Category: Blog

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. 
  • REMC 4 in the Muskegon Area has graciously shared some sample language for syllabi that can be adapted. You may require students to cite AI use in MLA format or use a less formal AI disclosure. 
• 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.

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.

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!

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. 

 

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. 

 

 

 

As educators, we’re constantly adapting to changes in technology and pedagogy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no exception. In this blog post, we’ll explore how teachers can leverage AI for both personal and professional tasks; from enhancing lesson planning to managing administrative work, AI has the potential to revolutionize your day to day tasks!

Which AI tool should you use? We don’t have an official recommendation at this time. Three large platforms are ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), and Copilot (Microsoft). Please be aware, you might not be able to use certain platforms and services on our school network. You may only be able to access them at home or on a device not owned by the school. As you dabble with AI, you might try the same prompt in multiple platforms so you can compare how they respond. If you are hesitant about creating accounts, you might try ChatGPT which allows you to chat without signing in. 

Personal and Professional Tasks with AI

AI can support some administrative tasks or clerical work you might do for your personal or professional life. Below are some examples of how AI can help you!

Personal Tasks

• Take a picture of or type out the ingredients you have in your fridge and ask it to create a meal plan. Feel free to challenge it with specific dietary restrictions.
• Bored kids at home for the summer? Ask AI to provide ideas for activities based on age and price range. 
  • Try taking a picture or describe some random items you have in the house and ask it to come up with a game. I took a picture of the contents of my desk (below) and it developed a game of “Office Quest.” (see results)

• Looking for a quick getaway? Ask AI to plan an itinerary for a quick, drivable destination with ideas of what to do.
• Want to refresh the look in your living room? Ask AI to give you some decorating ideas or take a picture and ask it for tips to rearrange the room.

Professional Tasks

• Student Exemplars: Create an exemplar essay or writing based on a description and a rubric. Bonus: Ask it to create a non-exemplar and have students critique it!
• Generate Review Questions: Use AI to generate review questions for the end of the year. 
• Clarify Directions: Copy in your existing directions for an assignment and ask AI to make it more concise and sequential. Bonus: See if the AI can offer suggestions to further scaffold the assignment. 

AI Tools to Try

AI for Education Prompt Library

The AI for Education Prompt Library offers a wealth of pre-generated prompts for various subjects and grade levels. Prompting may be new to you; this resource allows you to copy a sample prompt and customize it for your situation.  Below is an example of an Exit ticket prompt.  

• “You are an expert educator and lesson planner, skilled at creating engaging, hands-on activities for students that help reinforce their learning. Your task is to create [NUMBER] “exit ticket” ideas I can use in my [GRADE LEVEL AND SUBJECT] class at the end of a [TOPIC] lesson on [SPECIFIC CONTENT]. The exit ticket activities/questions should be very brief and should serve as a form of assessment to gauge students’ understanding of the material covered.”

MagicSchool: Your AI Teaching Assistant

• MagicSchool is an AI-powered teaching assistant that helps manage classroom tasks. It can rewrite or translate texts, unpack standards, create a choice board based on UDL principles, identify common misconceptions, and so much more.
• Try the free version for access to 60+ AI tools for educators (requires login). There will be limits on the number of prompts you get in a month and some features will be disabled. You will be notified when you are nearing your limit (which resets monthly).

While AI enhances efficiency, teachers must exercise caution. Avoid sharing a student’s personal information with AI tools. 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. 

Remember that AI is a tool, not a replacement for human interaction. Maintain a balance between technology and personal connections. Consider your role as an educational professional and evaluate if it feels appropriate to use AI to complete the task. If you deem that it is appropriate, be sure to review the output before using it.

As educators, we have an exciting opportunity to embrace AI. By integrating it into our personal and professional lives, we can create more effective and engaging learning experiences for our students. Let’s explore the possibilities and continue to evolve as educators in this digital age!

Interested but not sure where to start? Reach out to a member of the P-CCS Technology Integration Specialist Team (Kaelyn Bullock – High School; Carrie Conner – Middle School; Shannon Way – Elementary). In next week’s post, we’ll encourage you to begin having conversations with colleagues around AI.