I entered the field of education because I found angsty teenagers amusing in a way that many adults didn't appreciate, and because I wanted to impart my knowledge of the Spanish language and the Spanish-speaking world to them. When I started teaching, the only option available to me was a traditional pedagogical approach. I had the information, and I passed it on to my students through various tried and true methodologies. I yearned to provide more immediate feedback and establish deeper connections, but it was difficult to find the time. Instead, my time was spent creating engaging class materials. As a result, I often found myself longing for a solution that could simplify the process. With generative AI, that potential is now a reality.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a transformative force in many fields, including education. To most of the world, when ChatGPT was introduced in November 2022, it came out of nowhere. Technology folks, however, know that AI has been around for decades. ChatGPT and other generative AI tools quickly began to disrupt many industries, education among them. In schools, the initial reaction was often dismay and fear as educators and Academic Leaders first saw the negative impact: students could use this technology to cheat. Schools, and even entire districts, quickly began to block ChatGPT and shift to having students respond to writing prompts while physically in class.
I posit that academic leaders who are solely preoccupied with detecting AI usage in student work and developing strict AI policies lack a long-term perspective. There is no reliable manner to detect the use of these tools and, as we’ve seen with other technologies, students often circumvent bans by using another device or network. By imposing bans, schools might be signing themselves up to play a constant game of whack-a-mole as new AI tools hit the scene at an alarming clip.
As is often the case, young people have been the early adopters of this new technology. Tiktok is ripe with videos on how to use AI to write an essay in two minutes, how to “prompt hack”, how to use AI to take a Canvas quiz, and even, how to find the answers to a Canvas quiz in the code. For educators who are already experiencing burnout due to the hardships of the pandemic, and who may also be grappling with sentiments around being inadequately compensated or undervalued, these additional challenges can feel supremely overwhelming. Fortunately, a recent survey suggests an upswing in teachers using ChatGPT. In fact, "63 percent of teachers say they’ve used the chatbot on the job, up from February, when just 50 percent of teachers were taking advantage of the tool. Four in 10 (40 percent) teachers now report using it at least once a week." This data suggests that AI usage is starting to polarize, with roughly equal numbers of teachers who use the tool every week, and those who don’t use it at all.
Generative AI is becoming ubiquitous at a rate that outpaces past technologies, such as calculators, personal computers, and the Internet. Academic Leaders cannot continue to say, “Let’s see how this whole AI thing will play out.” To prevent inertia, Academic Leaders need to take action now. Concentrating your school’s collective intellectual energy on preventing students from using AI technology to cheat is, and will likely remain, an unproductive endeavor. We can safely assume that generative AI will be a go-to tool for students. The sooner we come to terms with this reality, the sooner we can shift our focus to the essential task at hand – fostering professional development centered around AI.
At One Schoolhouse, we are actively strategizing on how artificial intelligence will influence our institution and how we can establish a structured framework for teacher growth in this area. We believe that our experiences and initial efforts in this domain can serve as a valuable blueprint for initiating a similar transformative journey within your school. To get started, you may consider the following recommendations:
- Embrace a constructive attitude. Teachers need to hear you being positive, not apocalyptic. Begin shifting your emphasis towards highlighting the numerous ways AI can assist teachers in alleviating their workloads – by aiding in lesson planning, assignment creation, and feedback provision, among other tasks. Also, facilitate open conversation about the ways AI can democratize student access to tutoring and create new avenues for educational support. Many educators are well aware of the potential drawbacks associated with AI, such as generating hallucinations, promoting plagiarism, and perpetuating biases. Those who are not must gain this understanding.
- Get your leadership team on the same page. Before you embark on this work with teachers, you need to ensure that your peers in leadership establish a foundational understanding of generative AI. Encourage them to use AI tools, read articles, listen to podcasts, watch videos, or take one of several AI centered courses offered by our Association for Academic Leaders, such as Leading Your Team/Department in Understanding Generative AI or Assessing Your Assessments in the Age of AI.
- Include generative AI in your professional growth plan. At One Schoolhouse, we use a competency-based system that establishes baseline expectations for teachers while providing support and inspiration to meet or exceed those expectations. At your school, you may consider finding a way to intentionally weave in a teacher competency related to AI so that it becomes central to the work you do.
- Educate teachers on how AI works. Give teachers personalized options (At One Schoolhouse, we call them learning pathways) for using AI tools so that they gain a baseline effectiveness/understanding of how this technology works. Possible pathways could be an in person workshop, a Coursera class, independent or collective study, etc. You may want to check out this blog post on how educators can move to seeing AI as a “useful partner” rather than as “an enemy to be thwarted.”
- Provide teachers with support on integrating these tools into their work. Once teachers develop a baseline understanding of AI tools, move on to the next step. Grow their understanding of how these tools can help improve their efficiency and how they can incorporate AI into their course planning. Again, create personalized learning pathways for them so they can choose the avenue that most resonates with them.
- Put it into practice. This is the hard part. Collaborate with teachers to rethink teaching and learning in the age of AI. To ensure your ideas continue to evolve, formalize your expectations for course development and teacher skills and capabilities as they relate to AI.
It is time we realign the teacher perspective on AI. We must move beyond dwelling on its negatives and, instead, embrace AI as an integral educational tool. This shift requires technology leaders to educate their peers, adopt structured integration into professional growth plans, and provide essential support to teachers. According to Sal Kahn, CEO and Founder of Khan Academy, in his recent TED talk, “we’re at the cusp of using AI for probably the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen.” As Academic Leaders, it is our responsibility to help teachers embrace this transformation with optimism and readiness.