchool
8/13/2026
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a very broad topic and term. In eSchool, we are concerned with human student safety, cognitive development and the academic learning while working on our online eSchool courses. Because of this, we are being very intentional about how (and if) students are interacting with Large Language Models (LLMs), Word Predictors, Word Calculators and AI in general.
What is a Large Language Model (LLM)?
Large Language Models (LLM) are the most common type of AI that humans interact with via the internet. Some freely available examples of LLMs are OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini. The resource website Britannica provides a nice definition of what an LLM does:
"LLMs aim to produce the most probable outcome of words for a given prompt. Smaller language models, such as the predictive text feature in text-messaging applications, may fill in the blank in the sentence “The sick man called for an ambulance to take him to the _____” with the word hospital. LLMs function in the same way but on a much larger, more nuanced scale. Instead of predicting a single word, an LLM can predict more-complex content, such as the most likely multi-paragraph response or translation."
In a way, these LLMs are a type of 'Word Calculator' or 'Word Predictor'. Since these 'Word Calculators' can predict words, paragraphs, essays, etc... naturally, there are some rules about how they can or cannot be used. For example, math teachers may allow students to use an approved math calculator on a test or an assignment. Or, they may not. Since the internet makes available math and word calculators, schools and teachers will have rules about how they can and cannot be used in the human learning process "at school". LLM results are calculated predictions and because of that the predictions are not always accurate. Much like predicting weather in forecasting. The computer models may predict a chance of rain at noon, but it does not rain at all. :)
- Are eSchool students allowed to use LLMs to complete their school work in our online courses?
- Mostly No.
- eSchool does not recommend the use of any freely available LLM on the internet to do personal or school work. Nothing that is entered into these LLMs are private or protected. We at eSchool do not recommend the use of these LLMs for children.
- Mostly No.
- If the answer is 'mostly no', what type of LLM is allowed for eSchool high school students working on online courses?
- AASD/eSchool offers a district supported LLM tool. At this time, MagicSchool is the district approved LLM. With teacher permission, high school students may have access to use this tool. The teacher also may determine this tool is not allowed for assignments in their class (similar to a math calculator). This tool protects the student's writing, school work and provides privacy from the wide open internet. It also provides transparency to the teacher and shows the student interaction with the LLM. Much like how our Google Chromebooks and various Google software licenses protect students identities and writing from the outside internet. MagicSchool also protects students from engaging the built in 'word calculator' (LLM) in topics outside of the topics approved by the teacher for academic learning. For example, if the student is seeking emotional support, the student would be redirected to the teacher or caring adult human.
- eSchool/AASD also offers high school students a safe and responsible 'word calculator style' writing assist (Byline) within our AASD Google documents.
- All eSchool writing assignments are now required to be drafted and submitted via a Google Doc on the district issued Chromebooks or Chrome browser logged into the AASD student account. Since the tool Byline is within our AASD Google Docs, students are offered the same safe and responsible internal protections. Teachers have the ability to turn this extension off and on based on what type or writing is expected from the student. Teachers also have the ability to transparently see the students writing process from scratch and provide helpful feedback to the students in the writing process.
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Did you know that eSchool participated in a writing assist research project in the spring of 2026?
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Yes we did! In Cooperation with the AASD high schools, eSchool and technology coaches, teachers assisted in the development of the safe and responsible writing assist extension now available in our google docs for high school students and teachers to use within AASD. (Yes, this is the same extension mentioned above).
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Research findings & some highlights below:
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Teachers: Increased trust in student writing authenticity
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Students: Decreased concern about being falsely accused of using AI — and the more they used Byline, the more they gained
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Students: Increased engagement with writing
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We want to ensure that our human students are learning what they are being asked to learn by their teachers. We value the human brain and especially the development of our youth. We seek to help our students understand what it means to have their brains 'cognitively on' and under "cognitive load". This is similar to how people workout with weights or exercises to put the human body's muscles under physical loads to help muscles become stronger and more resilient. We also seek to help students understand the concept of 'cognitive offloading' and how enlisting 'word predictors' and 'word calculators', when used without the guide of teachers, will likely only simulate results of human learning for our kids. Again, think about going to workout your body and having a machine lift the weights or do the exercises for you while you watch.
The topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what all comes with it changes rapidly. eSchool is doing our best to help teachers and students navigate this blistering landscape. Safe and Responsible use of LLMs is a very high priority for eSchool as we continue exploring and learning more each day. We strive to preserve the high expectations for our human students to meaningfully engage their brains to be lifelong learners.
Thanks for being our students!