Part One: My Step-by-Step Guide for Addressing Ai in BC High Schools

This series of blog posts will act as a place to house my thinking around Ai and its place in our schools. Like most important issues in education, Ai is not black and white; it's utterly complicated, to say the least. Therefore, integrating Ai into our schools demands a methodical and careful approach and a comprehensive implementation plan.

I would never claim any of the ideas and strategies from this blog series to be my own invention. Rather, I've synthesized the thinking of experts into a strategy that satisfies both the considerations outlined in the BC Ministry of Education's guiding document on Ai and my own needs as a classroom teacher. I myself don't claim to be an expert on any of this; I'm just a classroom teacher who's always looking to help my students navigate this complicated world. I'll add links to the thinkers, documents, and articles which have evolved my thinking.

This first post will explain only the initial three steps of my implementation plan: discussing Ai's ethical considerations, demonstrating Ai's potential to reduce teacher work load, and introducing Ai's implications on Inclusive Education.

Step One: Facilitate Discussion 

I believe this step would best be conducted with an entire staff. Beforehand, I would empower my colleagues with passion and expertise for Ai by including them in preliminary conversations on the subject. Ai will be a divisive and and emotionally charged topic, as are most pressing issues in education. So, it's best to recruit your like-minded colleagues to facilitate these early conversations. Starting with small table conversations rather than a presentation style discussion may prove fruitful. 

Though such thinking may go against your long-term goals for school-wide Ai implementation, be prepared for many of your colleagues to support an outright prohibition on Ai technology in schools. Although I may disagree with that sentiment, I certainly understand it. Ai poses unprecedented risks for our society and has been a disruptive force in the education world. Check out Tristan Harris's videos on the subject for a terrifying introduction to Ai's social implications. 

With all of that in mind, look to start your staff discussion on more neutral ground, such as the ethics of Ai. Though not everyone will agree that Ai has a place in our schools, they will inevitably agree that the technology has ethical concerns that must be addressed. The Ministry's document on Ai identifies "Ethical Uses" as one of its key considerations for all levels of education to address. 

It's no secret that generative Ai can be abused by students looking to skirt an assignment. Most of us will remember the first time we encountered a student cheating with ChatGPT. Your initial pride probably transformed into abject horror, as you learned "their" writing's digital origin. The ethical concerns of Ai—beyond those specific to education— can be extended to almost every course taught, so everyone should have an access point to the discussion, from visual arts to environmental science and everything in between.

Start your discussion with a couple ethics-themed questions: What are people's most significant ethical concerns around Ai? What might ethical use of Ai look like in a classroom? Those questions are less likely to result in your colleagues feeling alienated or overwhelmed than those more forward: What's your favorite Ai tool? How do you plan to implement Ai? Make people feel heard rather than immediately diving into the deep end; otherwise, you'll lose folks before you even get started.

As the discussion of Ai's ethical considerations develops, segue into the insight that it's those very ethical concerns staff brought up, which make a staffwide or district-wide approach necessary. An unchecked and unregulated Ai should be more concerning for those most concerned about Ai, than an approach predicated on transparency, ethics, and pragmatism. The kind of approach I support.

Step Two: Emphasize Ai's implications on teacher workload.

Even those most disinterested in Ai may have their ears perk, when they hear Ai could have budgetary benefits and implications on teacher retention. I love BC's Revised Curriculum, but it's onerous on teachers, to put it lightly. Much of the heavy lifting in terms of resource and assessment development has been downloaded onto teachers, which piles work onto an already overworked profession. The BCTF's president Clint Johnson believes an "untenable workload situation" compels many early career teachers to leave the profession. Furthermore, those teachers sticking around in the profession are taking more sick days than ever before in some districts, which has exacerbated many school districts' existing budget woes. With those two realities in mind, reducing teacher workload should be a priority for all involved in BC's education system. 

Therefore, after engaging your teacher colleagues in conversation on Ai's ethical concerns, position Ai technology as a tool for reducing workload, if not a panacea for many workload issues altogether. New initiatives more often than not mean more work for teachers, so by immediately positioning Ai as an exception to the rule, you'll have a better chance at converting even the most skeptical. As my teaching colleague, Hannah Van Os, likes to put it: "Leveraging Ai allows me to free up more time for the thing that matters most: actually connecting with students." Who could say no to having more time and more energy to meet the learning needs of our students?

Engaging colleagues with a quick demo of a couple Ai technologies would go a long way to convincing them of its time saving capabilities. Show them how ChatGPT can create unit plans that are curriculum aligned faster than they can recite the alphabet. Show them how an app like Gamma can instantly transform any existing handout or text into a impactful PowerPoint presentation. Another colleague, Lindsay Anderson, has introduced me to Gamma and many other Ai apps and platforms. Many of your own colleagues will already be quietly exploring Ai's vast potential. Lean on their growing expertise and experience! Also, tell colleagues about ways you yourself have leveraged Ai in the past.

Step 3: Explain how Ai can be an effective tool for Inclusive Education

Next, I would present Ai as a tool for inclusive education; the technology can help us better meet the learning needs of all our students, including those with IEPs. For instance, ChatGPT or any other generative Ai worth its salt can adjust a text's reading level, condense a text, communicate a text's key insights in point form, and so on and so forth. Meanwhile, another free technology, Luvvoice, can transform any text into an audio file, so those students benefiting from audio texts can receive them quickly and efficiently. As classroom teachers, we are always looking for strategies to better support our most vulnerable learners. Maybe, just maybe, Ai can help us do just that.

Stay tuned for Part Two!