Latest news with #MagicSchool
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bay District School makes moves to implement AI in the classroom
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – On April 23, President Trump signed an executive order for school districts to start using AI. But Bay District school officials were prepared for this transition. They'd already formed a task force to begin the process well before the announcement. 'We just wanted to get ahead of the game,' Instructional Tech. & Media Resources Supervisor Susan Tierney said. The AI task force, made up of teachers and administrators, set out to test different educational platforms. 'We gave our committee members several tasks to do without a whole lot of guidance. And they completed those tasks with three different products, and ultimately, unanimously, it was decided that Magic School AI would be the product that we chose,' Tierney said. Magic School AI provides educators and, eventually, Bay District school students with access to over 80 AI-powered tools. Panama City officials hope to improve pedestrian safety with potential trail system It will help teachers generate lesson plans, rubrics, and craft parent communications. Tierney said the task force felt Magic School was user-friendly and intuitive. Once educators become well-versed, there will be a roll-out process. 'It will be a year-long process. So we're going to start at the teacher level and really train teachers in understanding what AI is. All of the good and the bad that is AI and then eventually we will roll that down to students. So with the Magic School, teachers, will have control over what AI tools they can select for their students to use. So it'll make them feel more comfortable with AI and having their students use those tools,' Tierney explained. Tierney said teachers will still maintain control over their implementation of the product into their curriculum. Bay District School Board members approved a one-year contract to try out the platform. The total cost for the trial will be $88,000, funded by half-cent sales tax. Tierney feels the long-term impacts will be worth it. 'We want to make sure that our students are ready for careers that, like I said, don't exist currently right now. And so we want to be prepared for that,' Tierney added. Some people are suspicious of AI. But school district officials said Magic School AI prioritizes data security and privacy, with strict measures to protect student and staff information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Educators seek to combat AI challenges in the classroom
Educators are reaching into their toolbox in an effort to adapt their instruction to a world where students can use ChatGPT to pull out a five-page essay in under an hour. Teachers are working to make artificial intelligence (AI) a force for good in the classroom instead of an easy way to cheat as they balance teaching the new technology with honing students' critical thinking skills. 'Even before the AI era, the most important grades that we'd give at the school that I led and when I was a teacher, were the in-class writing assignments,' said Adeel Khan, CEO and founder of MagicSchool and former school principal, noting the assignments worth the most are normally final exams or end-of-unit tests. Khan predicts those sorts of exams that have no access to AI will be weighted more heavily for students' grades in the future. 'So, if you're using AI for all of the formative assignments that are helping you practice to get to that final exam or that final writing test … then it's going to be really hard to do it when you don't have AI in those moments,' he added. The boom of generative AI began shortly after students got back in the classrooms after the pandemic, with educators going from banning ChatGPT in schools in 2023 to taking professional development courses on how to implement AI in assignments. President Trump recently signed an executive order to incorporate AI more into classrooms, calling it the technology of the future. The executive order aims to have schools work more closely with the private sector to implement programs and trainings regarding AI for teachers and students. 'The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,' White House staff secretary Will Scharf said. Dixie Rae Garrison, principal of West Jordan Middle School in Utah, describes herself as an early advocate for AI in schools. She said her classrooms have had 'an overwhelmingly positive experience' with the technology. Garrison remarked the problems with AI need to be resolved through innovative thinking, not passivity. 'There needs to be a shift from the types of questions we were asking students, so shifting away from repetitive exercises,' Garrison said, adding educators 'really have to think about the way that you're teaching students to write, the way that you're framing your questions.' One way her school has used AI to help students is by creating more avenues for pupils to study for exams such as the AP U.S. history test. Teachers are 'able to provide the students with more frequent opportunities to practice' by inputting the AP rubrics into a generative AI tool, leading the students to get feedback 'instantaneously' on their work. Another strategy used for preparing students to work with AI as well as lower concerns about cheating is to create collaborative projects. 'I think in the younger classes there is a shift towards project-based learning, and even homework is more sort of collaborative, which is harder to replicate' with AI, said Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO of Technovation. The integration of AI varies across the United States, with about 60 percent of principals reportedly using AI tools for their work, according to a survey by RAND, a research nonprofit. Among teachers, only 25 percent are using AI for their instructional planning or teaching, although English language arts and science instructors were twice as likely to use the technology than mathematics educators. Educators in higher poverty schools are also less likely to use AI and are more likely not to have guidance on AI implementation compared to lower poverty schools, according to RAND. The lack of guidance makes it even more difficult for educators as concerns of cheating with generative AI become louder. 'Pragmatically, on the ground, some teachers are shifting towards more short, oral questioning of students. … In fact, for some kids — I hear this from science teachers that I work with — the ability to ask kids questions orally, instead of writing on a test, helps reveal' they might know more 'than they would have been able to express on a written test,' said Bill Penuel, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. For many, it is still a challenge to balance the benefits of AI with the drawbacks in the classroom. Most educators don't want AI 'to be used as a shortcut for thinking, but they want people to be able to use it as a tool to help them solve problems, to give them feedback on things that they're working on and writing, maybe even support folks who are multilingual learners in classrooms,' Penuel said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
11-05-2025
- The Hill
Educators seek to combat AI challenges in the classroom
Educators are reaching into their toolbox in an effort to adapt their instruction to a world where students can use ChatGPT to pull out a five-page essay in under an hour. Teachers are working to make artificial intelligence (AI) a force for good in the classroom instead of an easy way to cheat as they balance teaching the new technology with honing students' critical thinking skills. 'Even before the AI era, the most important grades that we'd give at the school that I led and when I was a teacher, were the in-class writing assignments,' said Adeel Khan, CEO and founder of MagicSchool and former school principal, noting the assignments worth the most are normally final exams or end-of-unit tests. Khan predicts those sorts of exams that have no access to AI will be weighted more heavily for students' grades in the future. 'So, if you're using AI for all of the formative assignments that are helping you practice to get to that final exam or that final writing test … then it's going to be really hard to do it when you don't have AI in those moments,' he added. The boom of generative AI began shortly after students got back in the classrooms after the pandemic, with educators going from banning ChatGPT in schools in 2023 to taking professional development courses on how to implement AI in assignments. President Trump recently signed an executive order to incorporate AI more into classrooms, calling it the technology of the future. The executive order aims to have schools work more closely with the private sector to implement programs and trainings regarding AI for teachers and students. 'The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,' White House staff secretary Will Scharf said. Dixie Rae Garrison, principal of West Jordan Middle School in Utah, describes herself as an early advocate for AI in schools. She said her classrooms have had 'an overwhelmingly positive experience' with the technology. Garrison remarked the problems with AI need to be resolved through innovative thinking, not passivity. 'There needs to be a shift from the types of questions we were asking students, so shifting away from repetitive exercises,' Garrison said, adding educators 'really have to think about the way that you're teaching students to write, the way that you're framing your questions.' One way her school has used AI to help students is by creating more avenues for pupils to study for exams such as the AP U.S. history test. Teachers are 'able to provide the students with more frequent opportunities to practice' by inputting the AP rubrics into a generative AI tool, leading the students to get feedback 'instantaneously' on their work. Another strategy used for preparing students to work with AI as well as lower concerns about cheating is to create collaborative projects. 'I think in the younger classes there is a shift towards project-based learning, and even homework is more sort of collaborative, which is harder to replicate' with AI, said Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO of Technovation. The integration of AI varies across the United States, with about 60 percent of principals reportedly using AI tools for their work, according to a survey by RAND, a research nonprofit. Among teachers, only 25 percent are using AI for their instructional planning or teaching, although English language arts and science instructors were twice as likely to use the technology than mathematics educators. Educators in higher poverty schools are also less likely to use AI and are more likely not to have guidance on AI implementation compared to lower poverty schools, according to RAND. The lack of guidance makes it even more difficult for educators as concerns of cheating with generative AI become louder. 'Pragmatically, on the ground, some teachers are shifting towards more short, oral questioning of students. … In fact, for some kids — I hear this from science teachers that I work with — the ability to ask kids questions orally, instead of writing on a test, helps reveal' they might know more 'than they would have been able to express on a written test,' said Bill Penuel, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. For many, it is still a challenge to balance the benefits of AI with the drawbacks in the classroom. Most educators don't want AI 'to be used as a shortcut for thinking, but they want people to be able to use it as a tool to help them solve problems, to give them feedback on things that they're working on and writing, maybe even support folks who are multilingual learners in classrooms,' Penuel said.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
South Windsor High School embraces Artificial Intelligence in classrooms
SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. (WTNH) — Artificial intelligence is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our lives. That is why one local school district is embracing AI in the classroom. The ways in which they are doing that may surprise you. Students in Ms. Quinn's senior English class at South Windsor High School are using artificial intelligence to help with their senior theses, and their school is encouraging it. Community describes qualities wanted for new Hartford superintendent 'It's not necessarily doing any of the thinking for you,' senior Aiden Keegan explained. 'It's more taking your thinking and being like, 'Hey, here's an angle you might not have thought of. Here's another route to explore yourself.'' South Windsor is using an AI platform called Magic School designed to help students, but still let them do the critical thinking. 'I think it's helping them move out of the brainstorming phase faster,' teacher Cara Quinn said. 'It's helping them generate ideas faster. It's helping them get through the research faster.' That research is the kind of thing that can take the longest for students working on a paper for class. There has been a lot of hand-wringing over students using AI to cheat, but with Magic School, teachers can review all the interactions between students and the AI to make sure the AI is helping, but not doing the work for them. 'I'm able to see what it is that they're asking,' Quinn said. 'I can see the script of the questions and the responses that they've gotten.' Teachers can also look at the process students went through. That process of interacting with technology is what is driving South Windsor to use AI all the way from 12th grade down to kindergarten. 'That's what it's all about with AI is asking the right questions, and so you start with basic questions,' South Windsor Schools' Director of Technology Doug Couture said. Those questions are just like the ones you would ask a teacher. 'It saved me so many hours of struggling over the computer when I can just use my own words and have it help me,' senior Isabella Giammarino said. 'It's like talking to my teacher. It literally is.' However, the reality is, the teacher can only do so much. 'There's one of me and there are 25 of them,' Quinn said. 'So, when they are in a place where they need assistance, this is another group member, another brain that they can use to bounce ideas off of.' And when today's students are out in the workforce, AI will be even more prevalent than it is now. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sharjah 24
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sharjah 24
170 leaders conclude Sharjah School Librarians Conference
Held in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the Emirates Library and Information Association (ELIA), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and the Combined Book Exhibit, the conference also showcased successful case studies and innovative strategies for engaging students, parents and the wider community. It further highlighted the role of modern technologies in encouraging reading and expanding its reach. Technology in service of reading As part of the concluding day, Todd Burleson, media specialist at The Skokie School in the United States, led a session titled 'Connecting reading and new technologies'. He examined how digital tools can transform the reading experience in school libraries, highlighting the potential of audiobooks, virtual reality, and AI-driven speech-to-text applications to enhance student engagement, particularly among reluctant readers. Burleson cited research showing that only 14 per cent of American students read daily by personal choice, underscoring the importance of offering content in varied formats — including print, digital and audio — that reflect students' interests. He identified audiobooks as an effective way to develop listening and comprehension skills, noting that approximately 35 per cent of students, especially teenagers, respond well to this format due to its adaptability to their fast-paced lifestyles. He also introduced tools such as Book Creator, which enables students to author their books, and AI-powered platforms like Magic School, which provide interactive and immersive storytelling experiences. Leading examples from Sharjah school libraries As part of the agenda, Yasser Abdul Muttalib from Al Majd Model School in Sharjah and Jumana Hanoun, librarian and UNESCO programme coordinator, offered practical insights into how technology can foster engaging and dynamic reading environments. Abdul Muttalib explained how school libraries can develop essential student skills such as problem-solving, adaptability and initiative by integrating child-friendly technologies into reading spaces. He highlighted the school's 'Read and Innovate' initiative, encouraging students to turn their reading into real-world models and projects. This approach has boosted student participation in the library and expanded their understanding of key topics such as sustainability and energy. It has also prepared them to take part in major platforms such as the Conference of the Parties (COP) and to succeed in high-profile academic competitions like the Arab Reading Challenge. For her part, Hanoun shared her vision of the school library as a hub for building a vibrant and inclusive school community. She discussed her initiatives, including the 'Young Writers Team', sustainability-themed projects, and collaborations with local stakeholders and international organisations, notably UNESCO. Parents were also actively engaged in these efforts. She highlighted the role of reading as a therapeutic tool, helping children overcome fears and build confidence by guiding them to relevant books. Her initiatives transformed the library into a multi-purpose space featuring educational games and creative activities such as 'Young Entrepreneur Day' and a 'Wall of Achievements'. She also introduced mini classroom libraries built with natural materials and worked to enhance partnerships with public libraries. Parents as partners in building reading habits The session titled 'Connecting and partnering with families' highlighted the essential role of parents in fostering long-term reading habits among students. Cherity Pennington, Director of Libraries and Media Services at Shawnee Public Schools in Oklahoma, USA, addressed school libraries' challenges in establishing meaningful and sustained relationships with families. She shared practical examples to encourage greater parental engagement in supporting their children's reading development. Empowering professionals through international associations In a session titled 'Coming together through associations to empower school librarians', Becky Calzada, President of AASL, emphasised the value of collective action and knowledge exchange among professionals. She underscored the role of professional associations as vital platforms for sharing resources, advancing skills, and strengthening the visibility and impact of school librarians across varied educational contexts. Knowledge Cafe: Networking and engagement space The conference also hosted the 'Knowledge Café', an informal forum encouraging attendees to engage with experts and peers. Topics included strategies for supporting reluctant readers, assessing student learning, building collaboration between librarians and teachers, integrating technology with reading, engaging families, and empowering local talents. The event concluded with a session titled 'Sharing and next steps', featuring reflections from UAE-based school librarians on advancing reading initiatives in local schools. Certificates were then awarded to all participants, with attendees affirming the importance of continuing such professional gatherings to expand the role of school libraries across the Arab world.
