⚖️ AI policy answers from you

Your responses, plus a new discussion topic

Author

Matt Miller
December 06, 2023

I hope you’re off to a great week as we get closer to the end of the semester — and the end of the year!

Shout out to Jeffrey Matzner, Caleb J Wilson, Tom Stoner, and Jennifer Elemen for discussion board posts that I highlight in this week’s newsletter!

A few quick things for you before we get started:

  1. Want an easy way to share AI for Admins with others you know? This document has text you can copy/paste to share in an email. It also has pre-written social media posts and images to quickly download. (You can always find this document under “Share AI for Admins” at the top of the email newsletter. 👆🏻)

  2. Free AI webinar TODAY: If you have interactive displays in your school/district, this webinar is for you. (Also for you if you’re looking for ways AI can amplify and support instruction!)

    Title: AI: Your Interactive Display’s Hidden Classroom Superpower
    Date: TODAY (Wednesday)
    Time: 2-3pm U.S. Eastern time
    Replay available? Yes (to registered participants)
    PD credit? Free certificate of completion after session

    Click here to register and feel free to share this link with teachers and other educators in your school/district.

    (PS: Samsung’s education coaches are fantastic. You might want to check the “select all upcoming webinars” option when you register.)

  3. AI sessions in the FREE Ditch Summit: My free online conference for educators, the “Ditch Summit,” starts on Monday and runs through Jan. 5. We have several AI-themed sessions. My session on the direction AI is headed related to education will be especially relevant for leaders. Also, Five Star Technology has a great session from admin, coach, and teacher perspectives. You can register for the Ditch Summit for free here.

In this week’s newsletter:

  • 🗣 On the discussion board

  • 🗓 This week’s discussion topic

  • 🎙 Quote of the week

  • 📚 New AI resources this week

🗣 On the discussion board

Over the last week, we discussed AI policies. The question: What do you want AI policies to address? 

View the whole discussion here. (It’s not too late to participate!)

Some highlights:

  • “We are also trying to develop a plan on how to best use AI for good. There are a lot of positives with it and we want to instruct our students on how to benefit from it.” — Jeffrey Matzner

  • Caleb J Wilson wrote a great detailed post about his top concerns: staff AI use, student use, digital tools, and mindset shifts. You can read all of it here. “My biggest fear is that AI will allow us to perpetuate the same teaching practices we have been doing for years rather than allowing it to be transformative and have a greater impact on education.”

  • Tom Stoner is concerned about accuracy. “I do have a teacher that uses it and encourages his students to use AI in his science research class; however, he also requires them to fact check the information they receive to make sure it is accurate.”

🗓 This week’s discussion topic

This week’s new topic is posted under “Ways to Use AI in Education”:

How do you hope that student thinking and learning will be elevated through AI? (Think in the short-term and/or in the long-term.)

PS: Have a suggestion for a future AI-related discussion for the group? Hit reply to this email and let me know!

🎙 Quote of the week

AI is one of the most powerful things humans have ever invented for improving the quality of life of everyone. But it will take time. It should take time. We’ve always tackled super-challenging problems through technology. And so we can either tell ourselves a good story about the future or a bad story about the future — and, whichever one we choose, that’s probably the one that’ll come true.

Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, via The New Yorker

📚 New AI resources this week

1️⃣ Jennifer Elemen shared Leon Furze’s Teaching AI Ethics series. It has posts detailing each of his nine AI ethics areas:

  • Bias and discrimination

  • Environmental concerns

  • Truth and academic integrity

  • Copyright

  • Privacy

  • Datafication

  • Emotion recognition

  • Human labour

  • Power

2️⃣ ISTE has a mini-ebook called Bringing AI to School: Tips for School Leaders. It talks about what AI is (and isn’t). It provides guiding questions, strategies for success, examples, and frequently-asked questions. It’s REALLY good.

4️⃣ New episode of the Digital Learning Podcast (that I co-host with Holly Clark): ChatGPT Changes and a Vision of AI in Education: Want a good look at where education might go in response to AI? The new updates to ChatGPT give us a glimpse of the future of education.

These discussions have been fantastic. Thank you for your contributions!

Please, please, please … if you can think of a way this group can better serve you (or serve you in a different way) … please share it by hitting reply and telling me!

Matt Miller
Host, AI for Admins
Educator, Author, Speaker, Podcaster
[email protected]