College of the Desert professor on how students should use AI this school year

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) Students heading back to class at College of the Desert this month are bringing artificial intelligence with them. Their professors already know it.

"Oh, yeah, of course they are. Everyone is," Dr. Corbyn Wild said when asked whether students are using AI.

"Students are using AI in the classroom. And that's not necessarily a bad thing."

Wild teaches English at College of the Desert and serves as president of the college's Academic Senate, the faculty body responsible for academic standards on campus.

As part of News Channel 3's back-to-school coverage, we sat down with her to talk about how the college is handling a technology already in nearly every backpack.

The conversation revealed a divide most families may not realize exists.

For K-12 schools, California lawmakers stepped in. A 2024 law, Assembly Bill 2876, directs the state commission that writes curriculum frameworks to weave AI literacy into math, science and history-social science standards at their next revision. No comparable law exists for the state's community colleges. There, curriculum decisions rest with faculty on each campus.

At College of the Desert, that puts professors like Wild at the center of the question.

"It depends on the discipline," Wild said. "What I don't want is a nurse who only uses AI. But in an English classroom, things are a little different."

Rather than banning the technology or leaning on detection software, Wild said she hands her English students a set of structured prompts, questions designed to make AI sharpen their thinking instead of replacing it. Examples include asking a chatbot to strengthen a thesis or point out what an argument is missing.

"It's all about empowering our learners to feel strong in their own thoughts and use AI instead to help them get those thoughts on paper better," she said.

Wild said the technology can also fill a gap no professor can.

"If a student emails me at 4 a.m. for help with an essay, I'm asleep. I'm not answering that email," she said. "But ChatGPT is awake and it can give them some good feedback."

She acknowledged a learning risk if students simply ask AI to write an essay and copy the result. The college's answer, she said, is teaching students how to ask, not pretending they won't.

Faculty on campus have also created displays promoting responsible and ethical AI use, including respecting privacy and intellectual property and disclosing when the technology is used.

Wild said some students and staff still feel a stigma around admitting they use AI.

"That comes with any new technology," she said. "It can be scary, it can be intimidating, and we can also be a little bit worried about what we might lose."

Her message as the semester begins: "AI is not the enemy. But if you're not sure what you're doing with it, ask. We have lots of people on campus who are working with AI. Ask a person, and then they can help you use the machine."

Fall classes at College of the Desert begin Aug. 31.