Think about the generation of teachers in the mid-80’s tasked with figuring out how to use desktops in their teaching, grading, and lesson planning. Smooth integration of these new devices into classrooms happened when schools and districts properly prepared their educators with professional development. The same goes for AI.
Administrators always encourage their staff to innovate and incorporate new best practices. With that expectation should come targeted, purposeful support – like what we’re seeing in Prince George’s County Schools (MD), Indian Hill Exempted School District (OH), and Epic Charter School (OK).
In an earlier interview, Superintendent Kirk Koennecke illustrates the efficiencies AI brings to teachers in Indian Hill Exempted School District, maximizing their ability to personalize learning for their students. “When a fourth-grade level team can get together and they don’t have to worry about collating all the data and researching – they can pull all the data and spend more time analyzing and synthesizing and coming up with action steps together – that’s when the power of this will be realized because all the time they saved not doing the other things can now be time to help children.”
But, he adds, educators need professional development to use AI effectively.
“More than ever, you can do a lot with AI. But someone needs to teach you and help you or guide you and coach you along the way,” says Koennecke.
That’s why in 2023, Prince George’s County Schools launched training sessions over the summer to prepare teachers for the ongoing tech implementation of AI they’d receive through the newly formed three-year agreement with nonprofit training partner The AI Education Project (aiEDU).
AT IHVSD, Innovation Coaches offer hands-on tips and training at come-as-you-are “lunch ‘n learns,” meeting teachers and staff wherever they are on their AI adoption journeys.
Similar to IHVSD, the AI instruction and support for teachers at Epic Charter School doesn’t come from the Technology Department but from instructional coaches.
The school, which serves about 27,000 students primarily online, provides teachers with regular training on AI (and other tech skills) in PLCs led throughout the year by Teacher Development Specialists – whose roles in Professional Development fall under Instructional Services instead of Human Resources or Ed Tech.
That in itself is unique and strategic, says Beth Wehling, Executive Director of Educational Technology. “The instructional coaches know what’s on the teacher’s plates. They know if they’re in a position to adopt (new tech).”
When introducing new tech to teachers with the expectation of adoption, Wehling says, “Don’t just top-down it, send it through your trainers. If you go in at the wrong time, (there may be resistance) and you don’t want it shut down.”
That’s why Epic Charter School is intentional about detailing its newest AI integrations with teachers in the upcoming annual in-person summer PLCs – when they can be deliberate and comprehensive.
In July, Wehling says teachers will learn how to provide relevant feedback and create assessments on the fly using the Performance Matters Assessment Tool – part of PowerSchool’s “Connected Intelligence” hub for teachers that Epic recently launched. Teachers will also continue to receive reporting “prompts” from their Teacher Development Specialists to practice utilizing TIVA – the interactive voice assistant that syncs with PowerSchool.
One of Epic Charter’s newest AI integrations, TIVA is to PowerSchool what Siri is to Apple, and allows teachers to “ask” PowerSchool to run reports with prompts such as “show my students who performed lower than benchmarks in winter,” which Wehling says democratizes the reporting process.
But like with any new AI integration or tech, teachers needed guidance on how to use it most effectively. So training teams have been providing teachers reporting questions for each season of the school year, prompting them with the right data queries to run timely, relevant reports while also getting them accustomed to TIVA.
On the horizon, the Epic Charter School is expanding TIVA to plug into the learning management system (LMS) the school uses for professional development. This way, Wehling says, teachers can ask questions about specific material within a course they’re taking – as if they were raising their hand in class – and get the resource they were looking for without having to go through the entire virtual course again to find it.
“We are building instructional efficiency AI supports,” says Wehling. “We’re working on trying to streamline.”
AI contributed to the graphic for this blog.
Molly is the liaison between education leaders and the agency, connecting the K-12 community with services designed to accelerate performance and market position. She leads content and partner engagement strategy and is a frequent conference presenter and podcast/blog guest. Molly likes to push it to the limit, and races competitively in Obstacle Course Races on the weekends.