With the proliferation, obsession, and dichotomous uses of ai in education, it is important to communicate with your students' families how, when, and why you use ai in your classroom.
Families trust teachers to provide their children with safe learning environments, and this includes introducing them to reliable technologies that enhance their school experiences. Many families may receive different opinions and hear stories in the media about the use of ai in education and society. Some of these could be pro-ai debates about increased teacher efficiency and personalized independent learning opportunities for your children, while others could be those detailing the spread of misinformation, the creation of deepfakes, or concerns about the traps.
Regardless of what families have heard about ai, it is imperative to explain its use in the classroom and start a dialogue that supports collaboration.
<h2 id="explaining-ai-xa0-provide-families-with-an-accessible-description-of-ai-xa0″>Explaining ai: Provide families with an accessible overview of ai
While ai has not been typical jargon within education, it is increasingly used synonymously with many technologies and is described in a variety of ways, sometimes in very technical ways. Generative ai, which powers companies like ChatGPTIt is different from traditional ai.
Explain to families in simple terms what ai is and is not. For example, you can share that ai technologies mimic human skills such as predicting, summarizing, and analyzing information. You can also explain that Generative ai builds on this and creates new information, content, images, etc.
Also, explain that ai is not a technological tool. For example, Gemini (formally Google Bard) is not itself a large language model that powers ai, but rather a chatbot that uses a generative ai system.
It may also be useful to highlight familiar technologies for personal and home use that have artificial intelligence systems such as Alexa, Siri or Waze, and that more tools like these will be common in the future.
<h2 id="connect-the-use-of-ai-to-learning-outcomes-xa0″>Connect the use of ai to learning outcomes
Any tool used in K-12 classrooms should help students achieve learning objectives and the same goes for ai.
If you believe in this model of technology use, explain to families how you are leveraging different ai technologies to support students' academic, behavioral, and/or social development. Doing this will demonstrate to families that they are not just using ai because it is trendy right now, but that their use is intentional and that what they have chosen benefits their children's learning outcomes.
You can also share that there are many. ai Pedagogies to Support Instruction, Engagement, and Assessment.
The ethical and responsible use of ai technologies should also be explained to families, and to do this you can rely on the policies of your school district or your school. Families should know that you are aware of how Certain ai technologies have the potential to harm students of color and female students.. Acknowledge these potential concerns and share how you will ensure they are aware of bias and that the ai tools you use in your classroom are not harmful to students.
Typically, there is a process to incorporate new technological tools into the classroom. Share this process with families and review your school district or school's policy on using ai for teaching and learning. Explain what aspects of an ai technology tool your background investigation system addresses. Point out the cost, access, ethics, biases, and other elements you consider before exposing your children to the tool. This could be included in your general usage on how plan to use ai in your lessonsand you will be able to connect the process with how its use improves learning outcomes.
While this advice is not exhaustive, it does provide a starting point to support ongoing discussions with families about using ai in the classroom. Families will also feel more connected to their children's learning and will be aware of how their children use ai when working on homework at home.
