Felix Jacomino & Claire Goldsmith on Shaping Future-Ready Schools
From the ATLIS Annual Conference 2025
Relive the dynamic opening keynotes from the ATLIS Annual Conference with Felix Jacomino and Claire Goldsmith. Felix, Director of Technology at St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School, reflects on past tech trends to provide a roadmap for future innovation. Claire, Principal of Lamplight Education, discusses harnessing emerging technologies like AI and Web3 to build resilient, future-ready schools, emphasizing curiosity, collaboration, and ethical courage.
Resources
- Lamplight Education: https://www.lamplighted.org/
- St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School: https://www.sseds.org/
- Stanford Online High School: https://ohs.stanford.edu/
- Malone Schools Online Network: https://maloneschoolsonlinenetwork.org/
- Enrollment Management Association: https://www.enrollment.org/
- Zoom: https://zoom.us/
- Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/
- ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/
- Claude: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Ed, welcome to Talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank:
special guests from the Independent School community,
Peter Frank:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
And now please welcome your host. Kristina llewellen,
Christina Lewellen:
hello everyone, and welcome back to
Christina Lewellen:
talking technology with Atlas. I'm Kristina llewellen, the
Christina Lewellen:
president and CEO of the Association of Technology
Christina Lewellen:
Leaders in Independent Schools.
Bill Stites:
And I'm Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey, and
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of Information
Hiram Cuevas:
Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in
Hiram Cuevas:
Richmond, Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Hey guys, thank you for joining me today.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm really excited. We are going to get to relive one of the
Christina Lewellen:
coolest couple of days of the year, the Atlas annual
Christina Lewellen:
conference. So we have a special podcast today, and what we're
Christina Lewellen:
going to do is we're actually going to take the magic of what
Christina Lewellen:
happened in the general sessions and bring it to our listening
Christina Lewellen:
audience. Isn't that kind of cool that we get to share some
Christina Lewellen:
of the general sessions with
Bill Stites:
everybody? Does this mean that it's going to be
Bill Stites:
reliving Hiram in my moment on stage with you? Bedazzled, yeah,
Bill Stites:
but that is this what we're reliving, or is it something
Christina Lewellen:
different? I'm thinking that that part has
Christina Lewellen:
been cut. What and for our loving listeners, that one's
Christina Lewellen:
better left to the video that was posted all over LinkedIn. So
Christina Lewellen:
if you guys don't know what we're talking about, Hiram and
Christina Lewellen:
Bill interrupted my welcome on day one of the Atlas conference,
Christina Lewellen:
and they came up on stage wearing a sparkly suit jacket
Christina Lewellen:
because I had my sparkly suit on to celebrate our 10th
Christina Lewellen:
Anniversary. And lo and behold, they surprised me with my good
Christina Lewellen:
friends and my daughter, who sing with me in a barbershop
Christina Lewellen:
quartet, and we had a little cameo moment on the stage. So
Christina Lewellen:
that was definitely a pretty cool way to kick things off.
Bill Stites:
So it's not that we're not doing that. It's
Bill Stites:
because we didn't have the shoes. We didn't have the red
Bill Stites:
shoes.
Christina Lewellen:
That's true, you didn't have the right shoes
Christina Lewellen:
on. And I am not wearing my sparkly suit today, but I'm
Christina Lewellen:
equally excited, though, because what we're going to do is we're
Christina Lewellen:
going to relive the opening general session and keynotes
Christina Lewellen:
from day one of our conference back on April 28 when we were in
Christina Lewellen:
Atlanta and we had two incredible speakers, kind of
Christina Lewellen:
carrying the general session slot our keynotes. It was
Christina Lewellen:
interesting because I think that we have found that having many
Christina Lewellen:
voices speak to issues in the independent school technology
Christina Lewellen:
space is something that our members and our attendees really
Christina Lewellen:
love. So as I said, I'm really proud that we're bringing that
Christina Lewellen:
to you this two part keynote address. The first part is Felix
Christina Lewellen:
giacomino, good friend of ours. He's been on the pod. Go back
Christina Lewellen:
and listen to his episode. It's fantastic. And he started out by
Christina Lewellen:
exploring how sort of our past technology trends and the things
Christina Lewellen:
that we've lived through in the past pertaining to technology
Christina Lewellen:
can really give us a roadmap in terms of being proactive and
Christina Lewellen:
planning for future innovations at our schools. And so that was
Christina Lewellen:
a really cool kind of walk down memory lane. And after Felix was
Christina Lewellen:
done, then Claire Goldsmith came to the stage, and she's the
Christina Lewellen:
principal of lamplight education, and she kind of came
Christina Lewellen:
into our space to talk about how K 12 leaders can kind of harness
Christina Lewellen:
future and emerging trends. So she looked at AI, she looked at
Christina Lewellen:
web three, and the idea here was that she really wanted us
Christina Lewellen:
thinking about how to build resilient, Future Ready schools.
Christina Lewellen:
So it was a really, really inspiring way to kick off the
Christina Lewellen:
conference. I'm excited to go through that again.
Bill Stites:
Can't wait. Let's do it.
Felix Jacomino:
Good morning. There was a disclaimer slide
Felix Jacomino:
basically saying that what I say Atlas is not responsible for.
Felix Jacomino:
And I was going to ask you to read it, but I wanted you to
Felix Jacomino:
read it in your best TV disclaimer. Voice, you know, the
Felix Jacomino:
one that ends with Viewer discretion is advised, because
Felix Jacomino:
it's kind of important for later on, I'm going to have you use
Felix Jacomino:
voices in your head in a good way. So don't be scared about
Felix Jacomino:
that. So most of us here know how it goes, and we've been here
Felix Jacomino:
several times a new technology enters the room, and what
Felix Jacomino:
happens? You have the enthusiasts, right? And these
Felix Jacomino:
are the ones saying this is going to change everything, and
Felix Jacomino:
they're excited about it. Change everything for the better.
Felix Jacomino:
Finally, a turning point in education. Or there's those who
Felix Jacomino:
are like, we have got to go one to one with this, right? Then
Felix Jacomino:
there's the opposite end of the spectrum. And I realized that
Felix Jacomino:
there's a better word for I originally used the words
Felix Jacomino:
skeptics, but I had a conversation yesterday. I was
Felix Jacomino:
speaking with Maggie Rankin, and she said something real nice,
Felix Jacomino:
which she says, I could work with skeptics. It's the cynics
Felix Jacomino:
that are the real challenge, right? The naysayers, the
Felix Jacomino:
negative Nellies, right? Right? They're the ones who are this is
Felix Jacomino:
going to ruin everything, and that'll just help students
Felix Jacomino:
cheat, and we're going to hear that again and again. We didn't
Felix Jacomino:
have that when I was in school. Why do we need it now and then,
Felix Jacomino:
of course, this doesn't happen at our school, but maybe it
Felix Jacomino:
happens in yours. Just wait long enough, and this trend will just
Felix Jacomino:
go away like the others. Okay, see some people been there. Then
Felix Jacomino:
there's what I like to call the IT content filter, firewall.
Felix Jacomino:
Whack a Mole. Game that starts to happen when the people who
Felix Jacomino:
are in charge of those, the firewalls, start to get the
Felix Jacomino:
directives to block this block that as soon as they block one,
Felix Jacomino:
another one pops up, and it's just that whack a mole, right?
Felix Jacomino:
Eventually, though, if this tech is, in fact, helpful for our
Felix Jacomino:
schools, and it has a place in education, we start to learn
Felix Jacomino:
from others who have had success, the ones that have
Felix Jacomino:
gotten past the scary very rarely are we the very, very
Felix Jacomino:
first ones who have done it. So we start to learn from others,
Felix Jacomino:
and we at least start with a certain department, or even if
Felix Jacomino:
it's just for a certain program, and we start to leverage its
Felix Jacomino:
power. I see some of you nodding in you. That's how you see
Felix Jacomino:
things evolve at your school as well. And some others are
Felix Jacomino:
asking, Who is this guy? So two truths and a lie. My name is
Felix Jacomino:
Felix giacomino. I work at St Stephen's Episcopal Day School
Felix Jacomino:
in Miami, Florida, more specifically, if you know, Miami
Felix Jacomino:
Coconut Grove, our little school by the bay and three, let's see
Felix Jacomino:
that picture was not touched by AI. A few months ago, I got a
Felix Jacomino:
call from Dr Ashley Cross. Ashley, where you at now that
Felix Jacomino:
I'm mentioning Ashley? Hi, Ashley and we are at Atlas, 10
Felix Jacomino:
year anniversary. Guess what? Our professional relationship
Felix Jacomino:
is, 10 years old. Like Happy anniversary. It was 10 years ago
Felix Jacomino:
that Ashley and I worked side by side at St Stephen's. So there
Felix Jacomino:
you have it. So a few months ago, you called me and asked if
Felix Jacomino:
I would do this talk, and I was beyond flattered. I hung up the
Felix Jacomino:
phone after graciously accepting, and I immediately
Felix Jacomino:
thought, Why me? What was her requirement for such an honor?
Felix Jacomino:
And then it hit me, my age? Get the old guy. Get the one that's
Felix Jacomino:
been around the block a few times, right? As a matter of
Felix Jacomino:
fact, I don't know if you said this or I read it somewhere.
Felix Jacomino:
Felix has been around since before the internet. So what did
Felix Jacomino:
I do next? I googled and Okay, ARPANET started in 1969 and I
Felix Jacomino:
was born in the 70s. So there you have it, not older than the
Felix Jacomino:
internet, but I have been in educational technology and
Felix Jacomino:
leadership for about 25 years. So I have seen things repeat
Felix Jacomino:
themselves. Sometimes they're trajectories, sometimes they're
Felix Jacomino:
cycles, and sometimes they just go in a zig zag all over the
Felix Jacomino:
place. Lessons from the past is kind of the title of this talk.
Felix Jacomino:
It's not Felix's lesson from the past. So rather than tell you a
Felix Jacomino:
few more stories about me, I want to tap into the 1000s. Make
Felix Jacomino:
space for the 1000s that are in this room. Now I know there's
Felix Jacomino:
about 640, times the many stories that you have that's
Felix Jacomino:
1000s, if not 10s of 1000s. What I'm going to do next is show a
Felix Jacomino:
few slides of technologies that were disruptive at the time,
Felix Jacomino:
nothing new. I'm not showing anything upcoming. This is
Felix Jacomino:
again, lessons from the past. As I put each one up, I want you to
Felix Jacomino:
rewind your memory tape. I said, rewind tape. I am old. Okay, let
Felix Jacomino:
me, let me modernize that. Okay, rewind your DVD. You don't
Felix Jacomino:
rewind DVDs, so scroll back through your feeds timeline.
Felix Jacomino:
Okay, got everybody with me. Now, I do want you to go back to
Felix Jacomino:
the past and think of what the conversations were when these
Felix Jacomino:
technologies came about. If you're young enough you can't
Felix Jacomino:
remember what a life without some of these technologies, or
Felix Jacomino:
you might have been in school, okay, but I want you to go back
Felix Jacomino:
and in your head with that narrator voice, think of the
Felix Jacomino:
voices that were saying, what at the time, the teacher down the
Felix Jacomino:
hallway, maybe one of your administrators, when that popped
Felix Jacomino:
up. Okay, here's the first one, Google search. Just think back.
Felix Jacomino:
All of these came with fear as well as acceptance. So fear
Felix Jacomino:
might have been students will now have all the answers. They
Felix Jacomino:
won't be able to think. Now they're memorizing everything,
Felix Jacomino:
but they have this can you think of anybody saying anything? Can
Felix Jacomino:
you hear that person saying it back then acceptance. Now we
Felix Jacomino:
teach to ask better questions. Now we could assess using un
Felix Jacomino:
Google able questions. Next, Wikipedia. Can you remember what
Felix Jacomino:
a common thing was? I. Yeah, that was said about Wikipedia.
Felix Jacomino:
Remember when they were saying, well, it's not a reliable
Felix Jacomino:
source. You can't use that to cite anything. So the fear was,
Felix Jacomino:
anybody could edit that's chaos. Anybody could say anything and
Felix Jacomino:
acceptance. It's what collaborative, constantly
Felix Jacomino:
evolving knowledge. And up to date encyclopedias are outdated
Felix Jacomino:
the minute that they're printed right next. This has been around
Felix Jacomino:
for a while, but we haven't landed here yet, right? If I
Felix Jacomino:
took a survey of everybody in this room, or at least of your
Felix Jacomino:
schools and the policies around mobile phones, it would be as
Felix Jacomino:
varied as there are people in this room, and this is one
Felix Jacomino:
that's constantly coming and going, coming and going, they're
Felix Jacomino:
distractions, right? That's the fear. It'll help students cheat.
Felix Jacomino:
What is it about teachers and worried about cheating? Right?
Felix Jacomino:
Acceptance, their access tools, their response systems, their
Felix Jacomino:
research portals. In this picture, you see the student
Felix Jacomino:
documenting the learning, or, I don't know, maybe she is zooming
Felix Jacomino:
somebody in to have collaboration with a school
Felix Jacomino:
across the world. How about Google Docs? Does anybody
Felix Jacomino:
remember seeing this for the first time, like real time, like
Felix Jacomino:
Google Docs? Like two I was sitting in a computer lab, and
Felix Jacomino:
the computers were right next to each other, and I remember
Felix Jacomino:
thinking, I type here and it shows there, and I could sit
Felix Jacomino:
here and it shows there, on the same dock, and it was like so
Felix Jacomino:
life changing. But there were fears around that, over sharing,
Felix Jacomino:
it'll help students cheat, okay? Acceptance, there's more
Felix Jacomino:
transparency now, co editing, feedback, peer support. Few more
Felix Jacomino:
one to one devices. This one is another one that keeps on coming
Felix Jacomino:
up, keeps on coming and going. What's the fear digital baby
Felix Jacomino:
sitters? If it has access to the internet, we know students could
Felix Jacomino:
use that too. Cheat acceptance. There's equity right now. Let me
Felix Jacomino:
say one thing about one to one. We know that if we're going to
Felix Jacomino:
use devices, we have to have infrastructure. That's a given.
Felix Jacomino:
If we're going to drive a car, we need roads. So the number one
Felix Jacomino:
failure, because I've worked with a lot of schools that have
Felix Jacomino:
gone to one to one initiatives, the number one failure is the
Felix Jacomino:
Tech is a given, right? But it's not a tech issue. The number one
Felix Jacomino:
failure is a vision issue, strategic planning issue, a PD
Felix Jacomino:
issue, and more specifically, an ongoing professional development
Felix Jacomino:
issue. Schools might purchase the equipment, put it in the
Felix Jacomino:
hands of teachers and students, bring somebody to say one or two
Felix Jacomino:
things at the beginning and hope for the best. And that's
Felix Jacomino:
unfortunately, where things go wrong. How about this one?
Felix Jacomino:
Remote learning and virtual meetings? As we rewind the tape?
Felix Jacomino:
Fine. I'll say it. We could remember what it was like to be
Felix Jacomino:
on Zoom meetings all the time. The fear was, this is just a
Felix Jacomino:
stop gap, but now it's part of how we operate. Raise your hand
Felix Jacomino:
if you've been on the zoom in the last month, wow. Take a look
Felix Jacomino:
around. All right, how about in the last week, same number of
Felix Jacomino:
hands? Wait, how can there have been more hands in the first
Felix Jacomino:
question? Okay, all right, how many of you think you'll be on a
Felix Jacomino:
and I'm saying zoom instead of some generic one, because Zoom
Felix Jacomino:
is one of our sponsors. So there you have it. How many will be on
Felix Jacomino:
a zoom, or, you know, the other ones during your time here at
Felix Jacomino:
Atlas over the next few days. Look at that. See. So we've seen
Felix Jacomino:
that impact. Think back to Grammarly. What were the
Felix Jacomino:
conversations? And there could be two conversations, right?
Felix Jacomino:
We're getting Grammarly for all the faculty and staff,
Felix Jacomino:
you know what? We're also including the students. Ooh,
Felix Jacomino:
that's going to help them cheat. How many of you who control the
Felix Jacomino:
MDM or the individual devices have been asked to, I'm not
Felix Jacomino:
making this up. Can you turn off auto correct and spell check on
Felix Jacomino:
the students devices so they could turn their spelling tests
Felix Jacomino:
in via Google Docs. Yeah, yeah. Turn them off because, well, you
Felix Jacomino:
know, they're helping them. They're cheating. Let me go back
Felix Jacomino:
to when I was asked to do this. I figured I've got to do
Felix Jacomino:
something that I'm think I'm good at, definitely something
Felix Jacomino:
I'm very passionate about, and that's making connections, not
Felix Jacomino:
only myself with others, but others with others. So a lesson
Felix Jacomino:
from the past, which I hope helps shape your future, is
Felix Jacomino:
this, yes, Google can get you answers, Chat. GPT can help you
Felix Jacomino:
with your next policy, help your neck write your next email, and
Felix Jacomino:
even explain VLANs to a sixth grader, but something for which
Felix Jacomino:
technology has no substitute is your professional network, and
Felix Jacomino:
here we are at at Atlas. What better way to expand that than
Felix Jacomino:
here over the next three days? So we're going to do something a
Felix Jacomino:
little bit different now. I'm going to put up some slides with
Felix Jacomino:
job roles and job titles. If it describes you. I'd like you to
Felix Jacomino:
stand up. Once you're standing, I want you to look around, check
Felix Jacomino:
out who the people on your team are, the people you have in
Felix Jacomino:
common. If you're seated, that's not it's like, oh, well, he
Felix Jacomino:
didn't call me. Let me tune out right now. No pay attention to
Felix Jacomino:
who those people are, because, well, you work with those people
Felix Jacomino:
at your school in one way or another, right? So pay attention
Felix Jacomino:
there. Then what I want you to do is, throughout the
Felix Jacomino:
conference, look for those people who are in your teams as
Felix Jacomino:
you grab your lunch plate, looking for a place to sit and
Felix Jacomino:
be like Gordon, I remember that you stood up during that slide.
Felix Jacomino:
I'm that you mind if I sit with you, because I've got some
Felix Jacomino:
questions, right? And grow that network, which, by the way, on
Felix Jacomino:
your name badge, you've got a QR code. That's your information.
Felix Jacomino:
You do have to use the engage fully app to scan it, so go
Felix Jacomino:
ahead scan it, and it kind of aggregates all the business
Felix Jacomino:
cards or the contact information of the people that you meet. So
Felix Jacomino:
as you're walking around, how about as you're waiting for the
Felix Jacomino:
next session to start, instead of scrolling through your phone
Felix Jacomino:
and checking up on email, let your out of office. Responder,
Felix Jacomino:
do the job it's designed to do, and scan and take a look. Who's
Felix Jacomino:
standing up. Who's in my team. All right, here we go. Let's
Felix Jacomino:
grow the money. People, CFOs, business managers, directors of
Felix Jacomino:
finance, please stand up if you're here. Any CFOs? Any money
Felix Jacomino:
people? One any others? All right, two, okay, wow, I thought
Felix Jacomino:
it was gonna be a few more. Guys. Bring your CFOs. You have
Felix Jacomino:
to understand what we're doing here, right? Okay, this group
Felix Jacomino:
might be bigger. Directors of technologies, CTOs, CIOs. It,
Felix Jacomino:
leadership director is in your title, have a look around. Don't
Felix Jacomino:
look at me. You know what I look like by now. Take a look around.
Felix Jacomino:
A lot of you will know each other, okay, but you're gonna
Felix Jacomino:
see a face you haven't seen before. Next. It, infrastructure
Felix Jacomino:
security teams, network admin, system admin. Stand up. I want
Felix Jacomino:
to talk to you about VLANs. I want to like, how do you
Felix Jacomino:
configure this on your Wi Fi? How do you what do you do about
Felix Jacomino:
guest networks? Do you isolate IoT devices? Let's talk about
Felix Jacomino:
that. So to have a look around, look at each other, and find
Felix Jacomino:
somebody that you might interact with later on. Thank you. Have a
Felix Jacomino:
seat, directors of education now this one's remember, this is the
Felix Jacomino:
more academic side of things, by the way. You can stand it for as
Felix Jacomino:
many slides as apply to you. Okay, I would stand for many of
Felix Jacomino:
them, not the CFO one, but I would stand for a lot of them,
Felix Jacomino:
and especially the smaller your school, right? The smaller your
Felix Jacomino:
school, the more hats you might wear. So if you're a Director of
Felix Jacomino:
Educational Technology, you're in the academic side innovation
Felix Jacomino:
and integration, go ahead and stand up, please, and have a
Felix Jacomino:
look around, make those connections. See, there's some
Felix Jacomino:
people who I know, and I thought they were strictly it, but I see
Felix Jacomino:
them on the academic side. That's great. That's great
Felix Jacomino:
conversation I'll be having later on. Wonderful teachers.
Felix Jacomino:
Faculty, the ones that get it happening in the schools in
Felix Jacomino:
front of students. Teachers. Faculty, focused on Ed Tech,
Felix Jacomino:
stem steam, computer science, educational technologists,
Felix Jacomino:
integrators, or anything. Okay, awesome. Wow. Have a look
Felix Jacomino:
around. You got to do a little turning to see all the way
Felix Jacomino:
around. Okay, great, awesome. How about these database admins,
Felix Jacomino:
student information systems. We need you, the people that come
Felix Jacomino:
to you. Can you please give me a CSV, because I have to update
Felix Jacomino:
the what's a CBS? You hear that all the time, right? So I'd be
Felix Jacomino:
standing up for this one, kind of too. All right, help desk,
Felix Jacomino:
technical support teams. I'm still standing for this one too.
Felix Jacomino:
My printer is not working. Yeah, you're first to show up, Alex.
Felix Jacomino:
I'm thinking about you like you're standing for more of
Felix Jacomino:
these than I thought you would. And, man, we gotta talk a little
Felix Jacomino:
more cool. All right. Look around. Look for those people.
Felix Jacomino:
Okay, only a couple more. I was beat to this one this morning.
Felix Jacomino:
They all stood up one by one. But one more time, please. Atlas
Felix Jacomino:
team members, board of directors, I'm gonna invite
Felix Jacomino:
founders and co founders to stand up as well. Let's have a
Felix Jacomino:
look at the people who are the glue of this association and
Felix Jacomino:
make this happen. Look at the audience so they can see your
Felix Jacomino:
faces and get to know who does what. Right? It's like, yeah,
Felix Jacomino:
you're with at least. But what exactly do you do? PD, is it
Felix Jacomino:
membership? What is their role? Make sure you reach out to them.
Felix Jacomino:
Wow. Are there any heads of schools here? All right, heads
Felix Jacomino:
of schools, principals, division heads, anybody else? That's it,
Felix Jacomino:
guys, drag those people too with you. We need them. We need them.
Felix Jacomino:
Great. Now, heads, you're going to want to pay attention to this
Felix Jacomino:
next group, okay, but I'm going to have a little reminder for
Felix Jacomino:
you, if you identify with this next slide, and I'm standing for
Felix Jacomino:
this one too, I'm a technology leader, confident in skills and
Felix Jacomino:
doggone it, my head of school likes me. It's okay. It's not a
Felix Jacomino:
brag. It's like, you know what? I have a good, trusting
Felix Jacomino:
relationship with my head of school. Stand up, heads of
Felix Jacomino:
school. This is an opportunity for networking, not poaching.
Felix Jacomino:
Okay, so but, but go ahead, turn around. Look at each other,
Felix Jacomino:
because, seriously, heads, these are the people you want to
Felix Jacomino:
approach and say, Tell me, what is it that works so well between
Felix Jacomino:
you and your head of school? Now for this one, stay seated. If
Felix Jacomino:
you identify with this, I've been tasked with creating our
Felix Jacomino:
school's AI policy, and I could really use some help. Okay, I
Felix Jacomino:
don't need to see who you are. You know who you are, but this
Felix Jacomino:
next group is going to stand up. Those who have successfully
Felix Jacomino:
created an AI policy have been through the job. Thank you. Go
Felix Jacomino:
ahead and stand up. Turn around so you can see who each other
Felix Jacomino:
are, but also the ones quietly sitting down who have been
Felix Jacomino:
tasked with this, who are kind of nervous about it, they might
Felix Jacomino:
want to approach you and ask for some help. Who did I miss?
Felix Jacomino:
Please stand up if you did not stand up for another slide just
Felix Jacomino:
because it didn't fit your role or your job title. Anybody?
Felix Jacomino:
Okay, great, great. Stand up face that way so everybody can
Felix Jacomino:
see you. If you're a vendor, you're welcome. Actually, if
Felix Jacomino:
you're a vendor, thank you very much. Actually stay standing up
Felix Jacomino:
if I didn't call your name. Because what I'm going to task
Felix Jacomino:
everybody with doing the challenge for the room is to
Felix Jacomino:
solve the mystery of who these people are. Like, seriously,
Felix Jacomino:
what's your role? What brings you to Atlas, do you have a name
Felix Jacomino:
badge, stuff like that? So it brings me back to the lesson
Felix Jacomino:
from the past, which I hope helps shape your future. Yes,
Felix Jacomino:
Google can give you a lot of answers. Chat, GPT can help with
Felix Jacomino:
your next policy, write your email or explain VLANs to a
Felix Jacomino:
sixth grader, but something for which there is no technology
Felix Jacomino:
substitute is your professional network. And what better place
Felix Jacomino:
to grow that than the Association for technology
Felix Jacomino:
leaders in independent schools? Please add me as your very first
Felix Jacomino:
network expansion person. Okay? And I look forward to meeting
Felix Jacomino:
all 600 and some of you. Thank you very much.
Christina Lewellen:
And now that we have wrapped up Felix's part
Christina Lewellen:
of the keynote, we're going to turn our attention to Claire
Christina Lewellen:
Goldsmith for the second part. Here we go.
Claire Goldsmith:
Hi everyone. Thank you so much. So this talk
Claire Goldsmith:
is called shaping the schools of tomorrow, and I promise I'm
Claire Goldsmith:
going to give you a lot of my thoughts on the future, but I
Claire Goldsmith:
want to start by giving you a story from the past about a
Claire Goldsmith:
school of tomorrow. It was 2011 and I was Director of Student
Claire Goldsmith:
Life at Stanford Online High School, a job that many of my
Claire Goldsmith:
friends outside of work thought was actually a joke. After all,
Claire Goldsmith:
I had just spent four years teaching at Harvard Westlake in
Claire Goldsmith:
LA. I had won a teaching award from the seniors and gotten a
Claire Goldsmith:
graduate degree from Stanford, and all of a sudden, I was
Claire Goldsmith:
working in online learning, which, at the time was unfairly
Claire Goldsmith:
associated with low quality and predatory institutions, and to
Claire Goldsmith:
boot, I was running student life. No one got it. So one day,
Claire Goldsmith:
I left work and I went to the gym, and part way through the
Claire Goldsmith:
workout, I was doing one of those cool TRX activities.
Claire Goldsmith:
Anyone remember the TRX very popular at the time. I got a
Claire Goldsmith:
call from my boss asking whether I would join the virtual parent
Claire Goldsmith:
association meeting. It was a video conference of parents from
Claire Goldsmith:
all around the world, and I was free to join from home using one
Claire Goldsmith:
of those video conferencing systems that was about 17
Claire Goldsmith:
generations before zoom. So the little Palo Alto gym said that I
Claire Goldsmith:
could just pop up and use their office. So I wiped off the
Claire Goldsmith:
sweat, threw on a work shirt, grab my laptop, ran up into that
Claire Goldsmith:
office, opened it up, and joined this virtual room of parents
Claire Goldsmith:
across the world to present. And then I noticed my background. A
Claire Goldsmith:
trainer from the gym had walked in behind me, and he was getting
Claire Goldsmith:
undressed. Laugh. You. So this was long before we all obsessed
Claire Goldsmith:
about our backgrounds. You couldn't blur them. You couldn't
Claire Goldsmith:
put up a lovely wall of fancy books or nice diplomas or those
Claire Goldsmith:
Hawaiian trees waving in the wind and turning around and
Claire Goldsmith:
explaining video conferencing to the gentleman behind me in that
Claire Goldsmith:
moment was just not an option. So what did I do? I picked up my
Claire Goldsmith:
laptop, engaging those core muscles, rotated around
Claire Goldsmith:
completely, the other way, facing backwards, and began my
Claire Goldsmith:
presentation, which was actually about the physical education
Claire Goldsmith:
program at Stanford Online High School. We've learned so much
Claire Goldsmith:
and come such a long way, haven't we? So this is a talk
Claire Goldsmith:
about some of what I've learned since that era. I've helped to
Claire Goldsmith:
develop an online learning consortium, trained 1000s of
Claire Goldsmith:
teachers in online learning during the pandemic, and started
Claire Goldsmith:
a consulting practice. I've advised non profits and schools.
Claire Goldsmith:
I've spearheaded and led a merger that will envision the
Claire Goldsmith:
future of assessment and worked with tech companies on the
Claire Goldsmith:
cutting edge of new technology. But this isn't a talk about the
Claire Goldsmith:
flashiest new technology. It's about something deeper, how we
Claire Goldsmith:
can shape a future where technology serves human
Claire Goldsmith:
development and not the other way around. If we're going to
Claire Goldsmith:
build the schools of tomorrow, we have to get clear on what's
Claire Goldsmith:
worth preserving and what's worth changing. So today, I want
Claire Goldsmith:
to offer three guiding principles I believe should
Claire Goldsmith:
shape the schools of tomorrow, curiosity, collaboration and
Claire Goldsmith:
ethical courage. And these aren't buzz words, they're human
Claire Goldsmith:
capabilities that AI cannot replicate, and they will define
Claire Goldsmith:
how our students thrive in a tech driven world. So let's
Claire Goldsmith:
start with curiosity. First, let's get intentional about what
Claire Goldsmith:
we should actually be teaching. Recently, a parent walked into
Claire Goldsmith:
the office of a friend of mine, a head of the Upper School, and
Claire Goldsmith:
asked, Why does my son even need to learn anything here? AI is
Claire Goldsmith:
going to do it all one day. Wow. So now a word about that kind of
Claire Goldsmith:
prediction. We have a long history of not being very good
Claire Goldsmith:
at them. When it comes to tech, sometimes we overestimate the
Claire Goldsmith:
impact of technology. In 1922 Thomas Edison wrote, I believe
Claire Goldsmith:
that the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our
Claire Goldsmith:
educational system, and that in a few years, it will supplant
Claire Goldsmith:
largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks. Well, we
Claire Goldsmith:
certainly still have textbooks, and sometimes we underestimate
Claire Goldsmith:
the role of technology in 1998 Nobel Prize winner and New York
Claire Goldsmith:
Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote, by 2005 or so, it will
Claire Goldsmith:
become clear that the internet's impact on the economy has been
Claire Goldsmith:
no greater than The fax machines. So let's talk about
Claire Goldsmith:
what we do know about what school in the age of AI could
Claire Goldsmith:
look like, and I'm going to bring it down to the classroom
Claire Goldsmith:
level for you, because I was an English teacher. So we know that
Claire Goldsmith:
generative AI writes a pretty good paper, and you all know
Claire Goldsmith:
that AI detectors do not work. So what would I do? Let's say I
Claire Goldsmith:
was teaching the Great Gatsby, and I was teaching ninth grade,
Claire Goldsmith:
and I wanted to assign a sort of basic paper on it, so I would
Claire Goldsmith:
not be able to tell whether Chat, GPT or Claude or any other
Claire Goldsmith:
tool wrote the paper. I would not panic bulk order blue books
Claire Goldsmith:
on Amazon or wherever they still sell those things. Instead, I
Claire Goldsmith:
would change the assignment. One way to change the assignment
Claire Goldsmith:
would be to have higher standards. I sometimes talk
Claire Goldsmith:
about AI as raising the floor and the ceiling in learning AI
Claire Goldsmith:
can write a decent paper on Gatsby. So I might ask it to do
Claire Goldsmith:
that, and then I'd have students critique that paper or write the
Claire Goldsmith:
opposing argument, or write it from the perspective of a
Claire Goldsmith:
character in the novel. I might have students write in class,
Claire Goldsmith:
and then peer conference or present live. Remember how math
Claire Goldsmith:
teachers used to always tell us to show our work? Well, I would
Claire Goldsmith:
find all kinds of creative ways for students to show their work.
Claire Goldsmith:
Sometimes I might tell them to use AI to write the paper
Claire Goldsmith:
document how they used it, and maybe connect the way Chat GPT
Claire Goldsmith:
wrote the paper to a. Particular method of literary theory,
Claire Goldsmith:
literary theory in ninth grade with AI involved, why not raise
Claire Goldsmith:
that bar? Or I might decide that I didn't want any AI use at all
Claire Goldsmith:
in the assignment. And I would be explicit about that, pointing
Claire Goldsmith:
to a graphic like this one that I had, showing that this was a
Claire Goldsmith:
red or no AI assignment compared to others that might permit its
Claire Goldsmith:
use, and if I suspected that students used AI when they
Claire Goldsmith:
weren't supposed to, well, guess what? We've been dealing with
Claire Goldsmith:
academic dishonesty, as Felix said, since the beginning of
Claire Goldsmith:
time, and our schools are actually really good at it.
Claire Goldsmith:
Okay? So one way a school of the future, or even honestly, a
Claire Goldsmith:
school of the present, might use AI in the classroom would be
Claire Goldsmith:
that. But now I want to go further. When that parent walks
Claire Goldsmith:
in asking why school even matters. Now we have to get
Claire Goldsmith:
clear in our answer and talk about what AI cannot do. So
Claire Goldsmith:
first, there's empathy and the parts of our existence that are
Claire Goldsmith:
the most human. AI will not be able to replace a nurse holding
Claire Goldsmith:
a hand at a sick bed. It won't be that amazing relational
Claire Goldsmith:
teacher. We need to be preparing students for those jobs just as
Claire Goldsmith:
much as we're preparing them to use AI and more on that later.
Claire Goldsmith:
AI is excellent at solving problems one millisecond of
Claire Goldsmith:
predicting the next word after the next it will help us cure
Claire Goldsmith:
diseases. I believe it will make our roads safer and much more
Claire Goldsmith:
but how will it know what problems to solve? What we need
Claire Goldsmith:
to be teaching our students is curiosity, the capacity to
Claire Goldsmith:
wonder about something. Why is something the way it is? How
Claire Goldsmith:
could we make change in the world? We need to be teaching
Claire Goldsmith:
students that essential element of design thinking, I'm sure
Claire Goldsmith:
familiar to many of you, understanding real problems
Claire Goldsmith:
among our fellow humans. There's no reason that young people
Claire Goldsmith:
can't be advancing new knowledge at younger and younger ages,
Claire Goldsmith:
just as the calculator let younger and younger students do
Claire Goldsmith:
more complex computation, but they have to be taught to wonder
Claire Goldsmith:
and to want to know and do more.
Claire Goldsmith:
When I talk to tech CEOs, it's actually not knowledge of AI
Claire Goldsmith:
that they seek in potential hires, it's curiosity, and
Claire Goldsmith:
schools are going to have to foster, continue fostering that
Claire Goldsmith:
curiosity. We can't make predictions, but we can teach
Claire Goldsmith:
children essential skills like curiosity that will serve them
Claire Goldsmith:
well no matter what. So let's change the assignment, raise the
Claire Goldsmith:
bar and cultivate that wonder. Second, we have to center
Claire Goldsmith:
collaboration and use technology to enhance it, the research on
Claire Goldsmith:
the power of relationships in learning is long and deep, but
Claire Goldsmith:
we also have to be collaborating more as adults and collaborating
Claire Goldsmith:
more as schools and as places we might not even call schools, but
Claire Goldsmith:
that are developing young people. Many of you have
Claire Goldsmith:
probably heard by now how fast micro schools and home schools
Claire Goldsmith:
are growing. There are currently 95,000 micro schools serving 1.5
Claire Goldsmith:
million students in the United States and 3.7 million home
Claire Goldsmith:
schooled students. By comparison, there are 4.7
Claire Goldsmith:
million students in private schools, including independent
Claire Goldsmith:
schools. When I worked at Stanford online high school, we
Claire Goldsmith:
were just starting to see a new type of homeschooler emerge. We
Claire Goldsmith:
no longer have the image of a mom, and yes, it was usually a
Claire Goldsmith:
mom at the kitchen table with a child teaching course content,
Claire Goldsmith:
rather that child may now be spending the day moving between
Claire Goldsmith:
an online course, a field trip, a lesson as part of a micro
Claire Goldsmith:
school community and work with a parent at home. We have seen
Claire Goldsmith:
this blurring of school type more and more traditional, brick
Claire Goldsmith:
and mortar schools embracing online and hybrid for certain
Claire Goldsmith:
subjects, and let's not forget that a learner is also now
Claire Goldsmith:
someone who can find information online with how to videos
Claire Goldsmith:
getting hundreds of millions of views. I believe that this kind
Claire Goldsmith:
of blending the educational experience has real power for
Claire Goldsmith:
our independent schools. A recent report from the
Claire Goldsmith:
Enrollment Management Association found that the
Claire Goldsmith:
number one driver for parents choosing independent schools is
Claire Goldsmith:
access to high quality academic programs that mattered so much
Claire Goldsmith:
in fact in the data that most families would not even choose
Claire Goldsmith:
a. Free School if it meant compromising on quality, and
Claire Goldsmith:
yet, no school can offer every student the perfect academic
Claire Goldsmith:
fit. When I ran the Malone schools online network, we
Claire Goldsmith:
helped schools expand their curricula by pooling resources
Claire Goldsmith:
so that each school could offer advanced or niche courses like
Claire Goldsmith:
linear algebra Arabic or the literature of James Joyce. But
Claire Goldsmith:
beyond expanding course offerings, there's another
Claire Goldsmith:
benefit to this kind of collaboration, giving students
Claire Goldsmith:
meaningful academic and social experiences with peers from
Claire Goldsmith:
other schools. I remember one student who was seen as the math
Claire Goldsmith:
person at her school, but in an online class, she got to shine
Claire Goldsmith:
in the humanities, effectively trying on a new identity. That
Claire Goldsmith:
kind of cross campus collaborative learning can open
Claire Goldsmith:
up real growth. Let's work together to give students the
Claire Goldsmith:
best experiences academic and social in the schools of
Claire Goldsmith:
tomorrow, let's connect our students less through social
Claire Goldsmith:
media and more through intentional work in our schools,
Claire Goldsmith:
to reach outside of silos. Third, we have to have ethical
Claire Goldsmith:
courage. These wonderful futures can only happen if we take tech
Claire Goldsmith:
ethics seriously and teach it intentionally. So I'm going to
Claire Goldsmith:
give you two recent tech ethics scenarios and let you decide
Claire Goldsmith:
whether they're Kosher or not. The first is a true story of a
Claire Goldsmith:
friend during the pandemic, like so many of us, he would sit
Claire Goldsmith:
through hours and hours and hours of zoom meetings,
Claire Goldsmith:
occasionally sipping some water or munching on an apple. Except
Claire Goldsmith:
he wasn't really doing that, sipping or biting apples. He had
Claire Goldsmith:
recorded a video of himself sitting at his desk doing those
Claire Goldsmith:
things, and he was playing it on a loop as a zoom background. So
Claire Goldsmith:
if you think this is ethical, raise your hand. Ok, I guess I
Claire Goldsmith:
know the answer to this one. If you think it's unethical, raise
Claire Goldsmith:
your hand. So now what if I told you that while the meeting was
Claire Goldsmith:
going, he sat right by his computer and listened in to the
Claire Goldsmith:
audio. When it was a board meeting, say, and there was a
Claire Goldsmith:
vote called, he would scurry back to his desk and he would
Claire Goldsmith:
vote. And what was he doing? Just off camera, eating a lovely
Claire Goldsmith:
dinner with his girlfriend. He was dining on beautiful roast
Claire Goldsmith:
chicken, wooing the woman who would eventually become his
Claire Goldsmith:
wife, and listening in to the board call without anyone
Claire Goldsmith:
knowing he wasn't really on camera. So Let's vote again. If
Claire Goldsmith:
you think this is ethical, raise your hand and still unethical. A
Claire Goldsmith:
lot of you. Okay, okay, fascinating. All right, so what
Claire Goldsmith:
if I told you now that only five years later, AI avatars are
Claire Goldsmith:
doing exactly that for people, but what they're also doing is
Claire Goldsmith:
impersonating people without their permission. In January of
Claire Goldsmith:
2024 an employee of a major multinational corporation
Claire Goldsmith:
transferred $25 million to scammers after deep fakes posing
Claire Goldsmith:
as company employees on Zoom asked him to
Claire Goldsmith:
so now we're in new territory, a harmless, but maybe slightly
Claire Goldsmith:
questionable choice by my friend, made Maybe less
Claire Goldsmith:
questionable by the circumstances, but now taking on
Claire Goldsmith:
new meaning when lots of people can fake it and maybe for really
Claire Goldsmith:
pernicious purposes, we've come a long way from having to worry
Claire Goldsmith:
about the buff trainer in the background taking his shirt off,
Claire Goldsmith:
but this is the world that our children are living in. So
Claire Goldsmith:
here's another scenario for you, a friend's 10th grade daughter
Claire Goldsmith:
recently used Chat GPT to help prepare her notes to take into
Claire Goldsmith:
an open book Physics exam. Now I can't really ask you whether
Claire Goldsmith:
this is ethical or not, because I would say that it depends, it
Claire Goldsmith:
depends in part, on what the teacher's expectations have
Claire Goldsmith:
been, is it okay to use generative AI at her school in
Claire Goldsmith:
the science department in that physics class for that physics
Claire Goldsmith:
test? We have got to get clear on our expectations with
Claire Goldsmith:
students, as you can imagine, I am in favor of many types of AI
Claire Goldsmith:
use among high school students. But just as math teachers tell
Claire Goldsmith:
students when they can and cannot use the calculator, we
Claire Goldsmith:
have to be in dialog with them about what is permitted, when
Claire Goldsmith:
it's permitted and why. So now back to my friend's 10th grade
Claire Goldsmith:
daughter. I found myself a bit uncomfortable listen. Saying to
Claire Goldsmith:
her parents, I wondered what learning she was offloading by
Claire Goldsmith:
calling in the Chat GPT reinforcements to prepare those
Claire Goldsmith:
study notes. And then her mom told me the kicker, she went to
Claire Goldsmith:
bed an hour earlier than she would have. Wow, we have a
Claire Goldsmith:
wellness crisis among adolescents. I would trade a
Claire Goldsmith:
little cognitive offloading for a little more sleep any day. So
Claire Goldsmith:
how are we talking about these trade offs? If we're not, we
Claire Goldsmith:
should be and with our students now, layer into all of this the
Claire Goldsmith:
most troubling aspects of AI, misinformation and
Claire Goldsmith:
disinformation, the kind of bias that makes generative AI spit
Claire Goldsmith:
out different answers for different genders, or facial
Claire Goldsmith:
recognition technology that can't recognize black faces, or
Claire Goldsmith:
the melanoma spotters that don't work on dark skin. What about
Claire Goldsmith:
the environmental impact of AI? I used to be a debate coach, and
Claire Goldsmith:
I wish I could be in that debate room right now, sinking into
Claire Goldsmith:
these topics with students in those formats. Our students need
Claire Goldsmith:
to grapple with these issues while in our care, so that they
Claire Goldsmith:
can go out to work and lead with a well honed ethical compass and
Claire Goldsmith:
armed with ethical courage, ready to collaborate and
Claire Goldsmith:
curious, they can solve many problems. Okay, so what does the
Claire Goldsmith:
school of tomorrow actually look like? Years ago, someone asked
Claire Goldsmith:
me whether one day, all schools would be online, and I said, No.
Claire Goldsmith:
Now I get asked whether schools will all be run by AI robots, or
Claire Goldsmith:
whether we will even need school because AI can do it all, like
Claire Goldsmith:
that mom that walked into my friend's office. Remember her? I
Claire Goldsmith:
believe that in the age of AI, school might look different in
Claire Goldsmith:
ways we can't anticipate, but we will actually need it more.
Claire Goldsmith:
That's for one main reason, school is the place where we do
Claire Goldsmith:
the things that are the most human. And despite what many
Claire Goldsmith:
think, I believe, we have been on a journey to make school time
Claire Goldsmith:
more and more human through technology. In my Stanford
Claire Goldsmith:
online high school days, it was about the flipped classroom,
Claire Goldsmith:
letting students absorb a lecture at home, so that when
Claire Goldsmith:
they came to class, it could be all about debate and discussion
Claire Goldsmith:
and getting help from the teacher and relationships and
Claire Goldsmith:
empathy, and if AI can help us with administrative tasks, so
Claire Goldsmith:
that we can spend more time with those human things. I am all for
Claire Goldsmith:
it. We bat around this word human a lot in this context. So
Claire Goldsmith:
I'm going to tell you what it means to me. In my last year of
Claire Goldsmith:
brick and mortar teaching, a student in our middle school
Claire Goldsmith:
died. I wasn't her teacher, but I was teaching many of her close
Claire Goldsmith:
friends, so I sat with them in her childhood bedroom the day
Claire Goldsmith:
she died. For weeks I would sit on the floor of the middle
Claire Goldsmith:
school hallways with those girls talking about books or their
Claire Goldsmith:
favorite foods or their weekends. There were many
Claire Goldsmith:
aspects of my early teaching career that I did just fine, but
Claire Goldsmith:
that I would do differently now, like that Gatsby assignment, I
Claire Goldsmith:
would raise the bar, and I would find efficiencies too, but I
Claire Goldsmith:
would do that in order to spend more time sitting in hallways
Claire Goldsmith:
with kids. I would not change that part of my job. I started
Claire Goldsmith:
this talk with a story about my video conferencing background
Claire Goldsmith:
and in the pandemic, one of the small silver linings was that we
Claire Goldsmith:
had insight into the home lives of our students, we could
Claire Goldsmith:
literally see into their homes. And now there were equity
Claire Goldsmith:
concerns with that, with students feeling they had to
Claire Goldsmith:
reveal more than they maybe wanted to, but it was a reminder
Claire Goldsmith:
that the background matters when we are effective as educators,
Claire Goldsmith:
we see our students in three dimensions. I'm sure that
Claire Goldsmith:
everybody here has a story like mine about losing a student or
Claire Goldsmith:
moment where we're called to support people in a profound way
Claire Goldsmith:
with our students. We don't want to blur the backgrounds children
Claire Goldsmith:
growing up today need caring adults like you who know them in
Claire Goldsmith:
three dimensions, they need adults who can help them
Claire Goldsmith:
understand the role of technology in their lives. And
Claire Goldsmith:
that message, by the way, should be empowering. Look at this
Claire Goldsmith:
astonishing technology we have. Guess what? It was created by a
Claire Goldsmith:
human just like you. What are you going to go out and build.
Claire Goldsmith:
And they need guidance in wrestling with ethical
Claire Goldsmith:
questions. They need to learn collaboration and to see us
Claire Goldsmith:
collaborate, to give them broad and rich experiences. They need
Claire Goldsmith:
curiosity so they can determine which problems in the world they
Claire Goldsmith:
want to use AI to help them solve. So. You, our tech leaders
Claire Goldsmith:
are the ones who can make all of that happen, no pressure, not by
Claire Goldsmith:
chasing every shiny new tool, but by asking what really
Claire Goldsmith:
matters for kids, you can lead the charge in shaping not just
Claire Goldsmith:
the tech of tomorrow, but the schools of tomorrow, where
Claire Goldsmith:
empathy, wisdom and wonder guide how we use it. Thank you.
Peter Frank:
This has been talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in
Peter Frank:
Independent Schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit theatlas.org if you enjoyed this
Peter Frank:
discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and share this
Peter Frank:
podcast with your colleagues in the independent school
Peter Frank:
community. Thank you for listening. You.
