Category: generativeAI

I was asked by the Dean of the Stem Department, Doctor Martha Pond, if I’d be able to attend her after school department meeting and give her teachers an opportunity to participate in an AI playground. I was thrilled that she wanted to include me in this activity. Seeing as though there were about 30 different staff members with all different skillsets with generative AI, we thought it would be best to provide staff with choices to explore on their own, rather than me do demonstrations. We wanted staff to have an opportunity to try themselves, and not just absorb information. By this point, staff have attended several trainings on generative AI.

I asked Martha to help me find true resources that are already being used in the Bedford High School curriculum as a way to help teacher see the power of when generative AI can help support their existing work. Martha did just that, asking staff for examples of Science Labs activities, curriculum maps for courses, guided note presentations, assessments, etc. I then used these resources to help model different situations where generative AI can help either enhance support or supplement.

Continue reading “STEM AI Playground for Meeting”

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. 

Continue reading “Exploring Generative AI in the Classroom”