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Generation Alpha: Digital natives, visual learners, short attention spans, struggles with face-to-face skills. These are just a few characteristics of the current generation of students that educators must consider as they develop their lessons. But now that AI has become ubiquitous in both home and work environments, administrators need to think about how their schools will integrate AI into their classrooms so that students are prepared for jobs of the future.

During “Shaping Education for Generation Alpha in an Era of AI,” the second edLeader Panel of Trailblazing Leadership Week, members of the National Council of Innovative Instructional Leaders (NCIIL) explained how they are approaching AI and education.

First, the panelists wanted to be very clear: AI is not replacing teachers. AI cannot perform the higher-level critical thinking that a human can. However, teachers have more tasks than time in the day, and administrators cannot give them more time. They can, though, give them a tool—AI—that can help them with some of the more repetitive, time-consuming tasks like attendance so that teachers can focus on helping students reach their goals.

Second, the panelists feel like the conversation should not be about whether or not to use AI in schools but how to use it responsibly. AI is being used in most students’ homes in a variety of ways, and now generative AI is becoming an expected skill in the workforce. Instead of ignoring the technology, schools owe it to the students to understand how it works and how it can enhance learning.

Getting started with AI can be daunting, but the panelists offered recommendations based on NCIIL’s recent report, Shaping Education for Generation Alpha in an Era of AI, for how to make all stakeholders comfortable with AI initiatives.

Get stakeholders involved

Create advisory committees, focus groups, etc. for everyone at your school to voice their opinions, concerns, and even show off their skills. You need to understand where they are coming from rather than making assumptions about their views on AI. And, as with all school initiatives, having community buy-in drives early support for implementation.

Develop an AI vision

Make sure you have a shared plan for how you will use AI in your schools and that everyone is working toward the same goal. While staff may experiment with different approaches to integrating AI into their work, they should ultimately be working towards the same goal.

Encourage AI experimentation

Part of the fear of AI comes from not understanding how it works. In addition to any professional development, offer staff members suggestions on how they could use AI at home. Tell them to play around with the technology in a low-stakes environment, and then ask them what they did, what they learned, and what they would like to do next. Once they become comfortable with using AI for themselves, they are more likely to integrate it into their work.

Incorporate AI into acceptable use and academic integrity policies

Panelists advised attendees to not rush to codify rules around using AI. The technology is evolving so quickly that those regulations will become outdated soon. Preferably, you can make adjustments to your existing policies and add in statements about AI.

Create an AI ecosystem

Teachers should have access to age-appropriate AI tools across districts. It’s not only an issue of equitable access, but it also allows teachers of varying skills to access the same supports for their students. Not every teacher will be a master prompt engineer, and there are programs already designed to assist with school-specific functions.

Provide a variety of PD

Your teachers and staff will be at different levels of comfort, tech ability, and desire to integrate AI. While workshops and seminars will help some, look for smaller teaching moments. This could be a series of videos exploring aspects of AI, one-on-one sessions with an academic coach, or even just two teachers sharing their recent challenges and victories.

Help teachers build guardrails into lesson plans

Of course, once teachers are ready to let students use AI in their assignments, students shouldn’t just use AI whenever and wherever they want. When creating assignments, teachers need to let students know when they can use AI, how they should report their use of AI, and when they can’t use it. Moreover, teachers will need to redesign assignments to focus more on critical thinking and human interaction.

Overall, the watchword is nimble. With the fluctuating state of AI, teachers, staff, administrators, and students will all be on a continuous learning curve. In fact, the AI technology and jobs that students will have don’t even exist yet. But if we keep students at the forefront and adopt the mindset of a lifelong learner, then we can continue to build the knowledge base for all.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Shaping Education for Generation Alpha in an Era of AI, presented by ERDI.

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Article by Stacey Pusey, based on this edLeader Panel