Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / Professional Learning in an Age of AI | An Integrate This! Conversation

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Professional Learning in an Age of AI | An Integrate This! Conversation · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

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Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to EdTech
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podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
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Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
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as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
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technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
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conversations with today's top EdTech voices,
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we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
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and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
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and let's integrate this. Welcome to the Integrate
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This EdTech podcast. I'm Jeremy Mikla, joined
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by co -host David Berner. If you happen to be
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watching this on YouTube, you'll notice that
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it's just the two of us today. We don't have
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another guest that's going to be joining us,
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but partly because, you know, David and I feel
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like sometimes we have things that we want to
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share and we have things that we want to talk
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about. And sometimes when you bring in that guest,
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which is don't get me wrong, always valuable.
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It's nice to just have that dialogue back and
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forth between the two of us about topics that
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we're kind of concerned about or issues that
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we want to bring up or just even the things that
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we're doing, right? And, you know, David and
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I do a lot of different sessions where we're
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with groups of teachers or groups of school leaders
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and, you know, it oftentimes comes around to
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with AI you know, how are we getting AI into
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the hands of teachers in ways that is going to
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improve their instruction or ways that is going
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to accelerate student learning, things that we,
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you know, are all concerned about as educators.
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And so today's episode is really kind of around
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this idea of what is professional learning like
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in an age of AI. And so I think, David, why don't
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you tell us a little bit about maybe some of
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the things that you've been doing lately or how
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you're trying to go about introducing and broaching
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that topic to teachers? Yeah, I think one of
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the main things that I've been doing a lot lately,
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and I got this idea from another colleague, Mike
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Cray. There's this concept of liberating structures
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that I've, and there's a bunch of them, but I
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just employed one into my session to really start
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to drive conversation. I think one of the biggest
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challenges, no matter when you're doing some
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big trainings is, and basically all of mine have
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been on AI over the last couple of years. The
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biggest thing is you have a lot of folks Either
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coming to a conference and they're they're together
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and they work at different districts And so they
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could find value in conversating with each other
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At the beginning and kind of see what they're
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doing and the same would apply for even within
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a school district, too I think that it's easy
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to assume that just because someone is at the
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same district as someone else there they're in
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touch or whatever, but I think that silos are
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real and we get into those pretty easily and
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then you don't really have tons of opportunity
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to share what you're doing. So one of the things
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I've been trying to do more of just to try to
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make my trainings better is kind of this idea
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of, I believe it's like, I think it's technically
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four, three, two, one. You can kind of modify
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that a little bit. So typically what I do is
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I'll have where two people near each other will
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just share. I'll give him a question. To consider
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like how is your district approaching AI? Let's
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say and or what is your concerns around AI at
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your district, right? And the two would talk
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and then you would have those two discussed for
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about a minute and move into more of a kind of
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like roundtable. So discuss with two other people
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near you. What is it that you were talking about?
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What common themes did you find and then? Eventually
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you get to where you're sharing out as the large
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group and I do find that this helps Quite a bit
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with rather than if I just start from the beginning
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and I and I'm up there at the front and I say,
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okay What's going on with your districts around
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AI, right? Nobody says anything and so that's
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where I really like this type of thing because
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They've had an opportunity to think about it
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for a bit talk to somebody else, talk to a smaller
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group, and then get that out to the larger group.
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And it's helped with providing some insights
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to the whole group. And then I can kind of work
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off those and see if anybody else has similar
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things going on across the room or whatever.
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But that's one thing that I've done a lot lately,
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and it's been very helpful. But what about you?
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Yeah, and I can definitely see where, you know,
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I think both you and I have talked enough that
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we know that that I don't know. I think of it
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as a traditional sit and get model. But, you
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know, and I don't know if that ever really was
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effective at any point, but it certainly isn't
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in, at least in the trainings that we do, you
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know, like you've got to be able to allow people,
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I think, to be able to share where they are currently
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at, right? Like what, you know, we're all coming
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to the AI and the, you know, for all the great
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things that it could potentially do and all the
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risks that it potentially could bring, that it's
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important to be able, I think, to have those
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conversations with other people about where they're
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at and just recognizing that all viewpoints matter,
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even if they disagree with, you know, how you
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think it should be used. And that it's just important
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to respect not just the viewpoints that people
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have, but where are they in their journey of
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and I think you know one of the things that a
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lot and I usually put a slide to that effect
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in any sort of visuals that I bring in an AI
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presentation is because I really want people
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to know that that's where I'm coming from and
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I'm going to honor and value those and I think
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the you know it's a professional learning situation
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right so if if teachers aren't Feeling like they're
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getting something valuable from that that they
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can turn around and then use in the classroom
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Then I haven't really done my job So I would
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I try to take people from wherever they're at
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and just really try to build their capacity from
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there You know whether it's offering different
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pathways to you know, whatever steps it is that
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they're trying to achieve whether it is allowing
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them time to interact with different tools or
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if it's you know sharing out in the like similar
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method to what you said and I think that's I
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think that's kind of you know important to recognize
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in presentations especially when it comes to
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AI. Yeah absolutely as you've been going around
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and working with people and Doing these presentations
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on AI. What do we feel? What do you feel like
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educators are asking a lot about? I Here's one
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that it it came up just this week. I was with
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a group of educators middle school teachers and
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I could tell that there was a lot of anxiety
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that was in the room and it really came down
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to Some teachers that were very much opposed
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to any sort of use of AI. They wanted to block
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it all. And I've seen that in other places, too,
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that they just feel like if they can't have some
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control over it, then we should just not allow
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access to it at all. And so, you know, that's
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that I think is a recurring thing that I've heard.
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And I don't know, maybe that's not even a question
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that they have, but it's definitely a concern
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that they have, you know, and. Definitely, there's
8:24
some others. I'm sure you would probably agree,
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too. The elephant in the room is academic integrity
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and cheating. You know, how do you go about preventing
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students from using AI inappropriately? I think,
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you know, that's probably the biggest one that
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I hear from. But, you know, how about you? What
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are some of the other things that you hear? I
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would say that mainly a lot of the teachers are
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just looking for how is this going to help me
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in my teaching? Like how is this going to be
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something that I can apply that's going to help
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me in practical ways to enhance learning in their
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classroom? And then I think one thing too, just
9:08
being in the space that we've been in with the
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whole AI guidance conversation, everybody I think
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is trying to figure out what is acceptable at
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their district. And so one thing that can be
9:22
kind of difficult is what you know from say my
9:25
role is you have to go and yours too. I mean
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you go into a place you go into a school and
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you're there for a limited amount of time. And
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if there's if there's really no direction as
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far as like as far as like policy or guidelines
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go. It can be hard for teachers to know what's
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acceptable. And I'm not saying like you know
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everybody has to have a policy or have guidelines,
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but the one thing that I think. we both have
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agreed on in the past is like, just start talking
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about it at your district, right? Make sure like
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a bunch of people are at the table and talk about
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how it impacts you, how it impacts students,
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how it impacts the district as a whole, right?
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Like positive and negative. I think that's a
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lot of stuff that keeps coming up too is how
10:12
should we be using it and how should students
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be using it? What should students learn about
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AI? I would say those are the ones that come
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up quite a bit. So yeah, yeah, I agree. I think
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there's definitely those practical ways that
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teachers want to be able to use the tools themselves,
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but they are still concerned that if I give this
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to students that they're going to use it either
10:39
to cheat or they're going to use it in inappropriate
10:42
ways. And so I think I think too that you know.
10:47
Teachers are looking for administrators that
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are going to support them in whatever their decisions
10:53
are in their classroom when it comes to student
10:56
use You know and as long as it's you know grounded
11:00
within policies established by the school And
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they want to know that they'll feel supportive
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that if there is and I'm sure there there always
11:08
will be inappropriate uses of students of the
11:13
technology, but you know that There's a plan
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in place from the administration to be able to
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provide those consequences to students without
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taking away the opportunities for students to
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be able to learn. Yeah, I would say too like
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one other thing is just the. There there is.
11:35
It can be difficult to know what tools to use.
11:40
Educators really aren't sure like what tools
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should they use or. Yeah, what's going to fit
11:48
best for what they're trying to do? I know we've
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talked about in the past is like our the concept
11:54
of just like learning foundational things like
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safe, ethical and effective use. And things that
12:00
can be applied regardless of the tool that you
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use. And I think. And it is overwhelming. I mean,
12:09
there is there is a lot of tools and the tools
12:12
do add features pretty constantly as we've seen.
12:17
But I would say just getting some exposure to
12:22
one and staying up with that would probably be
12:24
a good start. You don't want to be necessarily
12:28
jumping all over the place. And actually, too,
12:32
you might be limited anyway just based on your
12:35
school. So for a lot of schools, honestly, it
12:39
makes sense for them to utilize Gemini because
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they're already Google schools. That's something
12:44
that... I've talked about with some districts
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too is You might have someone knocking up on
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the door constantly like let's buy magic school
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or let's buy school AI and it's like well Those
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are great tools, but also is it gonna be the
12:58
best fit for your district? You know where they're
13:00
currently at I don't know. I think that's important
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to talk about too, but You know, I think you
13:07
and I definitely have ideas about how to approach
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some of those questions, right? but We're also
13:14
fortunate enough that we've been able to have
13:16
some conversations I think with some pretty influential
13:19
people in the space of educational use of AI
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Are there any you know sort of statements any
13:26
sort of? Tips that some of the the people that
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we've had an opportunity to chat with have provided
13:32
that you think offer insights into How to address
13:35
any or all of these questions? Yeah, yeah, I
13:39
mean I think like you know that like Amanda Bickerstaff,
13:44
obviously we had the opportunity to, our first
13:47
exposure to Amanda was probably more through
13:49
the, what was it? Like the went to a city thing.
13:54
It was, it was a canvas caravan, I think is what
13:57
it was. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And, and she
13:59
did like an hour and a half, I think it was keynote
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and took us through some things. But one of the,
14:05
one of the things that she really emphasizes
14:07
that I think is extremely important is AI literacy.
14:10
It's not optional. It's something that we need
14:14
both. Well, there's a there's a large emphasis
14:17
on students and how how to use them, how to use
14:20
AI tools responsibly, right? But as we've seen
14:23
and we know. It can be really difficult to do
14:28
that if you haven't even set the stage for your
14:30
teachers to know how to use it responsibly. And
14:35
so I would say like her advocating for a literacy.
14:40
uh is a huge thing and it's something that like
14:43
I've latched onto a lot and you and I have had
14:45
discussions about previously or and and we had
14:48
a deep discussion with her about the importance
14:50
of AI literacy and some of the work they're doing
14:52
and I think it's pretty clear like if you look
14:55
around at some of the really the um the big organizations
15:00
that are doing work they understand this concept
15:03
I mean they understand that it a literacy and
15:07
learning about AI and how to use AI is going
15:10
to be the most important thing for students moving
15:12
forward. And and so you and I and obviously to
15:17
like we can't talk about every single person,
15:20
but this would this would connect to even like
15:22
the work that Jeff Riley is doing right day of
15:25
AI stuff like that's that's another one where
15:27
these some of these folks in these organizations
15:31
really understand. the importance of literacy
15:34
and building out. Courses or structures for that,
15:38
and I think that's huge. How about you? Yeah,
15:42
and I think you know that focus on AI literacy
15:45
in the training necessary for both students to
15:49
learn it, but teachers also have to feel like
15:51
they're competent enough to be able to talk about.
15:54
those issues and have those conversations with
15:56
students I think is definitely helpful too. I
16:01
remember the conversation that we had with Carl
16:04
Hooker and you know it and it gets in. I think
16:08
to a point where you know we've we've had these
16:11
conversations where we talk about. students wanting
16:14
to use AI just to push the easy button. Their
16:18
teacher assigns some work for them to do at home,
16:23
but the questions are such that the student could
16:25
easily just turn to AI to get the answers. And
16:27
if that's the type of thing that we're designing
16:31
for experiences for students, is that something
16:34
they can push the easy button for? Are we designing
16:37
the right learning experiences, right? And I
16:40
remember, you know, Carl saying, you know, the
16:43
goal should not be to try to stop students from
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using AI, but rather to kind of think about,
16:49
you know, more critically of ourselves, the types
16:53
of learning situations that we're developing
16:56
for our students. And are they? going to critically
17:00
challenge the students to think more meaningfully
17:02
or to think more critically along the way because
17:06
AI can also do that. AI can play that devil's
17:10
advocate for you or you could use AI as a Socratic
17:14
tutor if you prompted ahead of time to not just
17:17
give you answers but rather you know walk you
17:20
through how to solve a particular problem or
17:24
maybe to even help you develop a solution that
17:27
you would have to a problem you wouldn't have
17:29
to come up with on your own. And in that way,
17:32
not just think critically, but also think more
17:36
creatively. Yeah, I think so too. I think that
17:40
there's a lot of room here for teachers to be
17:45
explorative with how they design things. Like
17:48
one of the things that I've heard the most is
17:51
probably like, I have this assessment and students
17:55
are cheating on it. And it's like, well, you
17:59
can't really blame the student for the assignment
18:02
that you're giving and they're cheating on it.
18:04
It's like you actually have to, you're going
18:05
to have to redesign that assessment. You have
18:07
to come up with something that is going to be
18:10
a bit more AI resistant. And even, even if it
18:12
incorporates AI in, that's, that's great. Like
18:16
we've, we've heard this before too, right? Jeremy,
18:18
like where it's include a piece in there where
18:21
you're actually having students prompt and then
18:23
turn that in as part of part of their entire
18:25
assessment, almost like a portfolio of their
18:28
entire work for that assessment. Right. Um, and,
18:32
and listen, I like, I know that's not easy. It's
18:35
easy to say like, Oh, just redesigning assessment.
18:39
So it incorporates these things. I get that that's
18:41
not like an easy thing to do, but there at least
18:44
has to be some attempts to start to move in that
18:47
direction. Maybe just taking like one unit and
18:50
working on that for the time being and how that
18:53
might look. You know, one of the other quotes
18:56
that we were going to point out is just from
18:59
Alana Winnick and talking about we don't want
19:02
a teacher to feel like they're going to get in
19:05
trouble for trying something and failing. It's
19:09
like just learn from it, right? So say you want
19:12
to redesign that assessment to incorporate AI
19:14
and prompting and all that. Just try it, right?
19:17
It might not work out, and that's fine. And and
19:21
same would go for students do right give them
19:23
some room to try some of these things and I don't
19:27
know like you and I we do stuff all the time
19:30
and I feel like There's little failures in all
19:34
of them and we try to make things better as we
19:36
approach the decks training or something You
19:38
know, it's like nothing's perfect. I think just
19:41
giving it a try is what you really want to advocate
19:44
for right and you know, and what a great way
19:48
to show your students that as their teacher that
19:53
you also want to encourage them to be able to
19:56
take those risks to challenge the way that they
20:00
think about something and if they fail you know
20:02
they're failing forward right and you're there
20:04
and by you modeling that for students you show
20:08
how you're you know you're also going to be respectful
20:11
of them as they try to do the same thing. Yeah,
20:15
absolutely. It's it's new to all of us like there's
20:19
no way we're gonna all know exactly how to do
20:21
it Right away, right? You have to kind of figure
20:24
it out and right I think that's okay You know
20:27
one of the common things that I think I as I
20:30
look back on a lot of the conversations that
20:32
we've had with AI And I don't think it matters
20:36
who the guest was because I think for all of
20:39
them It came back to this idea of if we're not
20:44
using AI in ways that is going to center the
20:49
human experience that's going to advance the
20:51
human experience that we might be missing the
20:54
boat on something too. So I think that's another
20:57
big. thing that I've taken away from the conversations
21:00
that we have. I'm not going to pinpoint one person
21:02
or another that talked about it, but one of the
21:05
strategies that I've liked to share recently
21:08
in trainings that I have done, too, is, is this
21:12
idea of HAIH that you start with a human problem,
21:18
a human you know question then you know when
21:22
you've taken it to that certain point where you
21:25
need some feedback on that and you know maybe
21:28
there's not the best human available you know
21:31
isn't near you but turn to AI to get some feedback
21:35
right and then you know whatever the AI produces
21:39
for you then rework it and make it your own again
21:42
because you have to put your own interpretation
21:45
you have to decide how that's going to work for
21:48
you. And so I think about it, you know, like
21:51
you talked about, you know, maybe a good thing
21:54
that teachers could do as they try to fail forward
21:56
or to take a risk is, you know, to think of a
21:59
lesson or to think of that unit that they need
22:02
to rework a little bit, right? So they know they've
22:05
done that lesson before. They've come at it from
22:07
an approach like, yeah, this is OK, but I know
22:10
it could be better. So they're already thinking
22:13
about what that issue, that problem is that they
22:16
have. they take that and they work on a prompt
22:19
with AI to help maybe come up with some different
22:22
solutions. We've talked about SAMR before as
22:28
perhaps one model that can help to transform
22:31
a lesson in conversations that we've had with
22:34
Becky Kean and Ruben Putedura as one of those
22:39
types of things. actually asking AI to help you
22:42
develop some alternative strategies, right? But
22:45
then again, after you have the AI develop some
22:49
of those things for you, you need to put your
22:51
human lens back in and you need to look at it
22:54
because you know your students, you understand
22:57
how they're best to learn, that you need to take
23:01
what is suggested and rework it to get it to
23:04
fit your own situation. Yeah, and I think people
23:08
will do that it's like yeah one line that one
23:12
line that I always use like during my trainings
23:14
when we do a lot of hands -on time right and
23:17
one of the things is when you're doing that that
23:20
last H part the refined part and iterate like
23:23
the thing that you always have to remind everyone
23:26
is You don't ever have to be satisfied with what
23:29
it gave you like you you get to say when it when
23:32
when it's done, right like And so you, you get
23:36
to insert yourself back in there and really come
23:39
out with a end product that you feel confident
23:41
in. Um, you know, and you don't have to just
23:46
put a one -liner in, get what, get the response
23:50
and go, okay, sounds good. I'll take that. And,
23:53
uh, um, and I'm off, right. Uh, kind of like,
23:56
you know, like when you Google, uh, when you
23:59
used to Google something and you, you know, we
24:01
wouldn't be satisfied with just taking the first
24:04
Result that popped in from your search inquiry.
24:08
So why would we be satisfied with the first return
24:10
to a prompt that AI is giving you? Yeah, yeah
24:14
and and And you do have to review it too because
24:18
it's obviously taking data from it's taking it
24:21
from multiple sources, right? It's not like you're
24:22
just going into like one link and then you review
24:25
it you it's pulling from multiple sources and
24:27
then you have to evaluate whether that's any
24:29
good or not and I think one thing obviously you
24:34
and I, we have with our time and working with
24:37
AI and having to know it well so that we can
24:42
train others on it. I think one of the advantages
24:44
we have is we get quite a bit of time with it.
24:47
So for, for me, like if I'm trying to work on
24:51
something, I really spend quite a bit of time
24:53
in one chat and just continue to like coax it
24:57
and stuff. And I do think that there are other
25:00
there are avenues for for those that don't have
25:02
as much time though. I think teachers oftentimes
25:05
we you know will reference like gems and gems
25:08
is something that they could utilize that is
25:12
more of a time saver because it's already constructed
25:15
in a way that's reliable whereas like we might
25:18
spend more time in the open chat trying to get
25:21
things built or whatever you know spending a
25:24
lot of time in there so I do I do understand
25:26
that like some people don't have that same amount
25:29
of time, but. So when you're when you're doing
25:32
trainings, you know, like what do you think is
25:34
really working that drives that point home to
25:37
it? Like you like you just mentioned gems, right?
25:40
You know, and you know, if you want to learn
25:43
more about gems, you know, David and I have tutorials
25:46
on that and you should go check those out. But
25:49
what I really like about gems is, you know, like
25:52
you said, it's a quick win. You know it is something
25:56
that a teacher if you help them develop a gem
25:58
that they can constantly go back to and they
26:02
feel like Boy, they've really now have a tool
26:07
that they can use that really can consistently
26:10
help them You know along that same issue over
26:14
and over and over again so that they think they
26:16
take a lot of value in that Yeah, like yeah,
26:20
are there the other things that you think is
26:22
really really working in trainings that you've
26:25
shared Yeah, as of right now I mean having having
26:29
open conversations at the beginning kind of gauge
26:32
where everybody's at and I mentioned that at
26:34
the beginning and just talking with people in
26:37
the room even if they're at your same district,
26:40
that's hugely important and can provide opportunities
26:44
to for other people uh speak up and go oh yeah
26:47
i've tried this thing or you know i've actually
26:50
played around with this a little bit and um maybe
26:52
that becomes someone that is a reliable go -to
26:56
for some people at the district because and so
26:59
i think like the conversations are huge and then
27:01
um given the time that teachers have with the
27:06
different professional development which is i
27:08
mean it's very little so the biggest thing for
27:10
me is to show an idea um To give like some direction
27:17
on the idea and then have something built for
27:20
them so that they can try it. They really need
27:23
the hands on time like it's extremely important
27:25
because if we're just like talking about the
27:28
concepts for an hour and a half and then they
27:31
get a little bit of time. We were both teachers.
27:34
We know like you're going to leave the PD and
27:37
then you're going to go back to the things that
27:39
you have to do for that day and the next day
27:41
and that week and you know I mean like. Not to
27:44
say that there there's windows in there too that
27:47
you could probably try some things out, but hands
27:49
on time, in my opinion, is one of the most priceless
27:51
things for teachers during an AI session or any
27:55
session, but an AI session for sure. Yeah, and
27:58
I think along with that sometimes when when people
28:00
do hands on stuff, you know you gotta gotta understand
28:03
the people in the room a little bit, or you know,
28:05
at least. And if you don't understand the people
28:08
in the room, cause you walk in and it's all new
28:10
people. Give them multiple avenues to be able
28:13
to try something, you know If they feel comfortable
28:16
after you've you know, explain something and
28:18
then they're trying that hands -on piece But
28:21
you know what they would rather, you know turn
28:23
in and work with the person next to them because
28:25
they're a colleague and they you know Maybe they
28:27
teach the same content or grade level is allow
28:31
for some of that co -exploration to take place
28:33
too, right? And to be able to as they're as they're
28:38
exploring they're also sharing You know, and
28:41
that's just really, I think, gonna not just drive
28:45
home the, you know, how to use the tool, but
28:49
also to know that they're gonna have a support
28:52
person. You know, if that is that colleague that's
28:55
gonna be able to, you know, work with them well
28:58
beyond that time that you're with them. Yeah,
29:02
I would say too, I don't know if you've done
29:04
this, but one of the things I did early on that
29:06
was like, That was difficult for me is if when
29:10
I was doing this show portion I I would always
29:14
kind of default to like social studies examples
29:17
at the upper level because that's what I taught
29:19
and they do time is limited so you're trying
29:21
to just show an example, right and one of the
29:24
things that I would always just naturally default
29:27
to is a social studies example and so one of
29:30
the things that I've been trying to do over the
29:34
for a while now, but like having when you build
29:38
out like a prompt, or you build out a gem or
29:40
something like that, have them for the different
29:43
levels to like elementary teachers. This is the
29:46
most difficult thing for me because I'm like
29:48
showing examples. And while it might be a fine
29:51
example, I think it resonates more if you have
29:55
like one specifically for that content area or
29:58
that grade level group. Yeah, right. I mean,
30:00
I don't know what you think. But that's that
30:02
was one of my pitfalls. Like I just kept doing
30:04
that where it was like So I've been trying to
30:06
move away from that. I'm challenging myself to
30:08
reach outside of that comfort zone too of rather
30:11
just default to social studies because I know
30:13
it. Yeah. And secondary in particular. So that
30:17
when I went to this school earlier this week,
30:21
and I wanted to demonstrate a gem. So I actually
30:24
made a gem for music teachers, band and choir
30:28
teachers. Yeah. And so they were the example
30:31
that I showed. And I asked before I did it, you
30:34
know raise your hand if you're a music teacher
30:36
and two people raise their hand and I'm like
30:39
you never get examples for your content area
30:41
do you and they were like shaking their heads
30:43
no so then I said well this one's for you you
30:46
know and I went and showed it and I think whether
30:48
or not they're going to use that example or not
30:50
you know like they were just honored that I recognized
30:53
them you know Yeah, well, it's good. Like one
30:56
of the things if you and I were in a socialist,
30:58
if we were in a training just together, just
31:00
the two of us, we could do social studies examples
31:02
all day. But yeah, but what we you know, the
31:05
biggest thing is, I think so many times I've
31:10
heard that like the elementary teachers don't
31:13
feel like AI is really for them, right? And I
31:17
can understand that maybe more from the student
31:19
side, but from a teacher side and building curriculum
31:21
and creating things, it's totally for them. And
31:25
so that's why I've been trying to have more elementary
31:27
examples so that it makes sense for them. So
31:30
then they can go, oh, I could create using a
31:33
gem or I could create or do a prompt with something
31:36
that is specific to kindergarten. That's something
31:40
that I think is is really good to do, because
31:43
there is misconceptions out there, you know,
31:46
of I'm an elementary teacher, this doesn't apply
31:50
to me, right? Right. You know, one of the things
31:53
that we ask a lot of our guests about, especially
31:56
when it comes to AI, is where they see it going
31:58
in the next, you know, two, three, five years,
32:01
whatever it happens to be, like, I'm not going
32:03
to put you on the spot or anything to put your
32:06
tomorrow glasses on like Matt Miller might say,
32:08
but You know, I do want to think about though.
32:10
What's next when it comes to professional learning?
32:13
What do you see are things that? You know people
32:17
like you and I should be focusing on when we
32:19
lead trainings or what can teachers expect to
32:23
get out of trainings that they attend? It's a
32:28
good question. I don't really honestly know.
32:31
I think that well, we kind of know that agentic
32:35
AI right is going to become. more and more at
32:39
the forefront. And we may see like teachers just.
32:47
If they have the time, they could design. Chat
32:51
bots for helping them with stuff you know and
32:55
have a whole army of chat bots or like can all
32:58
talk to us. It's kind of like the matrix, right?
33:00
Like the the swarms. It's really hard for. I
33:04
don't know like where what that would look like.
33:07
necessarily, but I think it will change. I think
33:11
maybe what it is is it becomes more, it's just
33:15
more personalized and you can become, or like
33:18
you're in a session, but you can utilize chatbots
33:20
in such a way where the learning is extremely
33:23
personalized and focused on what you need the
33:25
most at that moment. I don't know. I don't think
33:30
that there's a real concrete answer. I'm sure
33:34
there's not just all predictions, you know, but
33:37
I think like person more personalized learning,
33:39
like that's a huge emphasis in AI is the ability
33:42
to personalize learning. And as we talked about
33:44
at the beginning, currently, you know, the only
33:48
time that they really get to personalize learning
33:50
is when we deliver the or when we get to the
33:52
hands on time, because then they can go, I want
33:55
to try this because I have I know that I want
33:58
to work on this unit, and I'm going to try this
34:00
gem because it's going to help that unit. And
34:02
maybe it's just more and more of that, and it's
34:04
becoming more personalized all the time. But
34:07
honestly, I don't know. Yeah, I like what you're
34:10
saying about the personalizing aspect of it is
34:14
because really, if you think back to one of the
34:17
things that we mentioned at the beginning here
34:18
today is that you want to be able to provide
34:22
an opportunity for all of your attendees to be
34:25
able to build capacity. From where they're at
34:28
to you know to learn something from that in and
34:31
you know If it if it is personalized in such
34:34
a way, then I think that's just gonna be more
34:36
relevant to that individual And so I think that's
34:40
that's a pretty big thing with it Yeah, you know
34:43
what? I think Jimmy is that the the common thing
34:46
is like we still have instances where it's one
34:48
size fits all right it's yeah to avoid that and
34:51
maybe that is the shift maybe like well part
34:53
of the shift where that's going to be something
34:56
that we can start to dwindle down a bit. And
34:58
it can be not just one size fits all type of
35:01
thing. Right. Especially in certain things I
35:04
get, I get, you know, like back to school workshops,
35:07
there sometimes needs to be one size fits all
35:09
because that message just needs to be relayed
35:12
to the staff at a particular meeting or, or a
35:16
particular training. So I just, but you know,
35:19
not definitely not all professional learning.
35:21
And I think professional learning about AI in
35:24
particular, I like I like your, you know, one
35:27
size fits all is not the best way to learn about
35:30
AI, for sure. Yeah, right. I think one thing
35:37
that I, you know, again, I can't predict the
35:40
future with any certainty either, but one of
35:43
the things that I think is going to start to
35:46
happen is as we do build enough capacity of teachers
35:50
and understanding AI literacy, how it works,
35:53
you know, using it in safe, ethical and effective
35:57
manners is that we're going to start to see AI
36:01
is not necessarily just a tool that you go and
36:04
you pull off of the shelf, but rather that AI
36:08
just becomes kind of that personal assistant
36:10
that, you know, you're going to go to over and
36:14
over again and develop. You know, I'm not I'm
36:19
not trying to personify and I just don't know
36:21
a better way to say it, but, you know, persistent
36:23
conversations with, you know, over time that
36:26
you're going to kind of use as a sounding board
36:29
to give you some feedback when you need immediate
36:31
feedback. Things that you just wouldn't use a
36:35
tool for, right, but you use that assistant to
36:39
help you with. And so that's one of the things
36:41
that I think we'll start to see some of our trainings
36:44
is working with teachers on how to develop an
36:48
assistant. Yeah, and I'd be really curious, too,
36:51
like what What I would be curious to see how
36:54
this happens is with the AI agent thing all of
36:58
the like the repetitive tasks. I would be curious
37:02
like what ones or how that's going to help. Tackle
37:06
those things in the background so then teachers
37:07
don't even have to think about him. How much
37:09
like brain space that freeze up and yeah. it's
37:13
kind of the promise right like give you more
37:15
time to work with students and be present as
37:18
opposed to like thinking about 10 ,000 different
37:20
things or 10 ,000 emails you have to respond
37:22
to right like um like the agents that take in
37:27
your inbox and then get you know make their responses
37:30
send their responses and then gives you a little
37:32
summary where you just read through it and go
37:34
okay check check check right it's good um i'll
37:37
be really curious to see how that all kind of
37:41
hands out Right. You know, and I think one other
37:45
thing here, I'm just going to add one more to
37:48
this is that, you know, I think professional
37:50
learning around AI needs to be continual. You
37:54
know, we've experienced how many different shifts
37:58
I think in generative AI in just the last three
38:01
years and the types of things that you're able
38:03
to accomplish using AI. And if teachers aren't
38:07
given the opportunity for continued learning,
38:11
They might get stuck. And so I think that's another
38:15
thing that I think I foresee needing to be very
38:18
valued and important moving forward. Yeah, absolutely.
38:24
Yeah, someone said this yesterday actually. We're
38:28
all continuously learning, right? Like there's
38:31
never a time where you're like, oh, I'm done.
38:34
And so I think we're just keeping that. that
38:38
mindset and allowing opportunities for us, for
38:41
all of us, is good. Yeah. So, you know, as we
38:46
are going forth here, you know, what sort of
38:50
professional learning opportunities are you looking
38:52
forward to? You know, I'm not trying to just
38:55
overlook the teachers. You know, what do instructional
38:59
coaches, what do tech integrationists have to
39:02
look forward to that that are coming up that
39:04
you think might be important for people to pay
39:06
attention to? Yeah, as far as event stuff goes,
39:12
I can just share here. One thing that we're really
39:16
excited about is our aid team is putting on our
39:22
second annual virtual symposium. So it doesn't
39:26
matter where you're from, you can access this
39:29
symposium. One of the things that's really cool
39:33
about it is we've been doing a book study on
39:36
AI Optimism, which was written by Becky Keene.
39:38
Becky Keene is our keynote speaker. And that
39:44
book covers AI and as it relates to the SAMR
39:48
model, which you've done some cool stuff with
39:50
too, with the GEM. And then Ruben Puentador will
39:55
actually be coming on after Becky, and he's the
39:58
creator of the SAMR model. that has been around
40:01
in EdTech for a long time now. And so having
40:04
the both of them kind of discussing their work
40:07
and the importance of how we tackle AI, what
40:11
it actually looks like when integrated into a
40:14
classroom at the different depths of the SAMR
40:17
level or the SAMR model, that's all great. And
40:21
then we'll have a full slate of sessions around
40:25
AI in various topics, prompting, how SAMR model
40:32
will have stuff with the large language models
40:37
and how they work, how to spot AI generated content,
40:40
programming with AI, all sorts of stuff throughout
40:44
the day. And probably the coolest part about
40:46
this is that if you sign up for the live event
40:48
and you can't make it, that's totally fine because
40:52
we'll have where we record everything put it
40:55
in our PD on demand course and all registrants
40:58
get put in the PD on demand course and you can
41:00
access it over the year for Anytime that you
41:04
have time to do so so you can always come back
41:06
and we are doing like multiple breakout sessions
41:09
this year per time slot So if you want to go
41:12
to one and then you want to watch the recording
41:14
of one later on you can definitely do that So
41:18
very cool stuff there, and we're pretty excited
41:20
about that And then as far as live events go,
41:24
we both have our summer events. I know you have
41:27
like ECMAC, right? And so I don't know if you
41:32
want to say anything there, but May 4th more
41:35
in Minnesota. There'll be more coming out about
41:37
that. OK, yeah, yeah, that's good enough for
41:41
now. Yep, yeah, so it's in. It's we do it together
41:46
kind of like. compliment each other you you guys
41:49
have like ECMAC we come up for that and and present
41:52
together and then Yep, we have edtech connect
41:54
just a couple days later and that's in Wilmer
41:56
So we'll have a couple live events too for people
41:59
to to check out. So Yeah, well, we'll definitely
42:03
make sure to link to eight symposium in the description
42:07
of the of the show But David, hey, this was a
42:11
lot of fun just to chat with you today for once
42:13
and you know Yeah, same good to hear your lovely
42:15
voice so much more Yeah, likewise. Thanks for
42:21
listening to Integrate This. Want to take your
42:24
learning further? Head over to our YouTube channel
42:26
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42:30
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42:44
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