At one point or another, you may have heard of artificial intelligence, or AI. Over the past two years, the topic alone has been at the forefront of the national conversation, especially relating to its impact on schools. Just as the internet changed education in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, artificial intelligence is already proving to be the way of the future, and it is our job to be at the forefront, through education and training. While AI can never replace the true heart and creativity of our teachers and staff, we believe it’s yet another tool to improve our overall educational experience.
On Friday, October 11th, Bill Ferriter, Solution Tree Author and 29-year classroom teacher, lead a 90-minute discussion with the Maine-Endwell Central School District to kick off our Superintendent’s Conference Day. During the training, Ferriter showcased a number of ways AI can better help educators, from tailoring lessons to students’ strengths, to providing feedback on a child’s problem-solving process.
Ferriter opened the training showcasing a program known as Diffit for Teachers, an “instant learning resource for all.” In Diffit, teachers can enter a topic, article, or PDF into a search bar, then tailor it to lower reading levels, or even other languages. For example, if the article reads at a 5th grade level, but a specific student is reading at a 3rd grade level, Diffit can customize the text to meet their needs, replacing difficult words and phrases with easier-to-understand content that still conveys the same message.
But Diffit wasn’t the only tool introduced to teachers. Another AI program, ChatGPT, is also proving to be useful in education. For example, educators can ask ChatGPT to reimagine something like the Magna Carta to use language that better connects to the specific background or culture of the student. Schools can also use it to tailor lessons, problem-solve a student’s challenges, summarize books or even generate writing prompts. But the AI options are only growing.
Ideogram can generate a one-of-a-kind image relating to a specific lesson, TeachAI can allow kids to “interview” historical figures such as presidents, and Snorkl can analyze whether or not students are solving problems correctly. Lastly, MagicSchool AI is proving to be a “one-stop-shop” for all things artificial intelligence in education, with more than 3-million educators using the program.
We believe being at the forefront of this new technology will only enhance our ability and mission to provide a premier educational experience to each student. We thank Bill Ferriter for his knowledge and expertise, and look forward to finding even more ways to improve education across the board.