It’s been awhile and thought it was time to add something to the #SheilSpiel.
Our school district was fortunate to participate in a pilot program with SchoolAI for the past three months. Since our district started this generative AI journey back in April of 2023, we have had a mindset of always making sure that we are being thoughtful and deliberate with infusing generative AI into the educational setting. In February 2023, the district made a decision to formally test out an approved generative AI tool for students, called SchoolAI.
Teachers had the opportunity to join this pilot program district wide. We learned a lot throughout that time – in many instances it consisted of trial and error. What I learned the most was that teachers were happy to be given the opportunity to create spaces that were thoughtfully designed for students. Teachers could determine how students should interact with a chatbot and not worry of the potential ‘wild wild west’ with tools like chatGPT. For some students, their initial reaction was trying to get SchoolAI to just tell them the answers to question prompts, like they can with ChatGPT. We had to remind students that the point of these teacher created chatbots was to help them learn information, not necessarily just tell them the answers to questions. For teachers, there was something about being able to access students’ interactions that helped ease some worry as well.
Process of Implementation:
All staff were given a quick introduction on how SchoolAI could be used with students in different disciplines at one of the faculty meetings. Teachers were able to experience the tool as a student in disciplines of their choice. This was a great opportunity to give them an introduction of what was possible. Those teachers who saw a potential were then invited to a more formal training to gain a better understanding of how to use the tool themselves in their own content area. This was required if they were going to join in on the pilot program. Below is a gif highlighting the SchoolAI spaces that were created for staff to experience as a student. We tried to be mindful of the including every discipline as possible (I forgot to include the counseling department however). Staff clicked on an image and a space was launched, as it would for students, to get an idea of what to expect.
Teachers were also required to test out the product with their students a couple of times, within that 3 month time period, so that we could collect appropriate feedback. At the high school level, teachers were given the opportunity to work with the librarian, Jessica Gilcreast, and I to help design spaces to meet the needs of the curriculum as well as bounce ideas or give suggestions.
Before students interacted with generative AI for the first time, teachers were asked to show an introduction video to remind students appropriate use. We created a video so that we didn’t have to worry about any scheduling conflicts. Plus, we wanted a message that was the same for all. Click HERE for a link to that video. Keep in mind that students had already been introduced to generative AI in an all class meeting earlier in the school year. This video was more of a refresher of things to keep in mind.
At the end of the 3 month trial, all teachers got together to debrief about the product and to share their learnings and discoveries. In addition, two google forms were created, one for students and one for teachers, to collect statistical data to help inform future decisions. We wanted to make sure that we were hearing from both subgroups. Some teachers also created their own feedback to help guide their own instruction with the SchoolAI spaces that they created.
For the students, different questions were asked based on the student grade level. At the high school, we asked questions like:
- SchoolAI helped give me ideas or provided questions to help me with my work (rate on a scale).
- SchoolAI helped guide me to answers (rate on a scale).
- What is your comfort level with using generative AI?
- If given the opportunity in a future class, I would find SchoolAI helpful in guiding my work.
On the teacher survey, we asked teachers similar questions as to whether or not teachers would want to use SchoolAI in the future, asked to provide a space that they had a lot of success with as well as these two questions:
Our goal here is to be truly thoughtful and deliberate and look at the feedback provided.
Some Example Use Cases at the High School Level:
- A French teacher (Robert Zeller) created spaces as a checkpoint for students to help determine whether or not they have met the criteria for a particular task or assignment. He indicated that this was helpful in not having to send back assignments indicating different components that might have been missing from the assignment. Instead he was able to focus more on assessing the true finished product.
- A Computer Science teacher (Stefan Fritz) created a space to help students learn expectations of an AP task they were going to have to complete at the end of the school year. He designed it in a way for students to answer questions based on the expectations as well as ask for clarification. This space was used as an introduction. He followed up with a full class conversation of what the students learned.
- A French teacher (Robert Zeller) created a sidekick (similar to a tutor on a subject) to be available for students outside of the classroom to help with verb conjugation. He found that some students appreciated the opportunity to run though different conjugations to help prepare for future assignments/assessments.
- A couple of science teachers (Heidi Colburn, Caitlin Golino and Dan King) wanted to be able to provide a space for students to apply a NGSS standard “evaluate and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity”. These teachers wanted students to come up with designing a solution to human impact on an eco system. They wanted to make sure that students truly thought through their solution. They wanted students to think through complications and or limitations. They wanted to make sure it was an appropriate potential solution. The teachers had the students come up with the plan, asked them three considerations that the chatbot helped them think through, and then revise the plan accordingly.
- Several Humanities teams (one in particular Jess Hatzidakis and Laura DeRosa) helped design five different spaces to help with different elements of the writing process when it came time for students to write their research papers. These optional spaces were added to the workflow of the writing process in class. Student could choose to use all, one or none of the following spaces: (1) Identifying key search terms to use for database research (2) Helping verify that thesis statement has all required elements (3) Helping organize an argumentative essay (4) Helping proofread for errors (5) Chatbot “peer” editor.
- Our Principal (Bob Jozokos) created a bell ringer space for staff to walk through before a professional development training he was giving with the Special Education Coordinator. He wanted staff to thinking through examples of ways in which staff have witnessed collaboration and inclusion. Staff participated in this activity for 5 minutes before the training/conversation happened.
There are many more examples. More than you probably want to spend time reading 🙂
What We Have Learned:
- All comes down to prompting
- We need to continue to educate our students about what it means to interact with generative AI
- Educate students why a SchoolAI space was created (what is the purpose) – in many cases it is to support and push the student to learn, not to give answers to them. Remind them it is another tool in the tool box
- In many instances, students are willing to work for 5-10 minutes on said SchoolAI space
- Our in house made SchoolAI spaces worked best when they support the curriculum at hand
- Teachers appreciate being able to see how students interact and, when it makes sense, appreciate how students are put into categories based on how invested/knowledgeable they are on a particular topic/task
- Some teachers created SchoolAI sidekicks – can be a tool to help students ask questions at any time of day without a delay from getting response in an email from a teacher
- SchoolAI is coming out with some enhancements that intrigue us
I have said this before and I will say it again…I am appreciative that our school district recognizes that we need to help educate our students on the appropriateness of using generative AI. I appreciate that we are taking baby steps. I appreciate that we are being thoughtful and deliberate. I look forward to seeing what we discover and try next school year. And that folks is just a small glimpse of some of the work that was accomplished this Spring in our District.
Rest up this summer! And that is my Spiel…
Craig M Sheil 