One of the most important things when implementing new technologies into a system, particularly an educational system is to try and understand the different ways it might affect different levels of the organization. I worked in restaurants for a long time in college.

There is just so much out there on artificial intelligence right now. Just spending a few minutes exploring social media and what is being said by experts, armchair experts, and laypeople alike can make it hard to discern the best responses to AI’s boom over the last few months.

The last few weeks of my work life have revolved around artificial intelligence. I am working on a course for Utah Education Network on AI in schools called The AI Frontier. The course is meant to be an introduction to AI in classrooms beyond trying out an AI and seeing what it can help you do (albeit sometimes poorly).

I, like many of us in educational technology, have been somewhat taken away by AI over the last few months. ChatGPT, Dall e, and Midjourney have been weekly, if not daily, topics of discussion, along with AI policy, frameworks, assignments, and assessments in education. For example, just in the past week I have run an edcamp session on AI in schools, developed coursework for an AI course, and shared a presentation with a local educator team on creativity and AI.

Artificial Intelligence is a topic that almost immediately makes for panic. I don’t know if it is the philosophical idea of humans creating intelligence or the demonization of AI through popular science fiction (looking at you Matrix, Transcendence, and about a dozen other movies), but every time AI is brought up, even pre-Chat GPT, it felt like the air was moving out of the room. AI is a tool and should be thought of as such. Like cassette tapes to the recording industry, AI is being worried about as a way for students to do less thinking and writing.

After yesterday’s post about AI, I feel like cannot escape it now. That afternoon I was reading You are not a Gadget and much of the chapter was on the associated problems of artificial intelligence and algorithms. This morning I opened my email and there was another edtech company sharing their latest AI-driven project (more on that in a future blog).

A few months ago I was teaching a session on digital literacy/citizenship and I posed a simple question, “Should students learn about Artificial Intelligence?”

The answer generally from 30+ educators was “Of course not.” Not enough time in the curriculum, too little expertise in our teacher pool, students don’t need to know this. I immediately shot back, “Of course they do.” We are surrounded by AI now more than ever and it is only getting better and easier to use in daily life.