AI-based programs will revolutionize our educational environment. When carefully vetted and aligned with ethical standards, AI tools have the potential to tailor content to diverse learning styles and fully develop critical thinking skills that enhance understanding and retention. Embracing AI in education, with a commitment to transparency, accountability, and inclusivity, can lead to a more dynamic, efficient, and equitable educational landscape. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad field of computer science that uses algorithms, data, and computational power to create machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. AI can be broadly categorized into two types:

• Narrow AI (Weak AI): This type of AI is designed and trained for a specific task or a narrow range of tasks. Examples include speech recognition systems, recommendation algorithms, and autonomous vehicles.

• General AI (Strong AI): This type of AI aims to possess the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a broad range of tasks at a level comparable to human intelligence.

While AI may seem like the newest tool in the world of technology, it’s been working behind the scenes and used for decades. Today, we are surrounded by AI in our personal and professional lives, including Google search assistant, virtual assistants (e.g., Siri and Alexa), predictive text, facial recognition, medical procedures, and countless other applications. 

The AI being discussed lately in headlines is Generative AI, a form of Machine Learning based on Large Language Models. Through Large Language Models and Machine Learning, computers can pull in large amounts of data in the form of images, video, text, and audio and learn to recognize patterns and make predictions based on those patterns.

Generative AI is only as accurate as the data it processes. The large data sets it uses are not guaranteed to be accurate. Generative AI tools like Google Gemini or Open AI ChatGPT are not specifically coded to provide accurate information. Instead, they predict the type of information needed to best fit a prompt that you give. Additionally, AI tools reflect the biases in the data that were inputted and any biases that may be programmed into the model itself. Even rules created to eliminate bias may result in their own form of bias. Therefore, educators and students should be trained in the proper use of AI, complete rigorous accuracy checks, and guard against the potential for biased results.

Today's students, as digital natives, need to be digitally literate to succeed in the AI era. As AI's influence grows, it's crucial to equip students with knowledge and skills to engage with AI systems responsibly, preparing them for future careers.  Students should be involved in creating, programming, and understanding AI, beyond just using AI tools. Additionally, by building AI understanding for all students, regardless of zip code, race, gender, or socioeconomic status, it will help to diversify the STEM pipeline, breaking down barriers and biases. Ensuring that all students have access to AI education promotes inclusivity and reduces the risk of a digital divide.   

It is important to note that AI-powered tools can never replace the human element of teaching.  Educators are integral to the instructional process. They support students’ learning journeys by building relationships, developing critical thinking and creativity skills, responding to student needs, providing timely feedback, and fostering ethical values.  AI in education is not a new concept.  It has been developed and used for decades.  Continued expansion and use of AI-powered tools can be a powerful ally in the pursuit of educational excellence, enhancing classroom instruction by helping educators design personalized learning experiences and provide scaffolded support for students.  

• Encourage Teaching and Learning

The use of AI has to be robustly incorporated into our teaching curriculums and educational settings.  Educators and students must be provided with educational development that helps them fully understand AI, how to incorporate it into learning activities, understand the privacy and security concerns, understand acceptable adaptions, properly cite its use, and understand its limitations. In particular, among other things, the VA Department of Education, among others, encourages:   

• Encourage Exploration – Educators need hands-on experience to understand these technologies’ capabilities and limitations.  They should have access to and use the relevant tools, not rely on rumors or superficial perceptions.  Educators must be empowered with deeper practical knowledge.  Additionally, students should be engaged and encouraged to explore and understand AI’s promise and limitations.  The school must allocate time and resources for structured experimentation to tap into and uncover creative use cases and incorporate AI tools into the curriculum.

• Providing Professional Development – As with any new tool or strategy, educators need professional development from experts in order to feel comfortable using it.  Offering workshops or professional development courses, micro-credentials, or micro-badges on AI as well as meaningful follow-up implementation and application activities, discussions and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues and experts who can help teachers understand and experience its capabilities and limitations.  The school should tap into educators who are already exploring creative uses and curricula in their teaching.  

• Incorporate into learning – Students must learn what AI is and be given the educational development to creatively incorporate it into their work.  Educators must incorporate the use of AI into their assignments and their lesson plans.  Additionally, educators will need to rethink how they assess students’ understanding, knowledge, and skills.  For example, instead of asking students to craft writing prompts specific to a context, concept, or information discussed in the classroom, require the student to express or identify motivations or emotions; alternatively are based on individual experiences.  This means educators will need to set expectations and teach responsible usage of AI, which is necessary as the future workforce is developed.  A robust curriculum in every subject should be developed to explore AI, while also establishing classroom policies and procedures around the use of AI.  

• Ensure Privacy, Security, and Safety

AI tools must be implemented and used in ways that ensure that each individual’s privacy, security, and safety are maintained.  It is imperative to teach and explain the ethical usage of AI to avoid students using it in a way that puts their safety, security, and privacy in jeopardy.  To do this, guidance must take into account:

• Privacy and data protection - AI tools must be implemented in ways that respect and uphold privacy and data rights; such as avoiding unnecessary data collection, limiting the data retention to local memory and short-term use, preventing data re-distribution, and prohibiting the sale of student data.

• Privacy disclosure - School communities should be proactively informed about how and what data will be collected, used, and shared while using AI tools, and consent is sought where needed.

• Protection of student inputs - Students, teachers, and staff are taught to take appropriate care when entering information into AI tools which may compromise any individual’s data privacy.

• Cybersecurity and resilience - Robust cyber-security measures are implemented to protect the integrity and availability of school infrastructure, AI tools, and associated data.

• Copyright compliance - When using AI tools schools are aware of and take measures to comply with applicable copyright rights and obligations.

• FERPA and COPA Compliance - Tools should comply with FERPA and COPA, if an experiment calls for the use of a tool that is not compliant (i.e. research) consent from parents is necessary for that usage.

• Harness AI and Support Its Ethical Usage

Ethical considerations are paramount in AI development and usage. Both educators and students must be taught how to ethically integrate AI tools into their schoolwork.  The “EVERY” framework is an excellent model for incorporating ethical usage into school work.

• Evaluate the initial output to see if it meets the intended purpose and needs. 

• Verify facts, figures, quotes, and data using reliable sources to ensure there are no hallucinations or bias. 

• Edit the prompt and ask follow-up questions to have the AI improve its output. 

• Revise the results to reflect the writer’s unique needs, style, and/or tone. AI output is a great starting point, but shouldn’t be a final product. 

• You are ultimately responsible for everything you create with AI.  Always be transparent about if and how you used AI. 

Knowing how AI processes data and generates outputs enables students to think critically about the results AI systems provide. They can question and evaluate the information they receive and make informed decisions. Educators and students must be urged to leverage AI to foster and not inhibit critical thinking. An understanding of the inner workings of AI supports learners in identifying inaccuracies, questioning AI outputs, learning appropriate citations, and recognizing potential bias. As educators and students build an understanding of how data collection feeds AI outputs and have a mutual understanding of when and how to use AI, educators and students become ethical technology users and potential creators who prioritize fairness, accountability, and transparency.

• Find Alternative Ways to Assess

AI detection software should not be used.  The software is costly and flawed.  It inaccurately flags student work resulting in children disengaging from school. Studies show it disparately impacts English language learners, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.  

Rather educators should rethink how they assess students’ understanding, knowledge, or skills.  For example, create real-world, hands-on projects that require students to apply their knowledge in a practical context, thus making it difficult for AI to provide the answer. Use a variety of question types that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills.  Ask students to create visual responses, such as charts, graphs, infographics, images, videos, and graphic organizers, that are difficult for AI tools to generate that correlate to the task.  Educators can also provide writing prompts that do not require students to provide generic responses or basic facts.  Instead, craft writing prompts specific to a context, concept, or information discussed in the classroom, require the student to express or identify motivations or emotions, or are based on individual experiences.     

The school system must act fast to provide meaningful guidance on incorporating AI into our classroom settings and ensuring educators incorporate these foundational principles.  The school system should convene an advisory council comprised of community experts and informed educators interested in ensuring ethical usage of AI is used in our classrooms every day.  Additionally, the school year must not start without a plan to provide both our teachers and students with the educational development necessary to demystify AI and its uses in schools.  As well, any and all AI detection software use must be discontinued.  Finally, a review board needs to be convened that continuously considers AI tools to determine their safety, validity, and efficacy in our educational setting. 

All this information is a compilation of information from resources that are publicly available and cited below.  Additionally, ChatGPT was used to generate some of the initial ideas reflected here.  It was then fact-checked for accuracy, modified for tone, and rewritten to best reflect the points herein.

• Code.org, CoSN, Digital Promise, European EdTech Alliance, Larimore, J., and PACE (2023). AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit (Summary). Retrieved from teachai.org/toolkit. [July 14, 2024].  

• State of Virginia, Exec. Order No. 30, Implementation of Standards For The Safe Use of Artificial Intelligence Across the Commonwealth (January 18, 2024), https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/governor-of-virginia/pdf/eo/EO-30.pdf.  

• Virginia Department of Education, Guidelines for AI Integration Throughout Education IN The Commonwealth of Virginia, https://www.education.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/secretary-of-education/pdf/AI-Education-Guidelines.pdf. 

• Hellman, Arianna, ChatGPT In Classrooms (Humanities) Teachers Perspectives, Crossed Sabres, Washington and Liberty High School (October 23, 2023), https://www.crossedsabres.org/features/2023/10/27/chatgpt-in-the-classrooms/.  

• Mississippi Department of Education, Artificial Intelligence Guidance for K-12 Classrooms, https://www.mdek12.org/sites/default/files/Offices/MDE/OTSS/DL/ai_guidance_final.pdf.  

• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, NCDPI releases guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in schools, https://www.dpi.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2024/01/16/ncdpi-releases-guidance-use-artificial-intelligence-schools.  

• California Department of Education, Learning With AI, Learning About AI, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/aiincalifornia.asp.  

• Open AI, How can educators respond to students presenting AI-generated content as their own?, https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313351-how-can-educators-respond-to-students-presenting-ai-generated-content-as-their-own (last accessed on July 16, 2024).

For free professional development tools on AI in education, please see https://code.org/ai/pl/101.  It is a free foundational online learning series for any teacher or educator.  Partners Code.org, ETS, ISTE, and Khan Academy offer engaging sessions with experts to demystify AI, explore responsible implementation, address bias, and showcase how AI-powered learning can revolutionize student outcomes.