🚌 Questions to ask your kid's teachers about AI this year

It’s that time of year: Back-to-school shopping, getting ready for new classes and teachers, and one new item for your family to-do list: Figuring out how AI figures into your kid’s education.

Here’s my first recommendation: Avoid the urge to yell at the top of your lungs:

“OMG everything in the world is changing and I have no idea what the future holds for me or my child, and how do you plan to solve this, starting with your AI policies for 5th grade?!”

As tempting as that may be, I’ve got a few more practical approaches to tuck into your back pocket for back-to-school night.

As we undergo a time of massive technological transformation–think industrial revolution on speed–it’s going to take a while for our existing systems to catch up, including our schools.

Ultimately, every school leader should be able to answer:

How is our school shifting its educational approach to prepare children for a future reshaped by AI?

But right now, districts, schools, and individual teachers are in wildly different places on their approaches to AI, which makes it tricky for parents to understand how their schools are using AI and whether their kids should (or should not) use it in their work.

So how can parents start to figure out what’s what? At the most basic level, begin by asking your teacher or principal this simple question:

Their answers might include things such as:

• AI-based tutoring, targeted to your child

• Using AI tools for research and learning

• Generating reports, podcasts, images, text with AI tools

• AI-based grading

• Teachers scanning for AI-produced work

• Schools using AI to analyze student data & progress

To go a level deeper, think back to a slightly earlier technology: The handy schoolhouse SLATE: Safety, (AI) Literacy, Acceptable Use, Teacher Use, and Equity/Bias.

Here’s a bit more texture about each of these five elements:

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What if I’m an educator or school admin?

First - I hope you had a restful summer because the impact of AI on your school is only going to keep accelerating. Getting down to business, here are some great tools that might help you navigate the rapidly-shifting landscape:

• National Guidance: Educators can find comprehensive national guidance here: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration. [Pro-tip: Download this US Department of Education resource while the department still exists]

• State-level resources: 30 US states have developed some form of AI guidance. Check out the list to see if your state is on the ball or stuck in the stone age.

• School-level resources: AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit - from Teach AI - includes customizable parent communications and sample AI policies.

• Student-level resources: Also from Teach AI, here’s a great starting point for a student AI permissible use agreement.

And as a bonus offering to anyone who made it to the end of this post, here are some great AI literacy resources that are ready to plug and play:

• AI EDU: “Everything you need to teach AI with ease”

• AI for Education: A 4-unit module on AI literacy basics

Let me know in the comments - what’d I miss? What else do parents and students need to know pronto? What AI guidance has your school provided that you love? Where is your school falling short? Does school even matter any more? (Mostly kidding here. Mostly.)