As artificial intelligence continues to expand its presence in schools, the need to educate educators and support staff also continues to grow. And although many edtech solutions provide training around their specific AI tools, having a basic AI education program can be even more useful.
“Tools have their place,” says Courtney Bock, AI Implementation and Library Media & Technology Specialist for Mead School District in Washington State. “But if we don’t first understand the how and the why, the tools are not as powerful.”
To help support the teachers, Bock has implemented a four-part AI professional development series in her district, from which she graduated and currently serves about 10,500 students in North Spokane County.
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“It can be pretty isolating sometimes as an educator when they’re thinking, ‘Am I the only one that is not getting this?’” says Bock, who was recently honored with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award. “And then they go to the PD, see other teachers, and realize, ‘Oh, no, you’re struggling, too. Okay, great. We can struggle together.’”
The good news is that Bock’s program has been turning that struggle into success.
Boosting AI Confidence and Literacy
Each session in Bock’s after-school program is 90 minutes and offers STEM clock hours for certificate maintenance in Washington State. Each cohort of the program has averaged 25 teachers.
- Session 1 is “AI 101,” providing foundational knowledge, vocabulary (such as “LLM”), how AI works, and its capabilities and limitations, remaining tool-agnostic.
- Session 2 focuses on cheating and AI, helping teachers to redesign assignments and integrate AI into assessments, acknowledging that students are using it regardless.
- Session 3 dives into using AI with students, featuring a more tool-specific approach.
- Session 4 concentrates on using AI to improve teacher workflow, increase efficiency, and save time.
In addition to the cohorts, Bock supports teachers through a monthly newsletter, regular in-person presentations across the district’s 10 buildings, and virtual weekly AI office hours.
So far, the program’s impact has been quantified by significant gains in educator readiness. Post-training data has revealed a 50% increase in teacher confidence regarding the use of AI tools directly with students, as well as a 48% boost in preparedness to teach AI ethics.
Advice For Other Educators
For other educators who are interested in creating a similar PD program in their district, Bock recommends first focusing on AI literacy as opposed to just tossing tools at teachers.
“When I first did a version of this a year ago beforehand, it was just AI tools because that’s what people wanted, and I thought, ‘Yeah, I can show you how to use those tools. No problem,’” she says. “But because I’m in the space every day, I was using basic AI vocabulary, and they didn’t understand these basics. That was a real learning moment.”
Bock also tries to make sure that there’s plenty of free additional resources available to spark those who want to pursue more learning or certification for a specific AI platform. She notes that Anthropic, Google, and AIEDU, among others, all have AI training for educators.
“Some are better than others,” she acknowledges. “But I think it’s good to take it all in with a grain of salt and use what’s best for you, and leave what’s not.”
Bock also recommends keeping parents and families informed about AI use. “When we’re going to be introducing things to their students, I think It’s important to have parent and student voices as part of that conversation.” She stresses that students, in particular, should be included in creating district policies as they are already interacting with AI daily, often through platforms such as Snapchat.
She also suggests involving administrative and central office staff in PD efforts as many may be interested in using AI to boost efficiency or simplify basic tasks, if they aren’t already.
“A Whirlwind Of AI”
Bock, who spent two years away from education at a friend’s startup as a natural language model analyst before returning to a district, has been able to bring that experience into her current role, which focuses on supporting district-wide AI implementation in the mornings and being a K-5 specialist in the afternoons.
“In 2022 when ChatGPT became public, it was like my two worlds just came together, which was not on my bingo card at all,” she says. “And it’s just been, as you can imagine, a whirlwind of AI ever since.“
Ultimately, Bock appreciates having a community of teachers to learn from and with.
“It’s harder to learn things in isolation,” Bock says. “And I’m not saying you can’t, you absolutely can. But when you have that community around you to support you, ask questions, look at what they’re doing as different examples–that’s really powerful.”
Bock’s “AI Stack”
- Claude
- MagicSchool
- CanvaAI
- Wispr Flow
- Gemini/Studio
- NotebookLM
- Gamma