Educational, school and district leaders are scrambling to come up with policies and guidance regarding AI in schools. Students especially high school and college students are already using AI and there is no detection system available to adequately assess when AI has been used. Luckily there are a number of organizations working together to provide leadership and guidance. TeachAI has created an AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit that is the result of 60+ global organizations working together. It is designed to "help local, state, and national education systems worldwide develop guidance on the responsible use of AI, ensure compliance with relevant policies, and build the capacity of all stakeholders to understand AI and use AI effectively. " It provides a framework for implementing AI in an educational system and many resources for policymakers and educators to consider.
Code.org, ISTE, Khan Academy, and ETS have partnered together to create an AI 101 page to help educators think about how to use AI. There are a series of 30 minute videos that provide wonderful guidance in terms of thinking about using AI for teaching and learning and specific examples of teachers using generative AI to create content for their classrooms. This intro video below of Hadi Partovi of code.org and Sal Khan of Khan academy is a great place to start to think about all of the risks and benefits of AI in schools
In addition to the series of videos for educators, there are high quality videos explaining various topics related to AI and a growing collection of professionally designed curricula that students and teachers can access from Code.org. There is a link to ISTE's course for educators on generative AI and two AI tools specifically designed for students: ETS has developed a writing tutor for students and Khanmigo is Khan Academy's chatbot designed specifically for students.
The AI toolkit and AI 101 page offer thorough and well thought out ideas for implementing AI into school systems and both leave space for room to grow as the field of generative AI advances. image source: https://medium.com/the-ai-education-project/introducing-the-ai-education-project-3c1f1fc31fd2 As I continue my journey exploring AI and its implications for teaching and learning, I spent some time reviewing the curriculum available at The AI Education Project. Their site has free curriculum available for students and educators as well as information for advocates. They have partnered with some of the big tech companies including Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and GitHub and have a mission to create equitable learning experiences that teach foundational AI skills. There are high interest, flexible lessons and activities that range from 5 minute warm ups to a semester long Introductory course. The AI Education Project implements culturally relevant pedagogy and project-based learning as a foundation for their curriculum and the content choices reflect a broad range of topics that teachers of any subject matter can find relevant.
AI Snapshots offer 180 five minute warmups organized by the four core subject areas: English, Math, Science and Social Studies. Each warm-up starts with a slide that asks students a thought-provoking question or design challenge. Then there is a second slide titled: Things You May Have Considered. That helps students and teachers explore the topic more deeply. It's a great way to get students to begin to think about the complexities and impact of AI in various disciplines and aspects of our lives. There are also AI Challenges that students can work through on their own that challenge students in timely tasks such as proving they are smarter than ChatGPT and improving their TikTok algorithm. These are wonderfully engaging independent lessons for curious high schoolers to try. For Computer Science and Technology teachers who are interested in bringing AI into their curriculum, the AI Education Projects offers a Project Dashboard that provides project-based learning on a variety of topics related to AI. One of my favorite projects on the dashboard is The 29 A.Is of Washington D.C. where students follow the journey of individual citizens and see how their lives are impacted by AI. It is a memorable, equity-focused lesson that drives home the problem of bias inherent in AI systems. The Intro to AI course is an incredibly thoughtful and well-designed course that provides foundational skills in AI while having students create their own AI recommendation system using Hugging Face. The course includes lesson plans, a teacher's guide, a slide deck and a student workbook. While this course is recommended for 10 weeks, it could easily be built out to last an entire semester. This course is one of the best examples of culturally relevant pedagogy in the field of computer science that I have seen. It gets students to consider AI in ways that are based in the real world. It has them explore biases inherent in data and gives students ample choice to explore their own interests. Furthermore it provides teachers with explicit guidelines to teach the course in a way that makes it accessible to those who may feel a bit intimidated to teach a course in AI. Finally, the AI Education Project offers live professional development and toolkits for educators and advocates who are interested in getting AI implemented in their classrooms, schools, and districts. The AI Education Project is doing incredible work in the field of equity focused and civic-minded computer science education. I highly recommend it as a place to go to find curriculum and guidelines related to teaching AI. I recently completed the IBM Skillsbuild Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals program which is a 10 hour program designed to help you understand what AI is and how it is being used in a variety of industries. I thoroughly enjoyed this learning experience, not only because of the content, but it is an example of genuinely well-crafted instructional design as well. There are 6 course in the program along with two optional bonus courses. The lessons are easy to work through, engaging and broken up in a way that maximizes impact and interest. It would work well for high school students and educators to understand fundamental AI principles. IBM Skillsbuild also has content and courses specifically for high school students and educators related to AI, but I have yet to explore those. The first three course provided a clear explanation of AI, LLMs and machine and deep learning. These courses provided lots of engaging activities, thoughtful examples and reflection questions to help cement an understanding of concepts covered. One of my favorite courses in the series was Run AI Models with IBM Watson Studio. The course is a simulation using IBM Watson Studio and you get a chance to see how a financial business might run an AI model. It was fun to go through that process. I also enjoyed the AI Ethics course that involved scenario based learning to help you think through some of the ethics issues related to AI. Finally, the Your Future in AI course featured two videos of employee involved with AI, one of whom was an instructional designer for IBM. I am excited to do a new certification soon on Sustainability and Technology. I recommend the AI Foundations Course to anyone interested in getting a solid grasp of Artificial Intelligence.
Image Source: https://cs.illinois.edu/broadening-participation-computing/programs/ai4all AI4ALL is a nonprofit based out of Stanford University whose vision for AI focuses on building a pipeline for a diverse and inclusive workforce in AI, utilizing people with diverse backgrounds, voices and perspective to make better AI and making more tools for social good by redefining who can be a leader in AI. They have 3 programs: Changemakers in AI, AI4All Ignite, and their Open Learning curriculum. The AI4All Ignite internship program and Changemakers in AI are geared towards preparing undergraduate students from diverse communities for careers in AI. They provide mentors, support in technical interviews and internships as well as community support for students selected for the program. The Open Learning curriculum is foundational curriculum for high school students to help them learn about AI and how it works in various disciplines. They are focusing most of their energy on the college and career readiness programs, but their open learning curriculum is a solid starting place for any high school educator interested in getting their students started in AI regardless of subject area that is taught. The curriculum aligns to the following National Standards:
image source: https://AI-4-ALL.org There are lessons focused on explaining the more technical aspects of AI: "How Neural Networks Work", "How GANS Work", "How CNNs Work" and "How RNNs and Transformers Work". There are also lessons tied to specific topics and disciplines: "AI and Drawing", "AI and Facial Recognition" "AI and Deep Fakes: "AI and the Environment", "AI and Dance" and "AI Ethics". The lessons range from 1-10 hours long. Each lesson contains a detailed Teacher's Guide, Google Slide Deck, as well as a a study guide and google form for students to complete as they go through the lessons. The lessons are filled with experiential activities, explainer videos and discussion questions to allow students to grapple with the implications of how AI is changing our society. Each lesson also contains a spotlight on professionals from diverse communities who are involved in AI work related to the lesson. Most lessons have a project for students to complete once they have gone through the lesson. There is flexibility in how the lessons are taught and a thoughtful Online Strategy Guide and Discussion Strategy Guide provided in each lesson. They also recommend which subject areas each lesson can be taught in and provide relevant standards that are met with each lesson. It is a very thoughtfully crafted set of lessons on AI that intentionally provide detailed guidance so that those who might not otherwise feel comfortable teaching AI can quickly get a handle on AI topics to bring to their students.
image on freepik.com by vecstock I began learning about generative AI this past spring and since I was working with Rumie at the time I proposed making a microlearning course on generative AI. It was approved and I had a lot of fun creating the course which you can view here: Why is ChatGPT so popular? Learn about generative AI and how people use it. For an example of what generative AI is, I had ChatGPT create a poem about popsicles in the style of Jay-Z and then used Uberduck an audio AI program to generate an audio version of the poem in the voice of Jay-Z.
It has now been a year since ChatGPT came out and it is phenomenal to watch how generative AI is evolving and improving. I have been fascinated with its implications in the educational landscape. How will generative AI be used to personalize and differentiate learning? What policies will education systems come up with to use generative AI? How will assessments and learning experiences need to change now that students can easily access generative AI to create content? How do we amplify the benefits of AI while minimizing the risks in education? These questions have been forefront in my mind as I think about how to create Computer Science curriculum around AI. I watched a webinar this past summer entitled, Leveling up Digital Citizenship Skills with AI and it got me thinking about how we will have to teach students about AI in terms of responsible use and digital citizenship. The idea that students can get answers to homework or get ChatGPT to write an essay is understandably troubling for educators. The capabilities of generative AI are far more sophisticated than the era of being able to use google for an answer or essay and unfortunately for some adolescents the question is often not should I do it, but how do I not get caught at it. Teachers concern around this is absolutely legitimate. One worry I have is that it will make the work of teaching foundational skills like writing, math and even critical thinking increasingly challenging if educational systems don't get a handle on mitigating the risks with the easy access to ChatGPT by students. The way we need to engage and teach students is going to fundamentally change. The world of generative AI is truly going to demand we rethink education. The potential of AI to help not only students, but teachers do their work more efficiently is exciting and yet there is also so much to grapple with in regards to this innovation. I have also spent the last few weeks trying to really get a handle on the impacts of generative AI and how to best craft AI prompts and to really think about how it's potential for use in education. I found some really excellent free courses on Coursera through Vanderbilt University taught by Jules White as well as one by Google called "Introduction to Generative AI". The Google Course is a short 30 minute course that uses really clear graphics to highlight what is going on behind the scenes with generative AI. I completed two of White's courses called "Innovative Teaching with ChatGPT" and "Generative AI Primer". I highly recommend them for anyone interested in understanding how we need to think about using generative AI to amplify human creativity and problem-solving as well as how to engage ChatGPT through prompts to make the most out of it in teaching and other areas of our lives. I have also starting another course by White called "Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT" that I'm really excited about. The courses are lecture style, but White pulls up ChatGPT frequently and shows his process for writing prompts and how ChatGPT responds. One innovative feature of Coursera is that transcript notes can be found underneath the videos and you can highlight text to save as notes, but the really cool thing is that it not only saves the transcript notes, but also saves the video clip. I find it incredibly interesting and exciting to explore the challenges and innovations that generative AI brings to education. It has reinvigorated my passion for computer science education and digital citizenship and I hope I can find a role to be part of this reimagining. of the educational landscape.
Lately, I ‘ve realized that my biggest passion in education is curriculum development. It was always my favorite part of being a teacher- designing the lessons that I would teach to my students. After my first few years of teaching, I landed in a number of roles that truly gave me freedom in designing curriculum that was innovative, impactful and culturally relevant from designing an ELL curriculum and program for high school students to working on a design team to support teachers to build more engaging online courses, to creating a computer science course for girls. I recently applied for a position as a curriculum developer for Facing History & Ourselves. They are a phenomenal organization whose website is a treasure trove for educators interested in helping students become active, reflective citizens in the world.
Facing History & Ourselves has created the following framework, Pedagogical Triangle for Historical and Civic Understanding.
Source: https://www.facinghistory.org/
According to their website:
“We engage the mind, heart, and conscience of adolescents who are in the midst of determining who they are and how they interact with the world. We challenge our students to reflect on and analyze moral questions and dilemmas that arise during the study of history and literature. Our curriculum guides students as they explore human behavior, asking them to consider connections between their own actions and the actions of others. By examining the complexities of being human, we nurture caring and curious adolescents who grow into brave and engaged adults.” The Facing History & Ourselves scope and sequence known as the Facing History Journey starts by having students examine human behaviors, beliefs and attitudes in their own lives. Students are then presented with a historical case study or piece of literature to further explore the complexity of humanity that was dealt with in the beginning. Finally, students do creative or reflective work to explore the implications in our current society studied in the works they explored. I reviewed in depth two powerful curricular units that I found on the website: Power, Agency, and Voice and Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age. Power, Agency, and Voice is an ELA lesson that focuses on helping students explore what it means to have power and agency and then using your voice to exert that agency. It uses two powerful pieces of literature, a short story by Bethany Morrow called “As You Were” and a spoken word poem by Clint Smith titled, "The Danger of Silence" to contrast ways people use and don’t use their voice to exert power and agency. Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age explores the historical case study of the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager and the impact it had on the community in Ferguson, Missouri and the nation. Students begin by deciding on a contract for holding sensitive conversations then move into a discussion about identity and bias followed by an exploration of news reports, journalism and social media. For this unit Facing History recorded interviews with a number of journalists and media experts to help students understand their process and perspective. There are several things that are truly impressive about the units. They are broken down into smaller lessons that can be remixed to create additional lessons for other topics. They are student-centered and provide wonderful discussion questions, handouts and teaching strategies to help frame student discussions and keep students engaged. You can create an account on the website and then save lessons, texts, units and teaching strategies into collections for yourself. You can also download the units into Google Classroom and many of the texts are available in Spanish as well as English. Finally, there is a collection of professional development to support teachers in their journey to use this curriculum. I viewed a wonderful professional development webinar with Clint Smith, the poet, teacher and scholar of one of the lessons I reviewed. It was called, "Working for Justice, Equity and Civic Agency in Our Schools." He discussed the work needed to portray a complete history to young people and what that work looks like. I am excited to refer back to Facing History & Ourselves as a gold standard for how to develop rigorous, timely, engaging curriculum that helps students be conscientious and civic-minded as I look for opportunities to go back to work in this field. My hope is to develop relevant curriculum units that explore the intersection of computer science, digital civics and wellness, social justice and stories. I tried out LinkedIn premium for a month this summer and one of the most valuable benefits is having access to LinkedIn Learning. The first course I took was called, “Creating Inclusive Learning Experiences” by learning and development expert Naphtali Bryant. Bryant argues that making learning experiences inclusive is a powerful way to invite all members of an organization to the table and make it possible to create ownership and authenticity while building skills for those involved. He uses a framework called INCLUDE that provides a practical approach to identifying key features of inclusive learning. He starts by explaining how best to investigate the needs of learners by focusing on what he calls the 4Ps (patterns, problems, priorities, and pain points). This provides a terrific means for doing a needs analysis and truly reflect on the real reasons your learners need the training. He next focuses on what will nourish learners which involves finding the right mix of activities to keep learners engaged. Then, he reminds us of the power of collaboration and the value of working with multiple stakeholders whose expertise can provide the best possible experience for all learners. He then goes on to underline the value of listening to learners and getting to know them and centering learning around who they are. Uniting learners is at the heart of an inclusive design as Bryant reflects that it is about creating an environment where people can be their full self and feel a sense of belonging. The final two steps in the INCLUDE framework are discovery that emphasizes a learner-centered model and empowerment which refers to providing support to individuals along the way and providing participants with practical takeaways and resources to continue their learning after the training.
Bryant provides lots of practical activities for each part of the framework and it was truly an enlightening model to help make sure the learning experiences you design are inclusive.
Image Credit: https://yestem.org/tools/the-equity-compass/
One of the best professional development experiences I had this summer was taking part in an online course called, Equity in Informal STEM Learning: Using the Equity Compass created by University College London. The Equity Compass is powerful framework for assessing informal STEM learning such as after school clubs, summer camps and programs at museums.
I really appreciated the distinction they made between Equality described as “treating people in the same way, making sure people get the same opportunity” versus Equity described as “factoring in people’s different needs and assets, understanding that people might need different opportunities and support.” The Equity Compass focuses on four main parts: challenging the status quo, working with and valuing minoritized communities, embedding equity and extending equity. As participants of the course, we were introduced to each part of the framework and then presented with case studies to analyze that represented STEM Experiences that were lacking in terms of equity and diversity. We were also challenged to come up with solutions for each of the case studies to make them more equitable by applying our knowledge of each part of the framework. It was a well-designed course that really helped participants understand and apply practices to bringing more equity and diversity into informal STEM experiences. After taking the course, I reflected on the Equity Compass and the work Girls Who Code is doing with their Summer Immersion Program. I can proudly say that it is a powerful example of what informal STEM learning with a focus on equity and diversity looks like. It is truly an honor to be part of this work in getting more girls and students from marginalized communities involved in Computer Science in a way that values their experience. I recently completed a course on Adobe Captivate 2019 Fundamentals on Udemy. I also designed and created an elearning scenario-based training for parents called Screenwise Conversations. I really like Adobe Captivate even though Articulate Storyline is the most used software for elearning. If you are like and are used to the Adobe products and enjoy having a seamless workflow with those products. It's really advantage especially if you are a Mac user as I am and don't want to bog your computer down with a program like Parallels so that you can run PC only programs which unfortunately Articulate is. The two features that Adobe Captivate has that no other elearning software offers is responsive design with fluid boxes and also a really robust advanced actions feature that allows you to do really sophisticated interactions. I am still working on getting command of these features and chose to keep my elearning project simple. The course was great and creating my own elearning project while I took it really allowed me to hone and cement my skills with Adobe Captivate.
I finally read the book, Map It by Cathy Moore. It is on almost every influential instructional designer's recommended reading list and the only reason that I had not bought it earlier is that it is quite expensive. Now that I have read it, I will admit it was worth the money. It provides a pragmatic and thorough explanation of how to create an action map for training materials. As Cathy Moore states: "We're going to turn vague 'they should know this' training requests into projects that solve real, clearly defined performance problems. Our solutions will be targeted to specific groups in specific situations and provided when they are most needed. The solutions might not include conventional training at all." Moore asks that when we design learning experiences instead of asking "What do people need to know?", we should be asking "What do people need to do and why aren't they doing it?" Only then can we get at creating learning experiences that solve problems and are meaningful to people.
Moore walks us through really concrete examples as she shows how to create an action map and then prototype an activity. She is big on scenario-based storytelling as an engaging format for learning experiences. Below is an example she used with soldiers in Afghanistan to help them improve cross-cultural communication with Afghani tribes. She reveals the importance of showing not telling and engaging learners in scenarios that require them to consider situations that happen in the real world. She is also a big proponent of streams of activities that provide small increments of training over a longer period of time rather than a one-shot workshop. Her book validated much of what I have come to understand about effective learning experiences for audiences with diverse abilities. Her book provides a wonderful map of how to stay true to what learners need not what others think they should know. While I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning experience or instructional design, her website also provides a wealth of good information to get started with action mapping even if the book is not yet in your budget. Haji Kamal activity from Cathy Moore on Vimeo. |
AuthorYvonne Caples is a Learning Experience Designer who is passionate about making learning meaningful and engaging for all. Posts
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