What Teachers Should Consider Before Using AI-Powered Tools in the Classroom

Whether or not you’re aware of it, artificial intelligence, or AI, is becoming a big part of everyday tasks in K-12 education.

With the help of AI-powered tools, schools can track student progress and flag those at risk of failure, teachers can personalize lessons to meet individual students’ needs, and school or district leaders can customize professional learning for individual teachers.

AI is also transforming the jobs students are preparing for, whether it’s in technology, agriculture, medicine, or other industries.

As AI becomes more ubiquitous, educators should get familiar with the topic. Here’s a collection of articles and videos Education Week has published on artificial intelligence’s influence on education.

Why computer science classes should teach AI

School districts that are serious about expanding computer science education should think about emphasizing AI in those classes because it will help the next generation tackle big societal problems, according to CSforALL’s co-founder and executive director, Leigh Ann DeLyser.

In this video, Education Week asked scholars, advocates, and futurists to discuss how schooling must change to meet the needs of a future we are just beginning to envision.

When teaching AI, it’s also important to train students to examine it through the lens of equity and ethics. Educators gave suggestions on how to get students to think critically about AI.

How to integrate AI into your curriculum

A school district in Georgia designed its own AI curriculum. In the schools that are part of that AI cluster, students are introduced to AI in every subject as they move from kindergarten to 12th grade. Here’s how the district is doing it.

A high school in California has also offered an artificial intelligence class to 12th grade students. The teacher breaks down how he designed his course and what his key takeaways were from his first year teaching the class.

Pay attention to the bias in AI-powered tools

While AI can make life easier in some ways, educators should be wary of embracing the technology. Here are three reasons to be skeptical, according to some researchers.

Educators should examine the data and design processes that AI tools rely on to make sure they haven’t been skewed by any kind of bias. In interviews with Education Week, ed-tech experts talked about why now is the time for a broader conversation about bias in AI.

A report from the Consortium for School Networking noted that AI tools have not been built with student-data privacy in mind.

What will President Joe Biden’s ‘AI Bill of Rights’ do?

In October, the White House released a bill of rights for AI, which serves as a guide for areas of the economy that rely on AI. Read more about its five principles and what data-privacy experts and ed-tech companies think about the guidance.

Examples of AI-powered tools and how educators are using them

An artificially intelligent model called Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, informally known as GPT-3, aims to end writer’s block by doing the writing for us. Educators weigh in on whether it has any educational benefits. Educators also tried out the technology and told us what they thought.

Voice-activated devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home have arrived in classrooms, and educators discussed how these devices can enhance the classroom, as well as the challenges that come with their use. A researcher has also studied what kindergarten students think of using these voice-activated devices in the classroom.