AI Sessions for Curious Educators
Step into a world where the cutting-edge technology of AI and the boundless knowledge of educators intersect. Explore a diverse lineup of sessions on topics like ethics, critical thinking, risk, productivity, engagement, and more. Not sure how you feel about it all? Give in to your curiosity, and explore.
| Name | Time (Central) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AI Closing the Achievement Gap (Presenter: Patrick Runnels) | 10:00am-10:45am | One of the most overlooked benefits of AI is its ability to close achievement gaps. Join us as we look at different impactful, cheap, ways students can use AI to increase their learning potential and close a variety of gaps. |
| AI in Education: What Do We Need to Know? (Presenter: Rachelle Dené Poth) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | Learn how AI is being used in education and its implications for the future. Want to know how to get started with teaching about AI and discover the tools to use? Explore uses of artificial intelligence, with explanations for how these tools can be taught and used in any classroom and grade level. We will share ways for students to explore and design their own chatbots, for example. Become aware of ethical and privacy concerns, explore how AI is evolving, and uncover the implications for education and the future of work. |
| AI, Reading Engagement, and You (Presenters: RaShida Roberts and Brandon Guidry) | 10:00am-10:45am | The teaching of students today requires digital literacy as a foundational aspect, with the emerging field of AI being a crucial component. Although AI is rapidly evolving, it will become a part of everyday life for young people as they grow into adults. Get a distinctive framework to enhance the relationship between students and literature, utilizing AI tools such as ChatGPT and MidJourney. We’ll provide insights from the perspectives of librarians, teachers, and principals, demonstrating how to effectively utilize AI technology for books across all disciplines. |
| Automate Your Mundane: Using AI to Create Opportunity (Presenter: Dr. Travis Horton) | 10:00am-10:45am | If you are not using AI, I promise you, your students are. Discover ways to use AI to automate your high effort/low pay-off tasks in order to create time for you to spend on creativity and having a life. We will also cover security concerns and ways of identifying the origin of student products. |
| Boosting Teacher Productivity Using AI (Presenters: Kyle Esco and Dr. Stacey Flinner) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | Unlock the power of AI! Unlock ways to boost productivity, save time, and increase efficiency. We will explore different AI tools and how they can be used to improve organization and time management, enhance lesson planning, streamline grading and assessments, facilitate communication and collaboration, and monitor student progress. Leave with practical strategies to integrate AI tools into your own teaching. |
| ChatGPT (and Other AI) Can Do WHAT? (Presenters: Stephanie Galvan Russell and Kristi Staar) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | School librarians play a crucial role in helping teachers and students use ChatGPT and other AI tools to their full potential. Let’s discuss how librarians can provide support and training to teachers and students in integrating AI tools into lessons and activities, making learning more interactive and engaging, while also fostering critical thinking skills. Leave with resources for training staff and students! |
| Curipod Is the New Nearpod! (Presenter: Stephanie Galvan Russel) | 11:00am-11:45am | Get to know Curipod, a new and innovative educational technology platform that is set to revolutionize the way teachers and students interact in the classroom. Compare and contrast the features and benefits of Curipod and Nearpod in order to make an informed decision on which platform to use for your own classroom. Explore and use the various features of Curipod, such as interactive presentations and real-time assessment tools, to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Leave knowing how to integrate Curipod into your existing lesson plans and develop new lessons and activities that leverage the unique features and capabilities of the platform to improve student achievement and success. |
| Discover the Future of School Counseling with Generative AI! (Presenter: Karen Stepic) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | Are you a school counselor looking to revolutionize your practice and save time? Uncover how generative AI can transform your work, streamline your processes, and ultimately, help you provide better support to your students. Walk away with ways generative AI can save you time and effort in communication, help you create lesson plans, and be a creative partner. You’ll also learn how tools can be used with students! We will discuss ethical considerations and potential risks, and you’ll walk away with a balanced understanding of the technology and strategies for integrating generative AI into your practice responsibly. |
| Harnessing AI for a Human-Centered Education (Presenter: Micah Miner) | 11:00am-11:45am | Explore AI's transformative potential in education, focusing on a human-centered approach. Learn how to incorporate AI tools ethically, promote equity and inclusivity, and empower teachers and leaders to create meaningful learning experiences. Gain strategies for data-driven decision-making and student-centric outcomes. Foster community involvement and equip students with AI skills for the future. |
| Harnessing ChatGPT for Effective Lesson Planning and Resource Generation (Presenter: Dr. Bruce Ellis) | 10:00am-10:45am | Unleash the Power of AI in Your Classroom! Join our session and discover how ChatGPT can revolutionize your teaching experience. Learn to effortlessly create lesson plans, rubrics, and resources, streamlining your workload and enhancing student engagement. Don't miss this opportunity to transform your classroom! |
| How to Encourage Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Presenters: Shannon Terry, Ed.D. and Roland Antoine) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | With the rapid advancement of AI technology, it's more important than ever to consider the impact of AI on education. How can we prepare students for a future that will be shaped by these technologies? Explore the impact of AI on education and gather practical strategies for promoting critical thinking in the classroom. From exploring the ethics of AI to using prompts to spark curiosity and creativity, we will delve into how to prompt AI thinking that inspires students to think deeply and creatively. Get ready to challenge your assumptions and explore new approaches to teaching with AI! |
| I, for One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords (Presenters: Elizabeth Gross and Henry Stokes) | 11:00am-11:45am | Let’s talk about the rise of AI. While it has quietly been part of our everyday lives, let’s place the recent interest and fear generated by its far-reaching power into the context of AI’s strengths and weaknesses. After a brief overview and how training works with the AI, discover a number of AI applications for the library and education, not limited to EC-12. All audiences are welcomed! We hope to generate our own ongoing community support around the challenges and benefits of AI across the education landscape. |
| Mastering Multitasking: Making the Most of AI in the Classroom (Presenter: Christopher Hurst) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks you have to complete each day? Fear not, for our professional development program will equip you with the latest AI tools and techniques to help you master multitasking like a pro! Discover how to leverage innovative technology to streamline your workflow, automate mundane tasks, and free up time to focus on the fun stuff – like teaching and inspiring your students! |
| Put Away the Red Pen! Teaching ELAR Using AI (Presenters: Dr. Stacey Flinner and Kyle Esco) | 11:00am-11:45am | Learn how to use AI tools such as ChatGPT to help students become better writers in all classes and to prepare them for the essay portions of STAAR and college entrance examinations. Any web-based ICT platform can be used, so the training is not specific to one operating system. |
| Removing the Fear, Creating Critical Thinkers and Increasing Rigor (Presenter: Patrick Runnels) | 10:00am-10:45am | Let’s remove the fear and look at the real applications of AI in the classroom! Uncover how it can be used to increase critical thinking and to allow students to see views and perspectives that would be difficult to achieve otherwise. |
| Stories of Skepticism and Success: AI and Education, Beyond the Buzzwords (Presenter: Gus Halwani, Ph.D.) | 9:00am-9:45am | In this session, we will first lay out the basics of machine learning and AI — what it is, what it isn’t, and how we got to where we are today (including a deep dive into the possible pitfalls of such a tool). We will then transition to a presentation which provides demonstrations and examples for how large language models and latent diffusion models can be intentionally and safely used in educational environments (in our work with students, as well as in the day to day operations of an education institute). We will then conclude with a reflection of how we can take our learnings and discussion and apply it in our practice, and resources for continued learning will also be provided. |
| Teach Smarter, Not Harder with AI (Presenter: Oscar Carrera) | 12:00pm-12:45pm | Discover the transformative power of AI in optimizing time management and classroom efficiency. Explore easy-to-use AI-driven tools and platforms that can act as your advanced virtual teacher assistant. By leveraging AI technology to maximize productivity, we can focus on what truly matters: nurturing student growth, fostering meaningful connections, and facilitating authentic learning experiences. Let’s delve into the world of AI-driven solutions, empowering you to teach smarter, not harder, and create a more dynamic, engaging, and productive learning environment for your students. |
| The GPT in ChatGPT Stands for Greatest Principal Tool! (Presenter: Andy Adams) | 9:00am-9:45am | Let’s talk about how school administrators can harness the power of AI to improve our work. We will cover topics such as using AI to automate tasks, make data-driven decisions, and basically "hire" an additional office staff person! Discover more ai tools/resources to save you time in your life as a school leader. |
| Use Chat GPT to Do Boring Spreadsheet Stuff for You (Presenter: Robert Bennett) | Available afterwards as recording | Data entry and data cleanup are some of the most soul sucking, mundane tasks out there. Rather than focusing on stuff that actually makes things better for you and your colleagues, you sit in a spreadsheet, copying and pasting in tiny cells, fixing the formatting, and praying that you didn't make a mistake 20 or 50 rows back. With ChatGPT and Python, you can automate the boring stuff and burn through these tasks in minutes! By prompting ChatGPT, you can have it spit out Python code to slice and dice your spreadsheets for you faster than you can blink, without any fear of overwriting your data. Don't know Python? Doesn't matter. ChatGPT does! |
| Using Perplexity to Aid in Student Research (Presenter: Herb Coleman, Ph.D.) | 9:00am-9:45am | Knowing that student discovery of chat AI was just a matter of time, how do we get ahead of students and leverage the technology to enhance and not cheapen their education? Looking at the available products at the time, Perplexity.ai seemed like the product to support student research. Discover how I leveraged the platform to help with student research, to enhance learning, and to reduce the use of chat AI to circumvent educational outcomes. |
| You, Too, Can Be a Prompt Engineer (Presenter: Dr. Bruce Ellis) | 11:00am-11:45am | Discover the art of writing compelling prompts for AI engines like ChatGPT. Learn how to communicate effectively with AI, harnessing its full potential for amazing educational outcomes. Through interactive activities and real-world examples, gain invaluable insights into crafting clear, concise prompts for diverse educational contexts. |
So, what are you waiting for?
