I’m co-hosting a webinar about an AI-powered classroom app that has a TON of potential — Snorkl!

I’ll join Snorkl co-founder Jon Laven in this FREE webinar to share five real classroom examples of Snorkl in action.

See how students record and write their thinking, receive instant AI feedback, and give teachers clearer insight into understanding—all while increasing student ownership and engagement.

DATE: Tuesday, Feb. 24
TIME: 7pm U.S. Eastern / 6pm Central / 5pm Mountain / 4pm Pacific
LENGTH: 30-45 minutes
RECORDING: Available afterward

📚 New AI resources this week

1️⃣ Rebecca Bultsma’s AI Syllabus (via Substack) — Rebecca shares where she learns about AI and keeps up with advances in the technology.

2️⃣ Podcast: A Leader’s Mindset for Disruption with Matt Miller (via Leading Out Loud Podcast) — I discussed leading with creativity and courage in an education system built on tradition with host Chantell Manahan.

3️⃣ OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 — This new report explores effective uses of generative AI in education. (I’ll be writing about this next week!)

Last week’s poll: When creating an AI PD blueprint, which piece is most important?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Foundational knowledge and use (25)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Ethics, privacy, and integrity (20)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Pedagogical implications (15)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Long-term vision and future focus (6)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Other ... (3)

Long-term vision: Job descriptions are already beginning to include AI-capable as a necessary skill. It will not be enough for our students to practice AI literacy when using AI for school. Our students need to become AI-capable and use AI for creation and problem-solving for real issues. — Kerry Fergason

Foundational knowledge and use: I think if more people truly understood how this technology worked and how it was/is trained, people would be more hesitant to use it. My message to teachers, you don't have to use AI to be a good teacher. However, you MUST understand how this technology works. If you understand how it works and then choose not to use it, you have made an informed decision. We have to be okay with people pushing back on the acceptance and use of these tools. — Mickie Mueller

Ethics, privacy, and integrity: Even though we dive into AI for the immediate use and knowledge, we need a long-term vision, as far as this new tech allows, to see the big picture and make sense of what is all this for. However, right from the start, all the dark side of this tech, larger than most tech we've had so far, needs to be born in mind, updated regularly and counterbalanced to the best of our ability. — S. Guilana

Pedagogical implications: All of our work needs to start from the lens of how it impacts learning in the classroom. — B. Weller

What’s a topic you’d like to see covered here? Hit REPLY to this email and let me know.

Have you done anything you’d like to share with the AI for Admins community? Hit REPLY and let me know.

Would you like to write a guest post to support and equip AI for Admins readers? Hit REPLY and let me know.

🗳 Poll: Reading vs. AI to learn

Instructions:

🧑🏻‍🎓 5 AI lessons I’ve learned as a college student

I’m taking a college class online — about language acquisition for Spanish teachers — to maintain my certification to teach high school Spanish for college dual credit.

It’s been years since I’ve been a college student, and this class is forcing me to see the true, distinct pro’s and con’s of AI as a student.

Below are five observations I’ve made while taking this class — and how they might impact you and your school/district.

My professor provides PDFs of the textbooks, and I immediately add them to a NotebookLM notebook as a source. After it’s there, well … some of the ways I use it are helpful. Some? Probably not productive to my learning.

LEADER TAKEAWAY: This is where modeling can be crucial. If students (and teachers) see how AI is used responsibly, it gives us our best chance.

I started the course thinking, “This topic interests me. I’m going to try to read all of the texts and fully participate — even though I know how to get by with the bare minimum.”

At the beginning, I had a strong “Why?”.

But, as we know, because learning is hard — and time-consuming — our “Why?” wanes and we start doing the bare minimum.

Now that I’m five weeks into the course, I’m getting into content that makes me ask, “How does this really help? Why do I even need to learn this?”

(Sound familiar? Our students ask this allllllll the time … and if they aren’t asking you out loud, they’re asking it in their minds.)

LEADER TAKEAWAY: To me, it re-emphasizes the importance of making sure students know why they’re learning what they’re learning — and how it will benefit them. It has a trickle-down effect to how much effort they’re willing to contribute — and how much thinking they outsource to AI.

This is probably the most underrated teacher move right now — at least in my opinion.

As a student, I ask NotebookLM for infographics to visually explain unclear concepts. It creates tables. It organizes and provides structure. It will make slides and flashcards and study guides and more.

I ask for long-form audio overviews for EVERY chapter. I listen to them in the car. They give me more repetitions with the new material and explain it in a more conversational format.

And the video overviews?!? It’s incredible that they can just generate those — with whatever instructions you give, in any style you prefer.

Side note: At one of my teacher workshops, a teacher just uploaded a quiz he was going to give his students. The slides, the infographics, the study materials it created??? It was incredible.

LEADER TAKEAWAY: Encouraging teachers to explore this tool — especially if you’re a Google for Education district — is a tiny time investment that could yield better and more resources for students than just the textbook.

As a student, I’ve gone on this wild roller coaster ride of integrity and ethics in how I’m using AI. Here’s an example of the ups and downs …

It’s that last realization that has had me thinking over the past couple weeks.

Learning happens in ways and places that we don’t expect. (Another unrelated example: When I was in high school, I remember taking a Spanish test and, by answering some of the questions on the test, I actually figured out how a concept worked. I learned something new by doing an assessment. It’s moments like these that push me to consider new ways to teach and learn.)

I wondered: If I had more questions (like 5x more questions, even) — and was encouraged to look them up via NotebookLM instead of read the text, would I come away with more or less learning?

Of course, if I just copy/pasted responses from AI, that bypasses all the learning. But let’s be honest … when our assignment is “read the chapter,” there are lots of factors that cause us not to internalize ALL of the content in the chapter, too.

Let’s be pragmatic: If the goal is for students to understand the content deeply and comprehensively, is there a better way to acquire knowledge than reading a dense academic textbook?

LEADER TAKEAWAY: Some experimentation with new AI-assisted learning methods could lead to breakthroughs. If teachers are encouraged to innovate — and feel safe enough to try and potentially fail — this is where real growth could happen.

In this class, there’s still no guidance on how AI should (or shouldn’t) be used. It’s as if it doesn’t exist — or it exists and it’s totally up to you on how you should use it.

Every time I do an assignment or get help with understanding a new concept, I keep wondering: “Even if I don’t think I’m stepping over the line with AI, would my professor see it the same way?”

LEADER TAKEAWAY: Even if you and your teachers are unsure how, some guidance on whether AI is helpful or not — and what your expectations and boundaries are — is better than nothing at all.

If you have had experience as a student, what observations are you seeing and what conclusions are you drawing?

If you’ve had discussions with adults or kids about their experiences with AI as a student, what are they saying?

Hit reply and let me know — or share it through today’s poll question. I love to hear from you!