AI for Education

Another milestone achieved in the AI for Education journey! Today marked our first PD session with educators in Mumbai, India. It was a pleasure to engage with nearly 90 teachers and leaders, supporting the responsible adoption of AI in their instructional practice. Special thanks to Avnita Bir for the opportunity! Amanda Bickerstaff #aiK12 #ailiteracy #aiforeducation #aiineducation

Earlier this week the ILO Group released its “Framework for Implementing AI in State Education Agencies” providing much-needed strategic guidance to help SEAs navigate the impact of AI on student preparation for college, careers, and the workforce. Critically, it emphasizes the role of AI as a supportive tool when it is UNDER human oversight and the framework is divided into two sections: • Statewide AI Areas of Considerations, which outlines foundational pillars to support SEAs in AI implementation, and • Division-Specific Applications, which focuses on practical use cases for AI within SEAs to enhance internal and external operations. The framework provides actionable recommendations, key questions to consider, and concrete examples of how AI can be leveraged to improve SEA operations and support for local education agencies. It also stresses the importance of stakeholder engagement, establishing responsible AI frameworks, conducting AI readiness assessments, providing AI literacy training, and developing strategic funding and communication plans. Please check out the full framework linked in the comments and thanks to the ILO Group and Julia Rafal-Baer for their hard work developing this. #ailiteracy #aipolicy #GenAI #AI

A new survey released by the Walton Family Foundation shows growing support from teachers, students, and parents for the use of GenAI in schools, even though training and guidance still lag far behind. We love seeing new data and evidence on GenAI use and perceptions and here are our highlights & takeaways: •   Teachers are LESS favorable of GenAI chatbots then they were last year, but still 59% of surveyed teachers see the tools in a positive light •   Teachers that have never used GenA have a more negative perception than those that have, which echoes what we see in our work on the ground •   50% to 38% of teachers think that GenAI has legitimate educational use for students, but those that have never used the tool have more negative perceptions •   40% and 44% of K-2 and 3-5 teachers say they would allow GenAI use, but not actively encourage it. This is a concern due to the lack of fit-for-purpose tools for elementary school and the potential impact on student wellbeing •   2/3rds of teachers say they either don't have or unaware of having a formal GenAI policy/guidelines •   56% public school teachers vs 42% private school teachers say they have not received any training , while 73% use GenAI tools •   6-12 graders are using these tools much more than last year (~70%) •   Parents of all demographics want schools to use GenAI more to support their students •   Students and teachers agree the biggest benefit of GenAI is in explaining concepts that students struggle with •    Male, Black, younger and urban teachers are more likely to use GenAI at work (seeing the first two in a couple of studies now) While this survey reveals growing support for AI in education among key stakeholders, the lack of comprehensive training and clear policies is still a major concern, which we continue to see in our work. Check out the full survey below and share any key takeaways you have. AI for Education #aiforeducation #aieducation #GenAI #teachingwithAI #research #ailiteracy

If you’ve heard Natasha Singer’s piece “Real Teenagers, Fake Nudes: The Rise of Deepfakes in American Schools” on the Daily’s recent podcast, you’re likely equal parts outraged and motivated to act. The case study of one suburban New Jersey’s recent experience with a male student creating fake nude images of his female classmates with GenAI highlights a range of issues:  1. The increasing availability and lack of oversight of AI tools that can create photorealistic fake nudes quickly, easily, and for free. 2. The complete lack of preparedness and awareness schools have of this growing problem, which manifested in the botched handling of this case with real consequences for the girls involved. 3. The need for comprehensive strategies that include both clear school policies and AI literacy on responsible and ethical use that directly reference Deepfakes. 4. The need for legal protection and awareness of the emotional and psychological impacts of AI-generated deepfake nudes on young people.   We absolutely cannot afford to wait on these key issues. The impact can be seen in cases of non-consensual fake nudes that have impacted girls and women around the world including Taylor Swift. As part of our work supporting the education ecosystem's responsible adoption of GenAI, we’ve created a free classroom guide on Uncovering Deepfakes that we hope can lead to these necessary discussions in classrooms and staff rooms. The resource features: - Information on what Deepfakes are and their impact on society - Strategies for critical and responsible consumption of online content and the identification of deepfakes - Key examples of audio, photo, and video deepfakes to spur discussion - Guiding questions for classroom discussion on the ethics of deepfakes You can listen to the Daily’s podcast here (we think it's required listening): https://lnkd.in/ey7UxhDn. You can view the guide or download a PDF version here: https://lnkd.in/eNep3Jjy. #aiforeducation #aieducation #thedaily #GenAI #ailiteracy #deepfakes

Excited to share that I'll be heading to Denver in a few weeks for ISTE Live to participate in the NYC DOE's session:"Youth Innovators in AI: How NYCPS Connects Students to Real World Industries." We will be showcasing some of the incredible work AI for Education Education has done with South Brooklyn's HE3AT program, a year-long collaboration with a group of 11th graders focused on AI policy and AI safety. Spearheaded by Superintendent Michael Prayor, NYC's HE3AT program provides high school students with valuable exposure to industry partners, delivers project-based learning (PBL) curricula centered around real-world problems, and helps develop critical thinking and research skills During the session, we will delve into this year's projects where students tackled complex, real-world problems, developed solutions, and communicated their findings through multi-media design. Thanks to the South Brooklyn team, Tara Carrozza's team, and Take Two Film Academy for the opportunity to be a part of this program. It's been an incredible year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of these students' learning journey. Their growth and achievements have been inspiring, and we will be sharing some of their AI Policy PSA's over the next few weeks. And if you're planning to attend ISTE in Denver, let's connect! Stop by our session or please reach out, so we can find some time to meet. @aiforeducation #aieducation #ISTELive #studentvoice #students

This week we hit another major milestone: our first webinar with over 2000 registrants! Unsurprisingly, it was on a topic of major importance for all educators: Redefining Assessments in the Age of AI. This webinar is the first in an ongoing series we kicked off at the AIR show with our very tongue-in-cheek "retirement party" for traditional assessments. In this first session, Amanda DePriest and I discussed the transformative impact of AI on student learning and the necessity of evolving assessment methods to keep pace with these changes. You can check out the recording and resources (links in the comments), but here are the highlights for the main topics we covered: Historical Context and Technological Shifts in Education -Discussion on the past impact of calculators, the Internet, and devices on education -Comparison of these past technological shifts to the current impact of GenAI -Emphasis on the rapid adoption and integration of AI tools in education Desirable vs. Undesirable Difficulties -Explanation of Robert Bjork's research on desirable difficulties (the hard work of learning) -Discussion on how AI can help address undesirable difficulties in assessment -Examples of how AI can support students with learning disabilities, language barriers, and executive functioning issues Redefining Assessment with AI -Introduction to the concept of redefining assessment in the context of GenAI -Discussion on shifting from traditional assessments to more process-focused evaluations -Examples of how GenAI can be used to improve existing assessment practices How to use GenAI to redesign assessments by: - Breaking down assignments into incremental processes with clear steps - Identifying undesirable difficulties before removing these barriers in updated assessments - Providing opportunities for students to express their conceptual understanding in meaningful and targeted ways We really enjoyed digging into this important webinar with our AI for Education community and are looking forward to releasing new resources and hosting additional webinars on the topic over the summer. #aiforeducation #aieducation #teachingwithAI #GenAI

We’re excited to share that Catawba County Schools (CCS) has partnered with AI for Education on a three-year initiative to implement GenAI across their 28 schools as part of a competitive, state-funded grant program announced today by the North Carolina State Board of Education. The goal of the initiative is to build community-wide AI literacy (students, teachers, leaders, and caregivers), develop and test GenAI tools to enhance instruction and learning, and prepare students for an AI-driven future. We worked closely with the CCS team to develop the proposal in which we leveraged our expertise in responsible AI implementation and change management and CCS's bold vision, deep understanding of their students and faculty, and commitment to innovation. We believe that this partnership showcases the power of and need for collaboration in preparing students for an AI-augmented world. We're grateful for CCS's dedication to responsible AI in education and couldn’t be more excited to work alongside them. We will be sharing best practices and case studies along the way, so look out for some good stuff coming! Thank you to Marty Sharpe, Jo-Nell Isenhour, Terri Hall, and Corey Layne Crouch for all their hard work. #PartnershipsinEducation #AIinEducation #FutureReadyStudents #ResponsibleAI #K12Innovation (Image generated by Ideogram)

AI for Education launched our Youtube channel this time last year with a recording of our very first webinar focused on Design Thinking with GenAI. I'm happy to announce that we are now a “Youtube Partner” – which is a lot less fancy than it sounds, but it did give us a chance to look back at our year in video. Here are the highlights: ⭐ 62 videos ⭐ 35,134 views ⭐ 4,376.5 Hours of watch time ⭐ Views from 27 countries (48% from the US) ⭐ Our first video: Embracing AI – A Design Thinking Approach to Personalize Learning (w/ John Nash) ⭐ Shortest: CNN segment on North Carolina’s AI guidance that mentioned AI for Education! ⭐ Longest: AI for Education Summit: Learn, Experiment, Innovate-Innovator EdTalks Most Popular Videos: 1.   Prompt Engineering for Educators 2.   Creating AI/ChatGPT-Resistant (and Assisted) Assignments & Assessments for Students(w/ MagicSchool’s Adeel Khan) 3.   How to Use ChatGPT for Lesson Planning 4.   Harnessing AI for Special Education Part 1 5.   Using AI for Differentiated Instruction It never ceases to amaze me how much we’ve accomplished in just a year, and this milestone is a testament to the value we strive to provide to our audience and the education community. Our small but mighty team pours their hearts into crafting everything we do, and I'm deeply grateful to all who have been a part of both creating and watching all of these videos. You can check out our channel or even subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eKx4hMbh. #aieducation #aiforeducation #youtube #GenAI #startup

When's the perfect time for the major GenAI chatbots to stop working? If you guessed in the middle of a district-wide introductory professional development session for teachers than you win. Today multiple chatbots experienced outages across the morning - including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.  At first I thought we had just broken Burlington Iowa's internet, but during lunch we realized it was a major systematic outage. Luckily being a former teacher means you are always ready to adapt! We kept the session moving forward using alternate tools and focusing on building other areas of knowledge, but I appreciated the educators' sense of humor and willingness to pivot. In the end, this experience serves as a reminder that while GenAI technologies hold immense potential to transform education, they are still in their earliest stages and can be very unreliable. As educators, it's crucial that we approach these tools with a balanced perspective - recognizing their capabilities while also being prepared for the challenges and limitations that come with any emerging technology. And in the end a session like today emphasizes what we already know: that the resilience and creativity of educators is one of our superpowers. Wish me luck for Session #2! AI for Education #aieducation #aiforeducation #startup #GenAI #fails

As generative AI continues to revolutionize teaching and learning, it's imperative for educators to understand how this technology impacts instructional and assessment practices. Join Amanda DePriest and I for our next free AI for Education webinar, "Redefining Assessment in the Age of AI," where we’ll discuss the transformative effects of AI on student learning and the necessity of evolving assessment methods to keep pace with these changes. Attendees will gain valuable insights into: -The importance of adapting assessment practices in response to AI advancements -Practical strategies for designing AI-resistant assessments -Innovative approaches to leveraging AI for enhanced assessment -Opportunities for creating balanced, AI-integrated educational environments Can’t make the time? A recording + resources will be emailed to all registrants. Learn more or register here: https://lnkd.in/evTuZVH4. #aieducation #aiforeducation #teachingwithAI #GenAI