A big issue for the new school year is artificial intelligence.
School districts across Massachusetts are wrestling with how to incorporate this emerging technology into their classrooms.
“The opportunities are endless for teachers, and I think that is part of the challenge,” said Marc Leblanc, executive director of instructional technology for the Salem Public Schools.
He says AI is improving fast and can change classrooms in many ways.
“The ability to use AI to differentiate assignments for students that are at different learning levels, whether they’re special education students or multi-lingual learners, to be able to take assignments and align them to state standards, to create assignments.”
Professor Nermeen Dashoush of Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development added, “We have teachers who have language barriers for certain communities, and now they can use generative AI to translate to multiple languages and multiple dialects.”
With all these possibilities, school systems are trying to figure out how to tap into AI’s potential.
Brian Allan, the new school superintendent in Worcester, said, “AI is here, and so we need to figure out how to embrace it, but also to introduce it to staff and students in an authentic and ethical way.”
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently released a 74-page report to provide districts with guidance in developing A-I policies.
It said, in part, the guide “offers a foundation for developing local guidance and policies while training educators, responsibly integrating A-I tools, strengthening A-I literacy and building adaptive systems that evolve with emerging technologies.”
Professor Dashoush believes A-I’s emergence in education is “a really big deal.”
Part of the challenge with A-I in public education is de-mystifying it.
“This is not going to replace teachers. I know people are thinking it’s going to replace teachers, but especially in early childhood education, I am not going to be dropping my kid off with a robot or anything,” Dashoush said with a laugh.
Dashoush has spent much of her academic career focused on STEM-related topics.
She said the world of education can move slowly and would like to see things move faster so they keep pace with the technology.
She stresses that it will require resources.
“You have to make sure you’re providing professional development opportunities for educators, so they understand what it is first.”
Leblanc says understanding how AI works and what it can do can dispel many fears.
“I think about years ago when all of a sudden there was a calculator on every computer, and there was a calculator on every phone, and people said like, Well, that’s the end of math, but we still teach math, right? When Wikipedia came out, social studies teachers said we’re not going to be able to teach social studies anymore.”
Both Leblanc and Dashoush said they believe the worst thing to do is to try and ban AI.
They say students will still use it, but will lack the skills to use it effectively or ethically.
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