Schools and districts across the country are trying to figure out how to incorporate AI into teaching and learning, while also dealing with concerns about the technology’s effects on students’ critical thinking skills.
In Maine, education leaders say they’re hearing concerns from teachers about AI use leading to cognitive offloading—the process of using external resources to reduce mental effort—and loss of foundational skills, said Kate Meyer, an English teacher and instructional innovation coach for the Mount Desert Island school district.
At the same time, students are worried about losing creativity and critical thinking skills if they use AI, as well as the technology’s effects on the job market and the environment, Meyer said.
These are concerns that don’t necessarily have easy solutions, but the Maine Department of Education has been working to address them, efforts a group of educators discussed in a July 1 presentation at the ISTELive 26 + ASCD annual conference held in Orlando, Fla.
Education Week interviewed the educators ahead of the conference: Meyer; Nicole Davis, the emerging technology specialist for the state education department; and Allison Braley, the department’s computer science specialist.
Start the conversation on AI
What’s the first thing school and district leaders need to do to address concerns about AI?
“You just have to start the conversation,” Davis said. You can’t address the concerns if you don’t know what they are, she said.
If your school or district already has AI guidance that addresses the concerns and ensures intentional use, you can point to it in your conversations, the educators said.
For instance, Maine has developed interactive AI guidance that outlines the state’s approach to the technology, ways teachers can use it for themselves and with students, what administrators need to know, and additional resources. The guidance addresses some of the more common concerns, such as the ethics of using AI and data privacy and safety.
“There’s a lot of different attitudes about [AI],” Davis said. “I don’t think any of that is necessarily a bad thing.” Providing a “balanced, intentional direction” will ease educators’, students’, and parents’ concerns.
Create AI guidance
If your school or district doesn’t yet have AI guidance, it should consider creating some, preferably with people the guidance will affect and who have differing opinions about the technology, the educators said. The guidance could include a way for teachers and students to determine whether AI is the appropriate tool for a task, Meyer said.
“If we use AI and then just close our device and walk away from it, that’s where we really risk cognitive offloading,” she said. “But if we pause to think about and reflect upon what worked and what didn’t, and what we would change, that really avoids [cognitive offloading].”
Providing professional development in a variety of ways is also an important step, they said. Maine has hosted multiple opportunities across the state, whether in person or virtual, synchronous or asynchronous, said Davis.
Build up student and staff AI literacy
Education leaders can also spotlight staff who are ahead in their AI experimentation and implementation, Davis said.
“We want to highlight those champions and share what they’re doing,” she said.
Students need to build their AI and digital literacy skills, too, said Braley. This means teaching students about the technology behind the scenes of AI and helping them establish healthy relationships with digital technologies, she said.
However, the most important thing for education leaders to understand when addressing concerns about AI is that it isn’t about “being a cheerleader for AI,” Meyer said.
“I don’t necessarily love AI or hate AI,” she said. “It’s not about that. It’s really about helping [students and teachers] question this technology and evaluate the output.
“My big fear is that we end up with a generation of people who know how to use AI but don’t know how to question AI, and that’s where we might find ourselves in some trouble,” Meyer said.
