By Brian Marcel, CFO, MSBO Board Member, Associate Superintendent, Washtenaw ISD
Artificial Intelligence (AI)…for me, being from an age when PCs in homes didn’t exist, it’s hard to say those words without flashing back to The Matrix and The Terminator. So, for me, AI has historically never been viewed as something positive; it’s more associated with the end of mankind! I must admit, I’ve been more hesitant than others in delving into the world of generative AI.
However, I’ve been to several presentations, including last year’s MSBO Leadership Conference, where the presenters have shown some handy uses of it to reduce the amount of time to complete tasks. And how to use it to modify your emails, memos, etc. to be more formal, conversational, or modified for a certain type of reader. Or, using it to help write Excel formulas. And using it to modify a video recording of someone talking, converting it to another language, including making the person’s mouth appear to be saying the words properly in the new language (OK, this one freaked me out a bit).
However, being in a risk management role in our organization, I still worry about some of the ways generative AI could cause our organizations serious issues. No, not the end of mankind issues, but certainly things like relying on incorrect or incomplete information, AI hallucinations, bias, etc. I also am concerned that with no guidance, staff could be using it for purposes they shouldn’t be using it for, including the possibility of putting Personally Identifiable Information into a generative AI tool thereby sharing the information with the world.
My first reaction was “We need a new policy and guidelines!” We currently use NEOLA for our board policy service, and they sent us some recommended revisions, however, they seemed to be more focused on student behavior/usage. But I was still concerned about how staff were using generative AI. How they were using these generative AI tools. And then it hit me, it’s just a tool, just like a PC and other classroom technology! We don’t need a policy about AI, we need to figure out how to incorporate the existence of generative AI as a tool into our existing policies that we have around Acceptable Use, Student Records, data usage/sharing, etc.
As I started to do more research about what this might look like, I discovered that a community of organizations has already gotten together to toolkit and a “Framework for Incorporating AI into an Education System;” the resources are available at TeachAI.org. The Steering Committee and Advisory Committee reads like a who’s who in educational technology.
The Toolkit also talks about the Principles for AI in Education:
- Purpose – Establishing the purpose for the use of AI in your organization.
- Compliance – Reaffirming the importance of adherence to existing policies/regulations.
- Knowledge – Promoting AI literacy across the organization.
- Balance – Realizing the benefits of AI and addressing the related risks.
- Integrity – Advancing academic integrity.
- Agency – Maintaining human decision-making when using AI.
- Evaluation – Regularly assessing the impacts of AI.
The Toolkit provides some great tables that look at the benefits and risks of using AI and also includes ways to mitigate these risks. It also provides some great guidance on the use of AI in schools and some sample considerations for existing policies. Michigan’s own Wayne RESA is cited in the Toolkit for creating an AI website and guidance document with ethical, pedagogical, administrative, and policy considerations! Thank you for helping to lead the way!
Thankfully there are already resources like this out there that can help guide us as to how we should be addressing AI in our districts. I’m guessing many of you are further along this road than I am, but no matter what stage of incorporating AI into your district you are, hopefully the TeachAI.org resources will be helpful.