Professional development and protection of students and teachers are always the cornerstones of any technology introduced into a school, and ensuring these tools are implemented well can lead to a school district's technological success.
Callie Salaymeh, educational technology coach and biology teacher at Lyons Township High School and head of the Enlightened ai Community, discusses how her district implemented a successful professional development plan that integrates ai guidelines to help students navigate effective use of ai on a personal and professional level.
Salaymeh was recently recognized as Best Example of Professional Development in a tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit with a Innovative Leader Award.
Make professional development a team effort
technology is only as good as the hands that use it. For educational technology to be used correctly, proper instruction is key for teachers. Professional development in this area is essential in helping teachers introduce technology to their students.
Salaymeh presented his PD method that helps keep the district at the forefront of modern technology.
“We are five technology trainers for a staff of 280 teachers and about 500 teachers in total,” says Salaymeh. “We are a single school district divided into two campuses. So, as technology coaches, we participate in much of our district's professional development. We incorporate a lot of technology. We go out, we educate ourselves at conferences or on our own. We bring technology initiatives to our technology director. “We also provide support and training to our staff on how they can best implement technology into their curriculum.”
Salaymeh has always been very interested in cutting-edge technology.
“When generative ai hit the tech space, I was fascinated by it,” Salaymeh says. “The first time I started to get a sense of all this was in August 2023. I quickly joined a Slack community formed by Amanda Bickerstaff, co-founder of ai In Education.”
Within this Slack community, Salaymeh was able to learn a lot more about ai and how it was used. Through her interactions with ai technology leaders and educators, she was able to collaborate with her team of technology coaches to develop a comprehensive ai-based professional development session. This session not only helped educate staff about ai, but also led to greater technological literacy among teachers.
<h2 id="leveraging-information-into-ai-guidelines-3″>Leveraging information in ai guidelines
Having a wealth of technology knowledge at your fingertips can become useful tools for the future. In Salaymeh's case, this information became the guidelines that the district's schools use for the appropriate use of ai in curriculum development.
“Throughout the last spring 2024 semester, my focus was on increasing ai literacy among staff,” says Salaymeh. “As the semester progressed, it became clear that it was important to have some type of guidelines for the upcoming school year. Many schools were working on it last spring and I didn't want to be left behind in that initiative. So I proposed that we start a working group for ai. We used a lot of different resources from TeachAI and ai for Education, and put together the traffic light guidelines. which we present in August 2024.”
Traffic light guidelines help teachers know whether to use ai in a given task.
Traffic light guidelines
- green light: A green light assignment gives the student the ability to use generative ai to complete a project.
- yellow light: A yellow light task gives the student limited use to use generative ai at the teacher's discretion. This may mean using some ai tools and not using others. (For example, using only ai tools for image generation, but not ChatGPT for information collection).
- Red light: A red light assignment prohibits the use of generative ai to complete the project.
<h2 id="how-to-create-forward-progress-in-education-for-ai-3″>How to advance ai education
The discussion about ai has varied depending on who you talk to. Many schools and districts want to start implementing ai into their curriculum (or find better ways to do so than they already have), but aren't sure how to proceed.
Salaymeh shares the following recommendations on what schools should focus on to support their staff in the safe and effective use of ai.
“I think the starting point is to focus on how ai can make teachers more efficient,” he says. “Have a better balance between work and personal life. Many people are leaving the teaching profession because they are exhausted and overworked. Using ai as a tool to not only help (teachers) be more efficient but also eliminate some administrative tasks is a great starting point for a school district.”
ai literacy is also a crucial component to effective use of ai in schools.
“The goal of increasing ai literacy is something important that I learned early on,” says Salaymeh. “How (ai) is used in your work, what is a myth and what is a fact. Everything they can learn about ai to trust it and know how to use it properly. Staff ai literacy is really important. Once it's there, a school district could move on to present it to students appropriately and support its use. But those guidelines must be in force.”
ai literacy is important, especially for teachers. There are more and more tools embedded in ai, and teachers will need to understand not only how best to use them, but also how best to educate their students on how to use them. ai will become increasingly important in the future, and developing a working knowledge of it now can help create seamless educational transitions in the future.
One last thing Salaymeh recommends when creating ai guidelines is to include students in the process.
“I think (school districts) need to include students in the discussion,” he says. “Students should have a seat at the table.”
Callie Salaymeh's tech Toolbox:
- ChatGPT
- magic school
- Energetic
- EnlightenAI
