5 Steps For Schools To Thrive In A World Of Artificial Intelligence
While the disruptions to the status quo may be what many are talking about in reference to A.I. in education, my biggest hope as a parent and leader is that we can thrive in a world filled with artificial intelligence.
This technology will not only be a part of our experience as learners, it will be a driving force in our lives just as the internet, computers, and television were as they burst onto the scene in their “hinge of history” moment.
As I wrote in Empower, “Our job is not to prepare kids for something, it is to help kids learn to prepare themselves for anything.”
Here are five steps to make this happen in a world of artificial intelligence.
Step 1: Acknowledge and Learn
We’ll have to acknowledge that A.I. is not going away, and that it is here to stay for good. We will also have to acknowledge it will be everchanging and we will have to tackle this future as learners first.
Let’s learn about A.I., learn how it works, how to use it, it’s limitations, and the benefits.
In this interview with George Couros I tackle four big questions about A.I. in education and what it means to be a leader and learner in this new environment.
Step 2: Use As Staff and Create Professional Learning Opportunities With Staff
Once we get over the initial hump we have to begin using it ourselves. This is where I love to get staff acquainted with specific A.I. tools that can help them save time, be more efficient and transform the learning experiences. Here’s a way we can discuss and use the technology at the same time.
In December 2023, Vox came out with a fantastic video detailing the impact ChatGPT and other A.I. Chatbots have had on education in the past year.
Instead of the typical video that shares only research, or only an interview with an expert—Vox interviewed hundreds of teachers, professors, school leaders AND students to put together this well-informed video essay.
For a year now, students have had access to AI chatbots, otherwise known as Large Language Models, that can write at a high-school level and answer specific and diverse questions related to many school subjects.
OpenAI's ChatGPT kicked off a race among tech companies to release their own chatbots and integrate them into existing consumer products. The most advanced language models, like GPT-4 and Claude2 are kept behind paywalls. They offer more nuanced answers and make fewer mistakes but because reliability is not guaranteed, many businesses cannot yet deploy these systems. That means a significant portion of chatbot use cases are for low-stakes applications, like school work.
This presents a major challenge to educators, who now need to rethink their curriculum to either incorporate chatbot use or to attempt to deter it.
In this video, we hear from students and teachers about how they're thinking through the problem, and review research in the science of learning to understand how the "fluency" of a chatbot experience could disrupt the learning process that we go to school for.
After watching the video together (or maybe as an outside-of-school activity), we’ll want to discuss the implications. I used “Magic School’s Youtube Video Discussion Question” generator to help brainstorm seven discussion questions (note: I had to regenerate and tweak a few of these).
Discussion Questions
1. According to the video, what trend did the web traffic to ChatGPT experience after its release? Why is this important to education?
2. What percentage of students said they use ChatGPT? Does this resonate with your experience?
3. In the video, which tasks can the most advanced AI language models perform?
4. What were the results when the video creator asked their freshman-year professors to grade essays written by ChatGPT?
5. What options do educators face when it comes to allowing or preventing students from using AI technology?
6. In the video, why do some students and teachers dislike the idea of banning AI and using detection software to catch generated text?
7. How do passive lecture-based classes and active learning classes differ in terms of student learning outcomes? What does this have to do with A.I.?
Let’s Make This An Interactive Discussion
I always like using A.I. tools when discussing the implications. If you are like me and sometimes ask a question, only to get the same three hands raised…then this can work for you as well.
I open one of my favorite A.I. tools, Curipod, and create an interactive presentation to show the video and ask these questions.
Now instead of only a few students responding, every student can respond and we can mix up the questions to be open-ended, poll, and word cloud.
For the final question, I’ll use the “AI Feedback” tool on Curipod. This will give my students (or colleagues) real-time feedback and I can see where we are as a group.
Are we missing key takeaways from the activity? Do I need to redirect? Are folks on the same page?
You can test the feedback for yourself and see what it looks like with different types of answers using the “test feedback” option.
Did I mention this is all free and available for educators right now?
Try it out for yourself using the Curipod that I made using the link below:
Let me know how your PD Session or Class goes while using this strategy!
Step 3: Implementing A.I. With A Focus on Better Learning Experiences and Environment
I’ve been consistently curious about how artificial intelligence will impact my own individual learning and creative pursuits. I’ve been just as intrigued about its impact on education and society as a whole.
I see how transformational it can be to save time, develop engaging experiences, and usher in a new era of what learning can look like.
But, there has been something that’s bugging me.
It’s not necessarily the bias and ethical implications we see with all kinds of artificial intelligence. That is a known issue, and something many folks are already aware of and working on improving in updated models.
It’s not the sheer amount of human power and energy that is needed to run LLM models. This is also something that has been widely discussed, analyzed, and has a roadway to improve.
And, it’s not the privacy piece. We live in a world where privacy is already compromised in so many facets, this is also why I believe Apple may come out on top with AI security/privacy built into their devices.
As with any new technology, it is going to have positives and negatives. It’s pros and cons. It’s cheerleaders and detractors.
Every time I talk about artificial intelligence, my first comment is, that I’m not “pro” or “anti” AI. I understand that it is a hinge of history and here to stay. We can learn to use it for good, or not. That is up to us.
However, as someone who thinks, writes, and focuses on learning, what is bugging me is something different.
Are we using this technology for new and better learning experiences, or to do old things in new ways?
One of my favorite AI tools that I share all the time is Magic School.
Tools like it will save teachers hours of time and — as Sal Khan has said — may eliminate almost 90% of administrative tasks that take up so much of our day in schools.
That should leave time for creating, designing, making, and problem-solving with our students.
It should open up new curriculum opportunities for meaningful and relevant learning experiences.
It can usher in a new era of project-based learning that connects to the local community and global network.
Or…it can help us create more worksheets, multiple-choice tests, and boring compliance-based activities.
The Elephant in the AI Classroom, is much like any technology, what are we going to use it for?
Here’s a quick video I made showing how to use A.I. to make a meaningful and relevant learning experience in 5 minutes:
Step 4: Goals That Go Beyond Academic Achievement
We could respond to these new Artificial Intelligence tools in the following ways:
AI Cheat detectors for every assignment
Paper and pencil for everything
In-class tests where you can’t use any technology
And the list goes on.
We could lean into compliance and double down. After all, it is much easier to teach from PPT slides, textbooks, and tests/quizzes.
Or…and just hear me out for a second…we could do something amazing.
I’ve been blessed to work with educators all around the country (and world) this year. It doesn’t matter if it is a group of folks from Hawaii or Nova Scotia, from Alabama or NYC, from California or Ohio.
We already know what works and doesn’t work.
Kids are not normally engaged in lectures, textbooks, homework, and traditional assessments.
Our best learning experiences as adults didn’t happen when compliance was the focus either.
We know what happens when kids can tap into inquiry, and curiosity, and solve problems.
We know what happens when students get to work on challenges that are meaningful.
We know what happens when learners dive into a relevant curriculum and project-based learning experience.
We know what happens when kids care about their learning.
In reality, we are in the tough spot of having to work in systems that are not necessarily designed for kids to care about their learning.
Much of our curriculum, content, and pre-existing resources were not created with that as a priority.
Yet, here we are.
If kids, or adults, are forced to solely be compliant in their learning and work—then guess who is going to be their biggest partner in doing that work?
But, when we care things change.
If we don’t care about that email to a colleague or parent, why not have ChatGPT or any other AI tool write it?
If we do care, we’ll write it ourselves from a place of meaning and value.
If we don’t care about that lesson or activity, then why not have an AI tool create it?
If we do care, then maybe we use AI to generate some ideas or to finetune our plan, but in the end, our thoughts and changes make it special.
If kids don’t care about all of these assignments they have to do then of course they are going to use AI to do the assignments for them.
But…if they do care, then there is an opportunity for real, deep learning to happen.
If that is the goal, then let’s focus on making learning as meaningful and relevant as possible when we have the ability to do so.
This change, just like any other hinge in history, is an opportunity to do something amazing.
Step 5: Highlight What Is Working And Build From The Bottom Up
During the mid 19th century the city of Chicago was in crisis. The elevation of the growing metropolis was not much higher than the shorelines of Lake Michigan. There was no natural drainage in the city and culminated in six straight years of epidemics that lead to the cholera outbreak in 1854 (that killed six percent of the city's population).
Chicago was in crisis, and in 1856 came up with a plan lead by a host of young engineers to install a city-wide sewage system.
The young engineers believed there were only two ways to quickly and effectively bring this sewage system to the city: (A) abandon all of downtown and start over on higher ground, or (B) jack up all the buildings where they were.
They chose "B" and the raising of Chicago began in earnest in 1858 when the first masonry building in the city was raised (a four-story, 70 foot long, and 750-ton brick structure) six feet higher than it had been with no damage to the building.
Remarkably, life in the city went on as normal—as normal as life in such a rapidly growing city can be. The Tremont House, Chicago’s most eminent hotel, was raised inch by inch over several days as guests, including a U.S. senator, resided inside. An entire half block of Lake Street was also lifted in one huge engineering feat. The engineer behind it? A young George Pullman, who would go on to amass a fortune with his Pullman sleeping car. WBEZ describes how Pullman pulled it off:
He had 6,000 jackscrews put under the buildings, and hired 600 men to take charge of ten jacks each. On the signal, each man turned the screws on his ten jacks one notch. The buildings went up a fraction of an inch.
This process was repeated again and again over four days. Meanwhile, temporary timbers were placed under the buildings and new foundations constructed. Then the buildings were lowered into place. All this was smoothly done, while business inside the buildings went on as usual.
The raising of Chicago is another example of how limitations and constraints can actually fuel problem-solving and innovative work. It did not end as a complete success. The city's new sewage system had only one outlet. Sewage soon poured into Lake Michigan, polluting the city’s source of drinking water. That eventually led to the reversal of the Chicago River in 1900 (another huge infrastructure feat).
I'm often asked when leading workshops or speaking around the country the same question: How do we grow a culture of innovation in our school?
My answer is always: From the ground up.
A surefire way to halt creativity and innovation is for the leaders to have all the ideas. The Mayor of Chicago didn't have all the ideas to solve their sewage crisis. He turned to his engineers to navigate ideas that would solve the issue. Was their debate? Of course. But, the city council then supported the plan from the ground up in order to make it happen.
In fact, this is the cornerstone of being a creative leader: You can't be the one that has all the ideas.
So, if this is true, how do we build this type of culture from the ground up? How can we empower teachers and students to share their ideas, to be creative, and to make sure they are valued?
One of the best at this is the High School Principal at William Tennent (the district where I work). Dennis Best has seen what happens when he supports and helps to grow teacher's ideas.
He valued our teacher's ideas for an innovation program and supported CentennialX, our home-grown human-centered design program where students work side-by-side major companies and organizations to solve real-world problems.
In addition, our partnerships with companies, organizations, and institutions have grown with teachers and students working alongside people from:
The Character Lab (Angela Duckworth’s team is doing action research in our schools and working with our teachers and students around grit and character)
Drexel University (our students go to Drexel Med to work on real cadavers)
The University of Pennsylvania (our biology and psych students work with lab rats and we recently built a lab with real rats in our HS)
St. Joseph’s University (our students work with undergrad students who are performing neurosurgery)
Fox Chase Cancer Center (the TRIP program and our Genetics of Cancer course)
ShopRite (we have a Shoprite store in our HS where students work at and the community shops at)
Eli Lilly and PRA Health Sciences (sponsored student challenges for our design teams to solve real medical problems while in school)
MIT Cycling Team (our students developed a new cycling performance sock for the MIT Team during CentennialX)
Amidst all of these innovative opportunities, the teaching and learning continued at WTHS. There was not a huge reform movement that had to stop everything we were doing to start something new. The change happened from within and took place while life went on.
Recently WTHS took this approach a step further with their Teacher Innovation Pitch.
First, Dennis and his administrative team identified the areas of innovation, growth, and success at William Tennent High School. They noticed that many of these areas were started by staff and supported by the administration.
Yet, they were still in pockets and wanted more teachers to feel empowered to have ideas and try something new with their students or in their own professional journey.
Enter the Teacher Innovation Pitch.
Each spring, teachers will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to their colleagues and administration.
The goal is to further empower our teachers to:
Take instructional risks and feel free to fail.
Innovate.
Develop and leverage partnerships to provide opportunities for students to participate in authentic, real-world learning experiences.
Why Should Teachers Get Involved???
Perhaps you’ve identified a problem in your course/program/etc. you would like to solve.
Maybe you are interested in developing a new partnership to provide opportunities for students to participate in authentic, real-world learning experiences.
You may simply be seeking a new outlet for professional growth.
Like the raising of Chicago, we are leaning on the expertise and experience of our staff to solve problems and come up with unique and creative solutions. We have to value the ideas and support the work of everyone in our schools.
Like the raising of Chicago, we are continuing the teaching and learning while this is taking place.
Like the raising of Chicago, there will be successes, mistakes, and possibly unintended consequences. We'll continue to move forward and solve issues as needed.
And, like the raising of Chicago, we can do great things when forced to be innovative due to constraints.
Final Thoughts: Focus On What Has Always Worked And Modify For Today’s Reality
Yes, the world looks different today than it did yesterday.
Hasn't that always been true?
Amidst all the changes we are seeing I get a bit frustrated by hearing people say (over and over again) that education needs to be completely overhauled. That we need to change the entire system. That nothing works.
I often talk with teachers who are giving their best every single day. In the midst of the daily practice of teaching and leading we see that the world is changing, our students are changing right along with it, and we have a responsibility to move our practice forward as well.
This doesn't mean we abandon what has worked well in the past!
It only means we need to think critically about how it can be adjusted to work well today.
If Socrates wanted to create an engaging learning experience for his pupils/students, he would probably focus on an experience that was...
Human
Social
Meaning-centered
Language-based
These are the four lenses of learning from Penn Literacy Network and they ring true in today’s world of A.I. and distraction.
Those principles of learning still work today.
But, how it works looks different now than it did 10, 20, or 100 years ago.
In order to successfully navigate teaching and learning in an A.I. world, we’ll have to find ways to make the experience human, social, and meaningful regardless of the technology available.
