蜜桃影视

Education is at a Crossroads: Help Us Illuminate the Path Forward.听

As we enter another school year, the debate over AI鈥檚 role in education is intensifying. There鈥檚 a sharp divide between those urging us to take advantage of these tools and others who support a more cautious approach. Educators want guidance on the best ways to use emerging technologies without compromising privacy, encouraging plagiarism or making learning less authentic. And yet, AI technology is evolving so quickly that it seems like we鈥檒l always be playing catchup. 

Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Office of Educational Technology (OET) released new guidelines for EdTech companies earlier this year called 鈥�.鈥� The report underscores the need for 鈥渞esponsible innovation,鈥� adding, 鈥渆ducator and student feedback should be incorporated into all aspects of product development, testing, and refinement to ensure student needs are fully addressed.鈥� As , 鈥淭he era of tech-first solutions is over. Developers must collaborate meaningfully with educators from day one. Understanding pedagogy is as crucial as coding skills.鈥�

The shares this mindset as part of our mission to reimagine the high school learning experience so it鈥檚 more relevant and engaging for today鈥檚 learners, while better preparing them for the future. We see AI as a tool with transformative potential for educators and makers to leverage 鈥� but only if it鈥檚 developed and implemented with ethics, transparency and equity at the forefront. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e building partnerships between educators and AI developers to ensure that products are shaped by the real needs and challenges of students, teachers and schools. Here鈥檚 how we believe all stakeholders can embrace the Department鈥檚 recommendations through ongoing collaborations with tech leaders, educators and students alike.

Keeping Tech and Learning Student-Centric

XQ鈥檚 approach to high school redesign is always student-centric. In that spirit, we must shift from the mindset that AI and other tech tools are solely for educators; they also exist to improve students鈥� learning. Rather than focusing exclusively on improving output (such as lesson plans and assessment materials), makers should also emphasize improving outcomes, such as student proficiency and engagement. Ann-Katherine Kimble, XQ鈥檚 Director of School Success, said that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 wrong to focus only on how AI can save teachers time and make their jobs easier. 鈥淥ur young people, teachers and classrooms don’t deserve that,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭hey deserve a point of view that believes that AI can enhance your practice and knowledge, deepen your creative and responsive approaches and help educators capitalize on the sweet spot where the art of teaching and the science of learning meet.鈥�

At , an XQ school in Memphis, Tennessee, computer science teacher Mohammed Al harthy sees AI as a partner in the classroom 鈥� something students engage with during the learning process but never rely on for the finished product.

For instance, in one project his students explored how to build AI applications to track hand movements for American Sign Language, highlighting the value of learning how AI works, writing code in Python and experimenting with tools like Google鈥檚 MediaPipe. Al harthy isn鈥檛 so worried that his students will simply copy and paste as they learn. 鈥淎rtificial intelligence never sounds like a high school student, so the concerns about cheating are kind of silly,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e concerned about that, you should step back and reassess what your students are doing from the start.鈥� This approach aligns with a national shift toward focusing on and collaboration rather than rote answers, allowing students to use AI as a tool to enhance their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

---

AI is just one of many topics covered by the, a newsletter that comes out twice a month for high school teachers. Check it out and subscribe now.

---

Ensuring Equitable Learning Opportunities

At XQ, we believe that ensuring equitable access means creating AI-driven learning experiences that are flexible, adaptive and tailored to the unique needs of diverse student populations, especially neurodivergent students and multi-language learners. AI can help by creating tools designed to serve all learners fairly and effectively without stripping away our students’ individuality.

One of the technology鈥檚 most promising capabilities is its ability to provide real-time, actionable feedback to students and educators. Tim Brodsky, a thought leader on AI who taught social studies at the XQ high school in Santa Ana, California, was recently for his innovative use of generative AI to support multilingual learners in his AP courses. With automated feedback occurring in real-time, Brodsky said systems can analyze data and provide immediate insights about student engagement, attendance and other factors to predict risk factors. 鈥淭his takes the load off teachers, who often have to sift through spreadsheets to find trends and nuances,鈥� he said. 鈥淎I provides a better method for holistic data collection and a more effective way of measuring it.鈥� 

However, student data always comes with caveats. Too often, algorithms mirror the on which they鈥檙e trained. found this can result in mischaracterizing the writing of non-native English speakers as AI-generated, and experts found language models that classified certain jobs, like secretary or flight attendant, as feminine. XQ addresses this problem by working closely with developers to ensure their products are more culturally responsive to the needs and outcomes educators are looking to provide for their students.

For example, teachers at Crosstown worked with the EdTech company to develop (PBL) experiences. The company鈥檚 CEO and co-founder Aatash Parikh said this collaboration was helpful for both sides and influenced the evolution of the company鈥檚 AI products. 鈥淗aving educators at Crosstown High School walk us through their workflow designing project-based learning experiences helped us realize what would make Inkwire a more complete solution for schools,鈥� he said. 

A former PBL teacher himself, Parikh wanted to ensure that Inkwire鈥檚 generative AI tools don鈥檛 just stop at creating PBL plans, but also incorporate deeper pedagogical layers to be more responsive for educators and schools. At Crosstown High, educators, including science teacher and Head of Innovation and Research Nikki Wallace, showed the Inkwire team what they were learning from each other, and how to integrate that professional feedback into their platform. 鈥淲e鈥檙e helping these makers understand how equity is created in the classroom, helping them make more responsive products,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淭eachers learn best from other teachers.鈥�

Fostering Ethical Collaboration Between Educators and Developers

The days of tech-first solutions are over; what鈥檚 needed now is a deep partnership where developers and educators work hand-in-hand to ensure AI tools are technologically sound and pedagogically effective. The DOE鈥檚 new guidelines for EdTech refer to this as a 鈥渄ual stack鈥� approach鈥攁 framework that combines the 鈥渄evelopment stack鈥� applied to product creation alongside a 鈥渞esponsibility stack鈥� to ensure these products are built with ethics, transparency and public trust for classroom use.

While many AI tools help create engaging projects and lessons, Wallace wanted a tool to better support personalized learning. While working alongside Inkwire, she said XQ connected her with other AI makers, such as , to build an AI Chatbot that would support an interdisciplinary, community-centered project for her students. 

鈥淲e frontloaded the bot with all the information I need to build a successful learning experience in my classroom,鈥� Wallace explained. Her students looked at statistics for infectious diseases that impact Memphis. Their chatbot then served as what Wallace called a 鈥渃ognitive partner.鈥� It helped them progress through the science project by unpacking and generating complex questions such as 鈥淲hat community partners in Memphis can I reach out to?鈥� and 鈥淲hat information in the research might I have overlooked?鈥� and 鈥淲hat governmental systems are in place?鈥� From there, Wallace said, students figured out which were associated with the project.

鈥淲e wanted the students to be able to identify, build and then reflect on the project benchmarks, learning outcomes and pathways they would need in order to progress at their own pace.鈥�

Wallace said this experience was grounded in two of the : and . The chatbot helped make learning more personalized and rigorous.

Betsey Schmidt, founder and CEO of MeshEd and a veteran curriculum designer, said customizable large language models (LLMs) like PlayLab and Inkwire can transform lesson planning. 鈥淏y understanding what excites and motivates students, educators can more easily adapt core curricula to resonate on a deeper level with learners, incorporating their passions, hobbies, strengths and growth areas 鈥� and making real-world connections to learners鈥� profiles,鈥� she explained. Schmidt has been collaborating with XQ to bring teachers and high school leaders into the AI-for-learning product design cycle 

Looking Ahead

By this time next year, generative AI will likely , whether we鈥檙e ready or not. However, education systems and policies are incredibly resilient to change. The recent pandemic made that painfully clear as schools often went back to business as usual rather than embracing new learning models, such as awarding credit for content mastery instead of seat time (Carnegie units), a rigid system that鈥檚 been used for more than a century and . (XQ and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have to address this problem.)

AI is already showing us how to make education more individualized and equitable. By encouraging tech leaders and makers to continue collaborating with educators, at events like in New York City next month, we can work toward a future in which all students can reach their potential 鈥� and where teachers can make the most of their talent.

Want to learn more about how to create innovative teaching and learning in high schools? Subscribe to the , a newsletter that comes out twice a month for high school teachers.

Disclosure: is a financial supporter of 蜜桃影视.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter