{"id":15421,"date":"2023-11-13T01:56:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T01:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.edublink.co\/?p=15421"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:57:05","slug":"crafting-effective-learning-paths-at-curriculum-corner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/2023\/11\/13\/crafting-effective-learning-paths-at-curriculum-corner-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Training Options Open the Door to Purposeful Tech Integration in K\u201312 Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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t\u2019s been a summer of artificial intelligence for educational technology stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>

ISTELive 25<\/a>\u00a0showcased AI integration into a diverse lineup of products and featured speakers sharing practical advice for school districts. The White House developed\u00a0America\u2019s AI Action Plan<\/a>. And the American Federation of Teachers announced plans to\u00a0bring AI literacy to educators<\/a>\u00a0throughout the U.S. via a partnership with\u00a0Microsoft<\/a>, OpenAI, Anthropic and the United Federation of Teachers.<\/span><\/p>

As K\u201312 education institutions take the next steps in their AI policies and adoptions, these new resources will be vital guides. Training gives schools a good place to start. In addition to AFT\u2019s National Academy for AI Instruction, other organizations, such as\u00a0CoSN<\/a>, are supporting schools\u2019 journeys to AI clarity.<\/span><\/p><\/div>

Here\u2019s what K\u201312 leaders need to know as they start taking advantage of these resources.<\/span><\/p>

Schools Can Learn From the National Academy for AI Instruction<\/span><\/h2>

Through the National Academy for AI Instruction, AFT will train K\u201312 educators on AI tools to give them the necessary skills to\u00a0use this technology in their own work<\/a>. \u201cIf we can put the AI tools into the hands of teachers in the right way, in a responsible way, they can set all the digital debt aside and have more time to focus on their students,\u201d says Naria Santa Lucia, the general manager of\u00a0Microsoft Elevate<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

To do this, the academy is building modules and trainings for educators across the country. \u201cWe\u2019re developing a teacher fluency literacy track,\u00a0using the AI framework<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s being developed with the OECD and Code.org,\u201d Santa Lucia says.<\/span><\/p>

Although a framework is being created, the specifics of the National Academy for AI Instruction trainings are still in development. In the meantime, educators can explore Microsoft\u2019s free trainings on its teacher hub, as well as the\u00a0AI Skills Navigator<\/a>. Once the academy gets underway this fall, trainings will take place at the AFT headquarters in Manhattan, with plans to expand to the organization\u2019s physical locations across the country.<\/span><\/p>

Santa Lucia indicates that the format will likely continue to shift as time goes on, making it even more inclusive. \u201cWe\u2019ll have the brick-and-mortar as an anchor, but we\u2019ll continue other efforts like this in different regions and online,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>

Giving more teachers these skills will help to close the growing\u00a0digital equity gap<\/a>\u00a0that AI is creating. Specifically, working with AFT will allow the organizations in the partnership to reach more teachers, even those hesitant about the technology or those in\u00a0remote parts of the country<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cEvery teacher is at the table, so we\u2019ll be able to build on the trust that AFT already has with their teachers,\u201d Santa Lucia says. \u201cWith this technology, there\u2019s already a connectivity gap. There\u2019s already a digital gap, but we know that the tool is so powerful and can\u00a0unlock opportunities for everyone<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u201cAI will be another issue of the haves and the have-nots, which our field struggles with mightily,\u201d says Luke Forshaw, the director of professional development services at\u00a0Cooperative Educational Services<\/a>\u00a0in Connecticut. \u201cThat goes all the way up and down the system, from resourcing local districts to teacher professional learning, and\u00a0the impact that that has on communities and kids<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

CoSN\u2019s AI Initiative Helps Schools Build a Foundation<\/span><\/h2>

Other organizations, meanwhile, are building their own pathways to bring AI to K\u201312 education. In some cases, these foundations will allow the AFT\u2019s training to be even more impactful.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cOnce those teachers go to an AFT-sponsored AI training and get all that good stuff, they\u2019re going to go back to a real school in a real district,\u201d says Forshaw, who is also a lead trainer for CoSN\u2019s\u00a0Building Capacity for Generative AI in K\u201312 Education<\/a>\u00a0project. \u201cI want to make sure that there are lots of pathways for teachers get what they need, and that there are lots of pathways for administrators and communities to build the necessary infrastructure to have equitable access for teachers and kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

In this way, CoSN\u2019s initiative complements the National Academy for AI Instruction. While the latter is focused on nurturing AI skills in educators, CoSN is trying to bring about a mindset shift in K\u201312 education.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIn education, we tend to jump on the tools. Teachers are very excited about the tools. This is a much bigger process than that,\u201d says Sherri Kulpa, chief academic officer at\u00a0EducationPlus<\/a>\u00a0in Missouri and a lead trainer in CoSN\u2019s AI initiative. \u201cIt\u2019s about thinking beyond just your next lesson plan or your next school year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s more about\u00a0strategic planning with all members of a district leadership team<\/a>, from your operational leads to your superintendent to teaching and learning officers, so that the system is very thoughtful about the steps it needs to take, and then establishing and maintaining a process to make progress over time,\u201d Forshaw explains.<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\"Naria<\/span><\/div>

If we can put the AI tools into the hands of teachers in the right way, in a responsible way, they can set all the digital debt aside and have more time to focus on their students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Naria Santa Lucia\u00a0General Manager, Microsoft Elevate<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>

The Building Capacity for Generative AI in K\u201312 Education project examines\u00a0a K\u201312 organization\u2019s AI maturity levels<\/a>. To do this, the organization worked with the Council of the Great City Schools to build a tool that breaks down elements of a district into different domains and subdomains, says Pete Just, CoSN AI project director.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe training is centered on helping school districts\u00a0onboard generative artificial intelligence<\/a>, then having a way to measure the effectiveness of their adoption in seven different domains: the executive leadership domain, operational domain, data domain, technical domain, security domain, legal and risk domain, and academic domain,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThis work isn\u2019t about a one-and-done, \u2018I went to the PD and I learned about AI,\u2019\u201d Forshaw emphasizes. \u201cThis is a sustained, prolonged effort to help districts comprehensively consider what they need to do benchmark against their current practice and think about how they\u2019re going to track growth and progress over time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

What Does the Future Hold for AI in Education?<\/span><\/h2>

The partnership supporting the National Academy for AI Instruction is slated to last through 2030. As for where the program is going after its planned five-year run, \u201cWe\u2019ve been partnering with AFT for a long time, and my guess is it will continue to evolve and iterate, as with all of our partners in the educational technology space,\u201d Santa Lucia says.<\/span><\/p>

Iterations and evolutions will continue to be important\u00a0as AI proves its power<\/a>\u00a0as a force multiplier in K\u201312 education.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re in tsunami territory here. It\u2019s coming at us. We\u2019re all learning. We\u2019re all trying to be engaged,\u201d Forshaw says. \u201cHow does that tsunami of AI accelerate some of the indicators that we\u2019ve already had on the docket or eliminate them?\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThis is going to fundamentally change education, and that\u2019s going beyond the tool,\u201d Kulpa adds.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Partnerships are allowing organizations to train teachers and school leadership on artificial intelligence possibilities in education.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-15421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-tech","tag-higher-study"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Picture2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15421"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23525,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421\/revisions\/23525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dakanvics.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}