My 10 Learnings from the Krause Center of Innovation Summit on AI Education
Nidhi Parthasarathy, Feb 3, 2024
An edited version of this blog was published on AIEdu’s website linked here.
I recently had the opportunity to participate and be a panelist at an “AI in education” workshop organized by the Krause Center for Innovation along with aiEDU, at Foothill College. This event brought together more than hundred top leaders from more than fifty different school districts and organizations across the bay area. The goal of the day-long workshop was to raise awareness on the “what, why, and how” of AI education and create a shared understanding and position on the transformative impact of AI in education. There were great discussions throughout the day including an informative keynote by Christian Pinedo (aiEDU), and several nice panels and breakout sessions. I wanted to share my main learnings below, covering eight key notable takeaways on AI and education, as well as two personal learnings.
1. Going beyond “using AI in education” to “educating for a world with AI”
The workshop had some rich discussions on AI tools for education — chatbots, graders, curriculum planners, etc — but interestingly many of the attendees brought up another aspect that I had not thought about as much: how do we prepare students for a world influenced by AI? The teachers in the audience pointed out that their role was not just to adapt to AI but to equip students for a future where AI played a big role in significantly reshaping jobs and careers. This struck me as a crucial insight, something that we need to discuss more when we think of AI and education.
2. Teachers need to become students!
Another noteworthy insight surfaced during the workshop: teachers need to know about AI to use it in education. Currently, many teachers don’t have much experience with AI, which makes it hard for them to use these new tools in their teaching. So, it’s crucial to invest in personal development (PD) for teachers if we want to see more AI in education. This was personally quite intriguing: I have been thinking of AI education for under-served students, but thinking about AI education tools with teachers as the target audience is a different interesting angle.
3. Human teachers bring humanity to teaching
Heading into the conference, I thought one of the hot-button topics would be the potential of AI replacing teachers’ jobs and how we could tackle that issue. However, chatting with many teachers at the summit, I discovered that most of them weren’t worried about AI taking over or replacing teachers. They stressed the immense importance of human interaction in a classroom, emphasizing that teachers bring something unique that AI just doesn’t have. It’s like a shared personal experience between teachers and students, something that can’t be trained, especially when it comes to personal feelings. Considering some of my best role models are my teachers, I could see their point.
4. Avoid the social media wild-wild-west disaster
A recurring concern voiced by many teachers was around the rapid pace at which students are picking up AI skills. Many of them were worried about a potential replay of the social media scenario, where quick learning led to issues due to improper use and lack of adult oversight. To avoid a similar situation with AI, teachers emphasize the need for early involvement from adults, and some form of active engagement or moderation. They stress the importance of ensuring that students are guided in the right direction when using AI, preventing potential problems that may arise from self-directed and incorrect usage in the future. Consistent policies and social conventions came up as important in this regard.
5. Ethical AI and Ethically Used AI
The ethics of AI sparked numerous discussions, particularly focusing on privacy concerns. Participants emphasized the importance of being cautious about the information fed into AI, ensuring teachers are mindful of their requests. Transparency emerged as a key theme, with an emphasis on informing parents and students about AI usage in classrooms. Concerns about turning off AI and preventing the use of provided materials for unintended training data also surfaced. The summit delved into the importance of utilizing unbiased training data, and addressing potential AI biases that could disproportionately impact minority groups, including Latinas and females.
6. AI in education: Revolution vs Evolution
I also noticed a split among teachers in their discussions about AI adoption — some viewed it as potentially disruptive and wanted immediate action, while others advocated for a more gradual integration. One teacher stood out, emphasizing that we shouldn’t treat AI like a quick fix or a checkbox to tick off. Instead, he suggested viewing AI as a tool that has been present for a while. His perspective encouraged exploring ways to incorporate AI into existing problem-solving frameworks rather than treating it as an entirely new and separate entity.
7. AI for mental health
One surprising topic that I didn’t think would be discussed was around the intersection of mental health and AI. Conversations circled around the mental well-being of both teachers and students. Regarding teachers, the focus was on preventing burnout by leveraging AI to handle repetitive and draining tasks, allowing educators to concentrate on vital aspects like crafting lessons and assisting students. For students, the idea of AI chatbots emerged as a potential outlet, providing a space to express themselves without concerns about judgment. Additionally, the conversation touched on the positive impact of students being actively engaged in these discussions for their overall well-being.
8. AI as Augmented Intelligence
A recurring theme in the summit discussions highlighted AI as a tool. In our panel, I highlighted this as thinking of AI as “augmented intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence.” This subtle shift in terminology emphasizes the potential for AI to serve more as a tool than as a crutch. The conversation frequently drew comparisons to other transformative tools like the internet or calculators, highlighting the potential for AI to enhance human capabilities without overshadowing or substituting for them. This shift in perspective encourages the utilization of AI as a valuable and complementary resource in the educational landscape.
Beyond these nice insights around AI and education, as the only high school student in a group of more than 100 senior educators and professionals, the event was also a great opportunity for personal growth. Two things stood out in particular.
9. Diversity of perspectives leads to new ideas and insights
I have been working on several areas related to AI for education: developing AI-driven educational tools for STEM and CS, AI outreach to under-served populations, bias in AI, etc. However, attending the summit, I realized I had been looking at the problem purely from a student perspective. Hearing teachers and administrators talk about AI and education from their viewpoint amplified several new perspectives: teacher education, consistency across schools, human connection with students, preparing students for lifelong skills, helping with teacher and student burnout, etc. I left the meeting with lots of exciting new ideas. Diversity in data sets does not help just machine learning, it is important for human learning too!
10. Stepping outside my comfort zone can be scary, but also rewarding
It was quite intimidating to be the only high schooler in an event with some incredibly distinguished attendees. For example, my co-panelists were a CS teacher from a Palo Alto high school, a PhD candidate at Stanford, a VP from Common Sense media, and a STEM advisor to the district. But venturing outside my comfort zone proved to be incredibly fulfilling. I had the chance to meet new people, participate in insightful discussions, and provide a student’s perspective in an adult-centric conference. Interacting with amazing panelists who shared innovative ideas expanded my thinking in ways I hadn’t explored before. The respect and gratitude I received for my opinion made me feel valued and important. The passion evident in everyone to help students and foster change within the education community left a lasting impression.
In closing, thanks to Christian and Justin for organizing the event, and inviting me to be a panelist. This summit was truly fantastic, offering immense learning and some great insights. I hope this blog serves as a helpful resource and helps continue the conversations. We have some very exciting opportunities ahead, and I am eager to witness the future changes in the education system with the integration of AI.
