Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

Beyond the Classroom: Exploring AI's Role in Student Success

Allie Bishop, Jane Reynolds, Evalyne Tracy, Jared Whaley, Erin Finley | Published: September 9th, 2024 by K20 Center

Summary

This session dives into the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to revolutionize student success. It is designed to explore how various AI tools can extend educators' and counselors' reach beyond the classroom, providing personalized support and streamlining administrative tasks. Participants discover how AI can empower educators to focus on what matters most: building strong relationships and fostering a love of learning in their students.

Essential Question

How can I integrate AI tools into my daily workflow to focus more on student-centered activities?

Learning Goals

  • Participants will identify specific areas within counseling, administration, and teaching where AI can effectively alleviate time-consuming tasks.

  • Participants will learn practical strategies for integrating AI tools into daily workflows to enhance productivity and focus more on student-centered activities.

Snapshot

Engage

Participants use the Collective Brain Dump strategy with Mentimeter to determine which tasks take up the most time as a counselor.

Explore

Participants use the Why-lighting strategy to analyze the best practices for safely and ethically incorporating AI technology, then explore AI tools

Explain

Participants use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to complete a choice board with typical tasks asked of educators that AI can assist with.

Extend

Participants explore a collection of resources on LEARN and reflect on how they can be used.

Evaluate

Participants reflect on their learning by using a S-I-T strategy.

Materials List

  • Presentation Slides (attached)

  • Best Practices/AI Glossary handout (attached; one per participant)

  • Choice Board Bingo handout (attached; one per participant)

  • Resource Harvest handout (attached; one per participant)

  • Internet connected devices

  • Pencils/Pens

  • Highlighters

Engage

10 Minute(s)

Use the attached Presentation Slides and display slide 1. Introduce yourself and welcome participants to the session. Transition to slide 2 and introduce participants to the Collective Brain Dump Strategy.

Once participants have had time to review how to participate, direct them to menti.com via the QR code on slide 2, or have them navigate to the site and enter the number code on the slide. Ask participants to answer the prompt, As a counselor, what takes up most of your work time? Give participants a few minutes to answer the question, then facilitate a group discussion about the most common answers. Then, share the session objectives on slide 3 and essential question on slide 4.

Explore

25 Minute(s)

Display slide 5. Introduce participants to the instructional strategy, Why-lighting. Distribute the attached Best Practices and AI Glossary handouts. Ask participants to read while using the strategy to analyze the best practices for safely and ethically incorporating AI technology, highlighting the parts of the document they find most important or surprising.  Ask them to explain their highlights in the margins of the document. Allow participants 5 minutes to complete the task. Once completed, ask participants to share their work with an Elbow Partner or small group, then move to slide 6 and encourage participants to share with the whole group.

When the discussion has finished, move to slide 7. Introduce participants to the AI tools linked on the slide (ChatGPT, MagicSchool AI, Diffit, and Brisk). Ask participants to navigate to each site and log in or create accounts for each tool while you do a short demonstration for each tool. Once all participants are logged in, field any questions they have about the tools. Move to slide 8 and take a few moments to discuss Large Language Models.

Explain

30 Minute(s)

Move to slide 9. Take a few minutes to discuss the Prompt Writing Guide describing the best strategies for writing a prompt for a Large Language Model. Take a moment to demonstrate this strategy by prompting ChatGPT or another LLM in this style. After the demonstration, transition to slide 10 and introduce the Choice Boards instructional strategy. Let participants know they will be using the AI tools they just explored for this task. 

Print double-sided and distribute the Choice Board Bingo handout (attached). Once participants have their accounts set up, direct them to the link of the bingo resources on the slide. Instruct participants to open a new tab on their device and follow the link. Let them know they will use these resources to complete the bingo activity. Direct participants to pick one option from the ‘Staff’ side of their Choice Board Bingo card to try out, then do the same on the ‘Student’ side. 

After allowing some time for participants to try tasks from the Choice Board alone, instruct participants to work in small groups, or at their table to try to get a group bingo on the Staff side of the handout. Repeat the process with participants on the Student side of the handout.  Allow 10 minutes per side for groups to work toward completing a bingo on their Choice Board. Have participants share the output of the AI tools they used for each bingo square with their table or small group.

Extend

20 Minute(s)

Distribute the Resource Harvest handout (attached). Move to slide 11. Introduce participants to the Counselor Resources Collection. Explain to participants that they will be exploring one resource from the collection and taking notes to share with the group. Using this digital fifteen-sided die, or another strategy of your choosing, assign a number between one and fifteen to each participant. If your session is large, group participants accordingly and assign numbers. 

Once numbers have been assigned, instruct participants to use their Resource Harvest handout to explore the resource with the corresponding number they have been assigned. Remind them to take detailed notes, as they will be sharing their thoughts with their group.  Allow 5-10 minutes for exploration.

Once all participants are finished, move to slide 12 and introduce the instructional strategy 30-Second Expert. Explain to participants that they will have thirty seconds to share what they noted about their assigned resource. As each participant shares, others should take notes on the Resource Harvest handout. Move to slide 13 and use the timer as participants share with their table. When all are done sharing, ask each table to choose their favorite resource to share to the whole group.

Evaluate

10 Minute(s)

Display slide 14. Introduce participants to the instructional strategy, S-I-T. Please note that this activity uses a modified version of the strategy. Instead of “T” standing for “troubling” it will stand for “try-out.” Direct participants back to menti.com via the QR code or navigate them to the site and enter the number code on the slide. Ask participants to use the modified S-I-T strategy to answer the prompts:

What surprised you most about using AI tools? 

What application of AI tools did you find most interesting?

Which AI tool or application are you most likely to try out in your workflow?

Ask for volunteers to share their answers.

Research Rationale

A literature review on teacher burnout and ChatGPT found lesson planning and content development as the most time-consuming and challenging aspects, leading to teacher burnout (Hashem et al., 2024). Assessing the impact of AI on education, Chen at al. (2020) found that educators who utilize AI or harness its capabilities can enhance their efficiency and efficacy across various responsibilities, including handling administrative duties like assessment, grading, as well as offering feedback on student assignments. Furthermore, by engaging with AI technologies, teachers can enhance the quality of their instruction. By leveraging these AI tools, instructors can focus less time on lesson planning and content development and more time on teaching.

Resources