Embracing the Future: Our Journey Towards Integrating AI in Education

As we navigate through the rapidly evolving landscape of technology and education, it's essential to continually adapt and embrace innovative tools that can enhance our learning environment. In this spirit, I would like to share the steps we have been taking to develop a comprehensive AI Policy and Strategic Development and Implementation Plan, guided by a series of carefully crafted AI Principles based on research and a review of current best practice guidance.

The Importance of AI in Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept; it's a present reality transforming industries, including education. At Pan-American School, we recognize the immense potential AI holds in revolutionizing the way we teach and learn. From personalized learning experiences to automating administrative tasks, AI can significantly enrich our educational landscape, making learning more efficient, engaging, and tailored to individual needs. Indeed, it is currently being used by a range of teachers and administrators for just those tasks - and now, we feel that we are at a stage where we need to intentionally guide and shape these efforts, to ensure that we maximize the potential for impact for each member of our community.

Our Process: Crafting AI Principles

The journey towards integrating AI into our curriculum began with the development of a set of AI Principles. This critical step involved extensive research, collaboration, and thoughtful discussion among a committee of educators, and peers around the globe.  Our aim was to outline a framework that reflects our school's values, prioritizes ethical considerations, and ensures the responsible use of AI in our community.

These principles will serve as the foundation for our AI Policy and guide our strategic planning and implementation process. They emphasize the importance of transparency, inclusivity, privacy, and security, ensuring that AI technologies are used to enhance educational outcomes without compromising our ethical standards.

AI Principles for Pan-American School

Following extensive research and review, the working group has developed the following principles which will inform the development and implementation of AI in all aspects of community life:

  1. Ensure Human Agency through AI.  Ensure human decision-making guides AI’s contribution to learning. Use human agency to actively guide and instruct AI systems to empower ownership of the learning process, enhance the understanding of AI as a tool for learning, and develop leadership skills.
  2. Empower Through AI Literacy and Lifelong Learning: Teach AI literacy as a fundamental component of the curriculum, ensuring students understand how AI works, as well as its societal and environmental impacts. Promote lifelong learning which enhances personalized learning, nurtures individual passions, and fosters excellence.
  3. Advance Equity and Inclusion: Ensure tools and resources are accessible to all learners and create an inclusive environment that respects, values, and promotes diversity. Promote equitable opportunities for excellence in learning and personal development by avoiding bias and ensuring fairness in decision-making.
  4. Foster Ethical Understanding and Critical Thinking: Integrate ethical considerations and critical thinking into all aspects of the learning process such as: teaching students to recognize and reflect on ethical dilemmas in AI; addressing issues of privacy, bias, and plagiarism; and encouraging the questioning and critical evaluation of AI technologies and their applications.
  5. Develop a Connected AI Learning Community: Cultivate a vibrant, engaged, and connected learning community that fosters collaboration, conversation, and shared innovation, enhancing our commitment to making a positive local and global impact through creativity, teamwork, and the application of AI across various contexts.
  6. Prioritize Safe and Responsible AI Citizenship: Prioritize the responsible use of AI, emphasizing data security, personal safety online, the importance of respecting others' privacy, and personal accountability in the digital realm. 
  7.  Innovate Through AI: Position Pan-American School as a hub of high-quality learning and innovation, integrating cutting-edge AI technologies and methodologies into the learning process in order to prepare future-ready, global citizens.

These principles were developed by the following committees (in alphabetical order):

  • Alan Wrafter, General Director, roundtable participant at the Advancement of International Education AI Working Group (Feb 2024)
  • April Gudenrath, Head of English
  • Edison Valverde Quirós, Science & Outdoor Learning Teacher
  • Joshua Aaroon Tercero Loría, MYP Design Coordinator, Design Instructor at Universidad LCI Veritas
  • Melissa Castillo, Science Teacher, Coordinator of Master's Degree in Educational Technology and Innovation (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica), and presenter at the Congreso de Innovación Educativa CIIE 2023 (Tecnológico de Monterrey)
  • Oscar Echandi, I&S, Digital Society and TOK Teacher

A list of references can be found at the end of this post.

AI Policy and Strategic Development and Implementation Plan

With our AI Principles in place, we will now start the development of our AI Policy, and Strategic Development and Implementation Plan. We aim to develop a strategy which will outline how we will integrate AI technologies into our curriculum across the IB continuum of education (PYP, MYP, and DP) over the coming years. Our aim will be to adopt a multidimensional approach, focusing on curriculum development, teacher training, infrastructure upgrades, and continuous evaluation to ensure our objectives are met.

Liminal Spaces: The Excitement of Harnessing AI in Learning

We recognize that we are currently in a “Liminal Space” - a time between stories, where much of what has come before appears to lose relevance and reliability as we look to create new stories that have not yet been told.  While it is true that there is much to be concerned about in how AI might be used, and the ways in which it is already impacting areas such as social media, work, as General Director, I am genuinely excited about the possibilities that AI brings to our educational community and the opportunities that we have to help develop a future vision that is positive, productive, and impactful on future generations. 

We will work to create a reality where: AI tools provide real-time feedback to students, adapt learning materials to suit individual learner needs, and offer immersive, interactive learning experiences; where our educators are supported by AI to enhance their teaching strategies, reduce their administrative workload, and focus more on the personal and intellectual development of each student; and where our students are encouraged to be architects of a new future and create the stories that will inform the world they will inhabit and thrive in into the future.

This is not just a vision; it's the future we are aiming to build at Pan-American School. Our commitment to integrating AI into our educational practices is a testament to our dedication to providing an innovative, holistic education that prepares our students for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Moving Forward Together

The journey towards embracing AI in education is both exciting and challenging. It requires careful planning, collaboration, and a commitment to our core values. As we move forward, I am confident that our community will come together to harness these opportunities, ensuring that Pan-American School remains at the forefront of educational innovation.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm as we embark on this transformative journey together.

Warm regards, 

Alan Wrafter

General Director

 

References

Cherniske, M, Ishihara, T, Kalaleh, H, et al (2024, January)  Human-Centered AI Guidance for K-12 Public Schools. OSPI

Chiu, T. K. (2020). Six Key Principles in Designing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Curriculum for Middle Schools. rdannual, 383.

Holmes, W., & Miao, F. (2023). Guidance for generative AI in education and research. UNESCO Publishing.

Kim, J., Lee, H., & Cho, Y. H. (2022). Learning design to support student-AI collaboration: Perspectives of leading teachers for AI in education. Education and Information Technologies, 27(5), 6069-6104.

Langley, P. (2019, July). An integrative framework for artificial intelligence education. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 33, No. 01, pp. 9670-9677).

Miao, F., Holmes, W., Huang, R., & Zhang, H. (2021). AI and education: A guidance for policymakers. UNESCO Publishing.

Principles | AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit | TeachAI. (2023). www.teachai.org. https://www.teachai.org/toolkit-principles

Touretzky, D., Gardner-McCune, C., Martin, F., & Seehorn, D. (2019, July). Envisioning AI for K-12: What should every child know about AI? In Proceedings of the AAAI conference on artificial intelligence (Vol. 33, No. 01, pp. 9795-9799).

Wong, G. K., Ma, X., Dillenbourg, P., & Huan, J. (2020). Broadening artificial intelligence education in K-12: Where to start? ACM Inroads, 11(1), 20-29.