NBC5 In Depth: Navigating AI in schools with the help of a Vermont nonprofit
One organization is helping schools navigate how to best use AI in the classroom
Mark, thank you so much for being with us on NBC 5 in depth. Thanks so much for having me. So talk to me about AI in school and the general fear that is *** common theme amongst teachers and students. You know, fear can work both ways. Fear can inspire us and fear can also, uh, you know, uh, debilitate us. So I think it’s *** healthy thing that people are questioning where this is going and what’s happening out there. But in general right now where we are is trying to develop guidelines. So at the college level, at the K-12 level, people are looking for guidance and uh schools are hesitant to do that because they’re not sure what to say about it. But slowly as teachers are practicing using AI and students are, schools are understanding, well, here’s where we need to put some parameters around it. And as we were talking before, some are saying our parameter is no AI and others are saying, let’s spend this time experimenting with it and finding out how it’s working well and what it can do. And this is the 3rd year of AI Vermont’s existence as *** nonprofit. Talk to me about the learning curve that the nonprofit has kind of discovered along the way and the challenges that you guys have faced in helping our schools. Oh, that’s *** great question. We, we did say right from the beginning we, we met 3 years ago, but we actually didn’t start up until, uh, about 2 years ago, and we spent that time in between. Interviewing teachers. I had already done uh maybe *** dozen workshops on AI. I, I stepped into the fray when I realized teachers and schools were not getting good advice about AI. They were told either to ignore it. It’ll be like past disruptions, and we’ll just figure it out, you know, like people often compare the calculator, you know, teachers, math teachers were worried that if students had *** calculator, they wouldn’t learn how to do basic math until they realized if they know basic math, at that point, the calculator can be *** real time saver. So now we can do higher level things. So we talked to people, we found out how they’re using it, how they’re not using it, what their concerns were, and then we realized, OK, here’s the gap we can fill. There’s really *** leadership gap here. So, the first workshop went really well because it was really responsive to what people were needing, what they asked us to do. And then from that, we got feedback from them. They tested some of the things out that we were talking about in the field. Uh, we got to see them in, in practice, and we’ve been doing research constantly, meeting with people. We have *** board of directors that has *** board of advisors that has ***, ***, *** really broad background. And uh we continue to use that feedback to to uh improve what we’re offering and of course AI itself is also evolving so we have to stay on top of the technology as well. And speaking of staying on top of the technology, how does the nonprofit work with schools to help recognize the elements that we can control to be able to easily adapt to the changing technology it seems every day. Yeah, you know, we can’t answer that because we don’t even know where it’s going. I mean, we, we try to, we do *** lot of research, we stay on top of this. We have people who are experts at it. To be honest, we’re not technically experts at AI. We’re, you know, we’re kind of average people when it comes to that, but we do have other, other areas of expertise, um. So, my real hope is in the bigger picture, and the reason I got into the fray in, in, in offering these workshops and, and talks and of that sort of thing is it’s really highlighting some fundamental problems with education in general, uh, things that I as ***, as *** 38 year educator I’ve been concerned about, and that is that teachers, uh, the traditional models that teachers provide knowledge information and kids produce products that show us that they’ve learned. And AI is disrupting that completely because AI can deliver beautifully. It can personalize and customize, and so if *** student doesn’t understand something, they can go to AI and maybe that’s *** good thing, but AI can also produce these products probably better than they can. And so the question is, of course, for *** lot of schools. If students are using it and teachers are using it, what’s the relationship between the two of them and how do we still ensure that students are learning? And so it seems like not *** control of the technology but *** control of how do we adjust the human elements to adapt with AI. How do you think, what is the answer to that? What, what is the key to being able to adjust the human side of education? The human side is definitely where we need to keep this conversation going, you know, I had *** superintendent once who anytime we had something new come up, he’d say, How does this help kids? And so that really should be the question we keep asking ourselves. If I use AI to help me with *** lesson plan, is it giving me more time so that I can have, you know, quality time with students by Uh, you know, kind of, and I use it for that, for, for really rote sort of mechanical parts of my work. I’ll have AI do it, maybe developing *** rubric, maybe, uh, checking my sources for me, that sort of thing, and that frees me to do some of the more important things, interact with people and spend more time, uh, commenting on my students’ work and not about the structure of the work, but about the quality of the work and, and their, their thoughts behind that. Um, You know, moving forward, I, I think teachers are finding that that time that they have with the students in the classroom is that real quality time. So rather than me teaching you and and imparting this knowledge while you’re with me and then you go home and do homework, which is one of those traditional pieces that really doesn’t work too well. Let’s have you use whatever method, if it’s AI, if it’s *** video I provide for you, if it’s your mom or dad. Learn your best at home to understand this concept and then when you come to school, let’s work together with it. Let’s collaborate. Let’s let’s let’s try and fail together. Let’s struggle. Let’s you know real learning happens when we’re *** little bit uncomfortable and if AI makes this all too comfortable for us that it’s easy to do. It, it really, it, it, it threatens to harm our ability to learn. In your opinion, should there be *** more universal guideline when it comes to AI policy in our Vermont schools? I don’t think so. I think, I think, uh, you know, I’ve worked in several different states and Vermont definitely has, uh, some interests that are, um, of higher. Priority than other states. So for example, I find in Vermont, uh, the school teachers and students are concerned about screen time. So not only is AI going to be able to do some of the things we’ve been talking about, but is it going to make people really get addicted to being on the screen every time I have *** question, am I going to go to AI every time I want advice or have ***, have an idea or something like that. The second thing is they’re worried about the sustainability issue. So I know every time I use AI, particularly generative AI, to do something complex, I’m worried about its energy use and the water use. I’m sure you’ve heard about this, and for some people maybe that doesn’t make *** difference, but in Vermont they really do care about that. And in Vermont, being *** less populated state, I’ve spent *** lot of my time in New Jersey where people are very close and the interests are much more about industry. That difference, that dichotomy between the rural areas and the more urban or suburban areas, there’s definitely *** concern there that AI, and that’s probably been true of most technologies, is going to be more accessible and have *** greater impact on the urban and suburban schools than the rural. We’ve been to some workshops on the rural issue, and it turns out there’s *** lot of possibility for AI to really level the game for them, you know, to provide resources and to provide training for people. So that they understand these technologies and other technologies in our trainings on artificial intelligence, one of the first things we do, and that’s partly because we believe it ourselves, but also we don’t want people to show up to our events that are only already gung ho about AI, they’re sold on it. We want people who are really questioning and doubtful and fearful of it and. So we say AI did not create any of these concerns, bias, sustainability, inaccuracies, those are all human traits as well. And likewise it didn’t invent creating art or writing or making videos or analyzing spreadsheets, but it can make those more efficient and faster. What we do say is Let’s address those concerns, let’s maximize the benefits, and let’s try to emphasize the humanity of the work that we do so that AI augments but doesn’t replace it.
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NBC5 In Depth: Navigating AI in schools with the help of a Vermont nonprofit
One organization is helping schools navigate how to best use AI in the classroom
The nonprofit aiVermont is working with schools around the state, focusing on AI literacy. Its mission is to support education professionals, students and school leaders on how to best work with the fast-changing technology. Marc Natanagara from aiVermont says they encourage people who are doubtful of AI to participate in these ongoing discussions. “What we do say is, let’s address those concerns, let’s maximize the benefits and let’s try to emphasize the humanity so AI augments but doesn’t replace it,” said Natanagara.Parents and students are also encouraged to attend aiVermont panels and events happening all throughout the year. Watch the full segment in the video above.
The nonprofit aiVermont is working with schools around the state, focusing on AI literacy.
Its mission is to support education professionals, students and school leaders on how to best work with the fast-changing technology.
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Marc Natanagara from aiVermont says they encourage people who are doubtful of AI to participate in these ongoing discussions.
“What we do say is, let’s address those concerns, let’s maximize the benefits and let’s try to emphasize the humanity so AI augments but doesn’t replace it,” said Natanagara.
Parents and students are also encouraged to attend aiVermont panels and events happening all throughout the year.
Watch the full segment in the video above.
