Aspen School District board makes clear AI not to replace teachers ...
Artificial Intelligence will not replace teachers, but lesson plans will never be the same. That’s according to the Aspen School Board's April 23 meeting, as staff discussed how to continue to implement AI into their curriculum, over two years after the technology’s most recent popularization.
AI to Enhance Teaching
“AI will never replace teachers,” Aspen School Board member Cassie Harrelson said. “It is to help us be better teachers and to help our kids get experiences they didn’t get before.” The district currently uses various AI models for lesson planning and teaching aids, including Toddle AI, Khanmigo, and Google Gemini, according to Kimberly Zimmer, ASD instructional director of Learning and Innovation, who presented about the technology on Wednesday.
Benefits of Toddle AI
Though still recently implemented, the district has put the models to valuable use. Toddle AI, in particular, has been an asset to the school, as one of the only International Baccalaureate-oriented educational models in existence, which aligns with the district’s curriculum. For example, when lesson planning, Toddle will give suggestions to teachers about how to design an upcoming class.
Caution in Implementing AI
With AI’s benefits comes a need to be cautious. “This whole idea of AI and schools, AI permeating our world, it’s running at the speed of light,” Zimmer said. Zimmer advocated for a careful, human-driven approach to AI, saying the district must understand where AI models get data from and how the data has been validated to meet students’ diverse needs.
Final Thoughts
The district should also be cautious of the extent to which AI helps write lesson plans, complete assignments, and grade assignments. “It becomes this vicious cycle of inauthentic brain power, inauthentic work, and we really want to be careful with that, I think, as a society,” she said.
