Trek AI replaces AI tools on campus

Written by Austen Ward |

With many AI tools blocked across all Chromebooks at school, some students struggle with doing homework. Assistant Principal Janice Northen initiated the school’s use of Trek AI, a program designed specifically for schools, students and teachers.

“AI is deeply embedded in our society now,” Mrs. Northen said. “Our responsibility as a school is to teach students how to use it safely and how to use it ethically.”

Trek AI is an educational platform made to help students learn instead of just letting the AI complete whatever task for them.

“Trek AI is designed to teach you how to use it properly, and it won’t do your assignments for you.” 

Mrs. Northen said that the best way they thought having students do that was to guide students away from programs that did the learning and work for them and use a program like Trek AI that is designed to assist the student and make the learning process smoother. She said Trek AI is “supposed to act as a personalized tutor for every student.”

Another big reason for choosing Trek AI was because there is an age restriction on Chat GPT, and most of our middle school students can’t use it. “So you can see as a school with students all the way down to about 11 years old, that’s kind of a problem for us,” Mrs. Northen said.

Mrs. Northen occasionally uses Trek AI for herself when she’s stuck on something. She’s found it to be very beneficial, “One of my favorite things about it is that it uses the socratic method of teaching, which means it doesn’t just give you the answer — it guides you to it.”

She said she hopes Trek AI can be a useful resource everyone can refer to when they need help with homework.