Free REMC Courses in July

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Are you ready to supercharge your teaching arsenal with cutting-edge tools and strategies, all while earning FREE SCECHs? REMC courses are designed to ignite your passion for innovative teaching methods and enhance classroom engagement. All courses can be taken from the convenience of your home and when the time is right for you.

Registration deadline is Thursday, July 4th, each course begins on Monday, July 8th. Thanks to the generous support of REMC SAVE’s vendor partners, all courses are FREE and there are no SCECH fees. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to expand your skill set and revitalize your classroom!

Check out July 2024 courses here:

Register by Thursday, July 4th You will receive a welcome email with the course information prior to the course start date. If you have questions or need further assistance with your course registration, please click here.

Next-Gen Tech: Out with the Old, In with the New

decorative title graphic

In the ever-shifting world of digital resources, our district’s subscriptions are subject to change annually. This year is no exception, with several edtech companies either closing or altering their licensing terms. We aim to keep you informed about the changes that may affect the upcoming school year. This post will be updated throughout the summer and into the fall to reflect the latest information. See the previous tools we’ve used and the new ones that will take their place. Rest assured, we’re also putting in the effort to gather and develop resources to support a smooth transition for everyone involved, more will be added as we create them. Please submit a tech ticket if you have questions or concerns.

AI @ P-CCS: Part 4 – Make a Plan

AI Part 4

make a plan

Welcome to the final post of our AI series. This series has explored the world of AI in education, and you’ve gained valuable knowledge through exploring resources, delving into district policy, experimenting with AI tools, and collaborating with colleagues. Please continue those steps as much as needed before you translate that knowledge into action. Here’s how to get started with AI integration in your classroom next year:

Planning for AI Integration:

  • Develop an AI Integration Plan based on your goals: Start by clarifying your educational goals. How can AI enhance student learning, engagement, and outcomes? Whether it’s personalized tutoring, automating administrative tasks, or fostering creativity, define your objectives and the role AI might have in your classroom.

Communication is Key:

  • Transparency in Your Syllabus: Clearly outline your expectations for AI usage in your class syllabus or introductory communication. This could include acceptable tools, responsible use guidelines, and student data privacy protocols. 
  • Tracking down academic integrity breaches can be exhausting. You might attempt to put ownership back on the students by requiring Proof of Positive Authorship that was used by some of our P-CCS teachers at the Park in the 23-24 school year. 

Teaching AI with Integrity:

  • Empowering Students as Responsible AI Users: Equip your students to navigate the world of AI with integrity. Consider creating a visual guide, like a stoplight system or flowchart, to help them identify when using AI is appropriate and when it’s not. For example, green light for using a translation tool to understand a foreign language passage, yellow light for using a grammar checker while acknowledging the need to revise independently, and red light for using an AI writing tool to complete an entire assignment.

AI stoplight example

Modeling AI Engagement:

  • Lead by Example: Demonstrate for your students how to effectively and appropriately use AI tools within your subject area and grade level. Following the “I Do, We Do, You Do” approach: first model the process yourself, then guide students through a collaborative activity, and finally, let them practice independently. SchoolAI (free version) is a great platform that allows students to interact with a personalized tutor. Teachers can monitor the entire interaction and it automatically flags inappropriate student use in real-time.

gradual release of responsibility for student AI use

Exciting News!

The district will be offering access to Google Gemini through gemini.google.com for teacher use next school year – starting in August of 2024 (note: if you try to login now, it will not work)! The feature is included with our Google Workspace For Education account. Unlike other Gen AI services, Gemini will not collect any data when you are using your P-CCS Workspace account. Please note, it is still important that you do not share personally identifiable information even though Google will not use this data to train the AI. It offers you similar abilities as ChatGPT to support: 

  • Lesson Planning: “Can you help me create a lesson plan on the water cycle for 5th graders? For better results include a standard, a time frame, number of students, and general location.”
  • Remove Barriers: “Here’s my lesson plan on ___ topic, what barriers might there be to learners and how could I lessen or remove them?”
  • Identify Common Misunderstandings: “I’m teaching about linear functions, what are common misunderstandings students may have?”
  • Language Practice: “Provide a list of conversational phrases in Spanish for beginners.”
  • Real World Examples: “I am teaching 3rd graders about _____. Provide 3 real world examples that are simple and engaging. My students’ interests are _____.
  • Classroom Management: “Draft a message to parents about upcoming parent-teacher conferences.”
  • Find more sample educator prompts here: Prompt Library — AI for Education 

With any of these prompts, be sure to keep yourself in the loop. Don’t just prompt and paste, review the response and make it fit for your context.

This concludes our 4-part-series on AI in Education for 2023-24. We encourage you to continue exploring and experimenting with AI tools as we look ahead to next year. If you’d like support or a thought partner – reach out to a member of the TIS team! We are here and will respond to tech tickets and email all summer. 

Expect more information from us in the fall where we will share more details about Gemini and other AI tools that can be utilized to support student learning! Happy planning!

Tech-To-Do’s Year-End Checklist

summer break tech to-do

As you make plans to close up your classroom for the summer (and a well deserved break), please take care of the following items:

  1. Save, Update, and Share Your Content

    1. Current Canvas courses will close and get placed in your past enrollments. However, there are considerations to check in the End of Year Canvas Post.
    2. If you are leaving the district or hoping to collaborate with colleagues over the summer you might review this post: Sharing Digital Resources with Colleagues – P-CCSK12 Tech 
    3. Clever: Staff and Students will have access to all clever resources throughout the summer. Clever syncing will be on pause starting on Monday June 11, 2024 giving student’s access to their 23-24 teacher’s pages and links until around mid-August when syncing will resume for the 24-25 school year. If you’re interested in learning how to make the most of Clever in your classroom, consider looking at training and ideas here.
    4. IXL: PCCS’s digital subscription for K-5 elementary students will continue throughout the summer. Students will have access to their NWEA skill plans (which were just updated with any spring scores) all summer. Students will have access to any current teacher starred skills through around mid-August, you might consider un-starring skills for students because they to travel with students from year to year. Students in 5th grade currently will lose access around mid-August when syncing begins for the 24-25 school year as they will then be recognized as 6th graders.
    5. Edpuzzle: AFTER your grades have been transferred to the gradebook, it’s recommended that teachers delete their Edpuzzle classes. Issues can sometimes arise when Canvas courses that were integrated with Edpuzzle are copied from one year to the next. It is recommended that teachers delete their Edpuzzle classes before the new school year starts and new students join your classes. Please follow the directions in Edpuzzle’s Best Practices: Closing Out the School Year.
  2. Tech Housekeeping: Secure, Return, and Power Off 

    1. Please comply with the directions of your principal and main office to turn in or secure all classroom technology equipment such as document cameras, microphones, interactive pens, and remotes. 
    2. Please also secure or take home all District-assigned devices (laptop, Chromebook, iPad, etc.), as well as all personally-owned devices.
    3. Power off projectors/IFPs, sound amps, and desktop computers.
      1. You may leave printer and copiers plugged in and powered on
    4. Follow the care suggestions for classroom audio.
  3. Explore, Collaborate, and Plan

    1. Please set aside some time to consider the role of Artificial Intelligence in your educational setting. Learn about it and experiment with it. Touch base with other educators in your grade level or subject area about the role AI may play. Finally, develop a plan for AI classroom policies for next year. All these tips have been highlighted in our AI Blog Series (still more posts to come).

Ai @ P-CCS – Part 3: Communicate & Collaborate

part 3 of AI series

communicate and collaborate

As AI tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent, it’s both an exciting and daunting time for teachers. AI has the potential to augment and enhance teaching in powerful ways. But it also raises questions around academic integrity and appropriate classroom use. Rather than trying to figure it all out alone, we suggest teachers band together to discuss AI. In this blog post, we’ll explore practical ways to discuss AI, share experiences, and collaboratively determine appropriate usage within grade levels and subject areas.

1. Recognize AI’s Presence

The first step is to acknowledge that AI exists and is already impacting education. Students are aware of AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, and may experiment with them independently. As educators, we must guide them on responsible usage and ethical considerations.

2. Acknowledge the Spectrum of Comfort

Teachers have varying levels of familiarity with AI. Some embrace it wholeheartedly, while others approach it with caution. Acknowledge this range and create a safe space for discussions. Encourage each other to share their experiences, fears, and aspirations related to AI.

Start with informal conversations during lunch breaks or department meetings. Pose open, non-threatening questions like:

  • “How have you explored AI tools in your classroom?”
  • “What concerns or wonderings do you have about AI?”
  • “How do you envision AI enhancing student learning?”

3. Address Concerns Collectively

Discuss ethical considerations

  • Bias: AI was developed and trained by humans – and humans are inherently biased. AI can inherit and amplify human biases in its output. How can we recognize and critique AI’s responses?
  • Privacy: AI (and humans) may review what is entered into the platform; do not share information you would not want reviewed or used. Students and staff should never share personally identifiable information (PII) about themselves or others – this can include first/last names, email addresses, or any other personal identifying information.
  • Copyright and Fairness: AI models are trained on existing intellectual property. What implications does this pose for the creative and academic world?

Academic Integrity

Most people would agree that prompting AI and pasting its response without thought or editing raises academic integrity concerns. However, if you were to break down all the steps of the writing process, many people would agree that AI assistance on some of those steps would be permissible. We encourage you to talk about the learning goals in your subject area/grade level and discuss the appropriate role of AI. See the graphic below to help stimulate your thinking. You might also view Matt Miller’s original post on this topic where he breaks down the topics even further. 

rethink plagiarism and cheating with AI

 

4. Collaborate with Grade Levels and Departments

Lastly, collaborate with colleagues in grade levels and subject areas. Share best practices, explore innovative approaches, and try to develop some agreements for AI usage. The goal shouldn’t be to fight against or ban AI, which will only hinder our students’ preparedness for an AI-informed world. Instead, we must be proactive about collaborating with AI – setting clear guidelines, establishing reasonable limitations, and intentionally developing our students’ skills in using AI responsibly and ethically.

AI use cases will inevitably vary across subjects and grade levels. An English teacher may want students to use AI to brainstorm ideas or get feedback during the writing process. A math teacher could have students use AI to derive step-by-step solutions or explanations for complex problems. An elementary teacher could use an AI assistant to create exemplars/non-exemplars, adjusting texts to be more appropriate for students, or students could generate an image to go with a story they wrote. A teacher of any subject and level might display a prompt to AI and its response and work with the students to evaluate and critique its response. Brainstorm potential use cases and try to develop some shared agreements.

By opening up respectful dialogue, listening to all viewpoints, and working towards consensus, we can ensure AI becomes a productive force that elevates teaching and learning, rather than undermining it. The future is here – but we get to shape what it looks like in our classrooms through open collaboration.

In next week’s final (for this series) blog post we will encourage you to craft an AI policy for your class next year. We will provide sample language you might include in your syllabus or beginning-of-the-year communication. The conversations you have with colleagues as the year comes to a close may help you feel more confident to navigate AI next school year. 

 

 

Year-End Canvas Information

Canvas end-of-year tips

The good news is, there isn’t much to worry about with Canvas at the end of the year. It will automatically convert your course to read-only for students and roll your course into Past Enrollments. When next year’s course shell appears you will be able to import last year’s course content with a few clicks.

There are a few things you can do if you’d like to make adjustments to your course over the summer or if you like to have a just-in-case copy. Peruse the items below for more information and/or save it at this link.