Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Lydia Logan of IBM discusses how their leaders fellowship can help with AI readiness in school

Transcript

Lydia Logan of IBM discusses how their leaders fellowship can help with AI readiness in school · Cyrus Webb's tracks

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: For our radio audience tuning in in Mississippi, WYED 94.1
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: FM and WYEDonline.com, we're glad that you all can be
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: with us. Also, join us online worldwide via our podcast
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio and Amazon Music, as well as the Conversations
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Radio Network. We're glad you all could be with us
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: as well. This is part of our music and news
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: segment here, and today we're talking about AI in schools.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: As we guys know, as the school year has begun,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: AI is becoming a routine part of of K-12 teaching
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and learning, yet new research commissioned by IBM and conducted
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: by Morning Consult finds that the systems supporting responsible AI
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: use are still catching up, pointing to a gap between
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: how quickly AI is entering classrooms and how prepared schools
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: are to manage it. We're here to talk to us
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: more about the survey, as well as IBM's K-12 AI
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Leaders Fellowship We're excited to welcome Lydia Logan to our
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: broadcast today. Lydia is IBM's Vice President for Education and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Workforce Development. She's also going to share with you all
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: where you can go for more information. Lydia, thank you
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: again for stopping by. I really appreciate it.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Lydia, even here in the South, of course, more and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: more conversations are happening in the schools and even in
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the homes about AI use and what we need to know.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: IBM is launching the K-12 AI Leadership Fellowship. What can
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you tell us about it and how it's helping to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: navigate AI adoption?
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Well, we conducted this study with Morning Console and found
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: that 76% of middle school educators and 73% of high
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: school educators report AI as being used in their classrooms
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: at least weekly, yet only 20% of K-12 educators say
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: they've received extensive AI training. And so there's a big
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: gap there that needs to be addressed. And that was
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: really the impetus for our new fellowship. We realized there's
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: an opportunity to make.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Sure educators have what they need in order to do
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: their jobs well.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: And so we've put together a fellowship where participants have
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: access to AI learning and digital credentials from IBM, along.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: With expert facilitators.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: And capstone projects that they can use in real use
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: cases in their instructional everyday life.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Lydia, a lot of the conversation, unfortunately, that we're hearing
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: does not sound very positive when it comes to AI,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: but what are the biggest opportunities and risks schools face
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: as AI becomes a routine part of learning? Sure.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, educators are asked to do a
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: lot of things in their role. And the most important
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: thing that they can do is to facilitate the learning
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: process for students. And yet, a lot of the administrative
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: work that they need to do, like putting together lesson plans,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: they need that expertise of their own subject. But the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: time that it takes to put together a lesson plan
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: and that process can be greatly reduced and automated by
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: using technology and specifically AI to help them do that.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: And so if we can use AI, this is one
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: of the big opportunities to take.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Some of that administrative burden off of teachers and This
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: is still making sure that they're using their best thinking
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: and their understanding and expertise, but the things that they
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: do that are routine, we can automate that and save
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: them time that they can then redirect to working directly
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: with students or working on planning time with their peers.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: So we think that's one of the biggest opportunities. It
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: has the potential, the AI also has the potential to
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: make learning more accessible by helping educators personalize or tailor
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: instruction to different learning needs. And so we want schools
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: and communities, regardless of their resources, to have the opportunity
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: to benefit from these advances.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Lydia, I love the fact that you talk about that
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and the acknowledgement, because here in Mississippi, I get a
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: chance to work with some of the school systems, and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I know that teachers have a lot that they're already
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: seem to be dealing with, right? And there can be
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a sense of overwhelm there. So Being able to incorporate
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: something new can sometimes be a challenge. I want to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: ask you, though, about AI literacy. What does AI literacy
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: look like for today's educators? Why has it become an
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: essential skill for teachers and school leaders in school today?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: AI literacy is first understanding the technology.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: What is it? How is it developed? What it isn't?
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: What kinds of uses are appropriate for it?
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: And then AI fluency builds on that foundational knowledge and
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: and starts getting into hands-on learning. How do you take
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: it and apply it in context so that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: You're using it in your everyday life, in.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Your job, to either automate or accelerate or augment? These
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: are ways that the technology is used best, and that's
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: how we think about literacy and fluency. One is the
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: baseline knowledge about the technology, and the other is putting
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: it into practice.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Are you finding, Lydia, with this being said, that the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: parents are looking more to the schools for help when
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: it comes to better understanding how their child is kind
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: of interacting with AI?
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: We found that 77% of parents want input into how
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: AI is used in their child's classroom. yet only 20%
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: clearly understand the AI guidance their.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Child receives at school.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: And so this is an opportunity for schools and districts
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: to have policies that involve acceptable and safe use of
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: the technology and communicate that clearly to parents. What's also
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: interesting is that 59% of educators believe AI literacy should
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: be required or offered as an elective. So if you
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: think about What educators are seeing students need to be
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: prepared for college or work, they understand that using AI
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: and understanding how to use it safely is a skill
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: and knowledge base that students need. So based on the
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: survey results, we know we need to make sure educators
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: have the training they need and that we're bringing parents along.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: With this journey.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: It's important information, Lydia. I'm so glad we have you
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: here to kind of break down some of the components
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: of the survey, but also to talk about this relationship
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: with AI and the school system. Again, everyone, Lydia Logan
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: has been our guest. She's IBM's Vice President for Education
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and Workforce Development. She's been talking with us today today.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: not only about the K-12 AI Leaders Fellowship, but also
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the importance of the survey, what you need to know
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: about it, and, of course, the work that can be
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: helped to close that gap when it comes to not only,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: of course, the AI literacy, but also those who are
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: needing it. Lydia, where can our audience go for more information?
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: They can come to our IBM website.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: It's skillsbuild, S-K-I-L-L-F-B-U-I-L-D.org. And whether you're part of this fellowship,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: which will launch this fall in New York with around
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: 100 educators and administrators or not, you can take free
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: courses from IBM, all that are on the SkillsBuild website.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: We have learning for adults at all levels. So starting
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: out with the AI foundations and moving on to more
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: advanced content. They also come with an IBM digital credential.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: and opportunities to learn about the latest technology and what
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: it means for you, but also how to use it safely.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: So we want to make sure that transparency and acceptable
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: use and understanding what it means to you is how
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: we're helping to bring people along with this transition that's happening.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: So it's skillsbuild.org. We'll make sure that we link that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: up as well, Lydia, for our audience on the podcast
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: side as well. Lydia, thank you again for spending this
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: time with us. Really appreciate the information and looking forward
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to having you back on the program again.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'd love to come back.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate that. And we think your audience
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: are tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live. Again,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: part of our music and news segment here at Conversations Live.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Until next time, I'm your host, Cyrus Webb, saying, as always,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: enjoy your day, enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: you for being with us here at Conversations Live. And
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: let's go make today amazing.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Take care.