Make AI a force for good in schools

"Advancements in artificial intelligence are shaping nearly every facet of society, including education. Over the past few years, especially with the availability of large language models like ChatGPT, there's been an explosion of AI-powered edtech. Some of these tools are truly helping students, while many are not. For educational leaders seeking to leverage the best of AI while mitigating its harms, it's a lot to navigate."

"Too often, AI-powered edtech is developed without grounding in research or educators' input. This leads to tools that may seem innovative, but solve the wrong problems, lack evidence of effectiveness, ignore workflow realities, or exacerbate inequities. What we need is a fundamental shift in education research and development so that educators are included in defining problems and developing classroom solutions from the start."

AI-powered edtech has proliferated with large language models, producing some useful tools and many ineffective or harmful products. Many tools are developed without educator input or research grounding, leading to solutions that misaddress problems, lack evidence, ignore classroom workflows, and worsen inequities. A fundamental shift toward collaborative R&D is needed so educators, researchers, and developers co-define problems and build context-appropriate solutions. Systems should create infrastructure and incentives to enable ongoing collaboration, prioritize learning science and evidence, and support continuous iteration. Such approaches can improve effectiveness, align tools with classroom realities, and reduce inequitable outcomes for students.

Read at Fast Company