Two approaches to using artificial intelligence in K-12 schools clashed mildly this week as the Wyoming Joint Education Committee broached the issue as one of its priority topics this year.
Some lawmakers and members of the public warned against unleashing the hazards and unknowns of the technology on teachers and students.
Subject-matter leaders in the Wyoming Department of Education reasoned, conversely, that AI is becoming so widespread that it’s wiser to help staffers and students use it responsibly.
The committee ultimately didn’t draft legislation during its Tuesday meeting, but questioned the department on next steps.
Wyoming Department of Education Chief of Staff Dicky Shanor called the department’s approach “scenario planning.”
Nathan Tedjeske, chief of innovation at the department, said the agency is working from multiple angles to equip school districts, parents, and the department’s own people with guidance.
That includes creating trainings for teachers, school administrators and district staffers on, “What is this, how do you use it,” said Tedjeske.
“We’re on the side of like, be aware. We should have a foundational level of knowledge of how does this work and what does it mean for us in the school systems,” he added.
Students Are Using It #
Tedjeske cautioned against ignoring the encroachment of AI into students’ lives, theorizing that students have access to it at home and should learn to use it responsibly.
He said 90% of student experience with AI is through less-than-ideal platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.
Schools should have a “quality vetting process,” he said, because, “The actual level of data security concerns involved with all this is pretty staggering.”
WDE’s digital learning program consultant Steven Priest “has done a great job” addressing student data pitfalls, added Tedjeske.
Concerns have surfaced around academic integrity and hazards of uneducated use, he said.
“When we don’t have the tools in place for the kids to learn how to use it ethically and responsibly … there’s a lot of security concerns,” he said. “So we’re working towards supplying tools to deal with that. We’re not there yet. But hopefully soon.”
On the department side, said Tedjeske, employees have been learning how to use AI as a time-saver, “so we’re spending less time on tedious tasks and more on school districts.”
Tedjeske cast the multiplying tech as inevitable.
“We had cellphones and we said, ‘That’s not us, we don’t want to touch that.’ And then cellphones were done to us,” he said. “And social media came along, and we said, ‘That’s not us, we don’t want to touch that.’ And then social media was done to us.”
With AI looming, “Let’s be at the front of the conversation,” he said, adding that that means Wyoming would dictate to AI product vendors which needs are right for Wyoming’s kids, rather than established product vendors dictating priorities to a state behind the curve.
Tedjeske said some products can help teachers with seating charts and other logistics and “clerical” tasks.
Nope #
Jenifer Hopkins, a Casper-area mom and school board member who said she was speaking on her own behalf, said she recognizes that the business sector will want people who can design and work with AI.
But young kids shouldn’t be mired in the tech’s distractions, she said.
“I don’t think they need it in the younger years,” said Hopkins. "I’d like us to start peeling back even from computer use.”
Though some kids will go into AI, not all will.
“We’re not here to tell them how to think or what they’re supposed to be in life,” she said. “We’re supposed to give them the tools to decide that for themselves.”
Committee Co-Chair Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, said he agrees wholeheartedly.
“I think the job of a school is to create real intelligence,” said Andrew.
This Sounds Important #
Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, said the topic sounds “potentially quite important,” and asked the department to confirm its stance that the tech’s entrance into Wyoming’s K-12 system is inevitable.
If that’s the case, he added, “How do we go about reaching the parents?” Scott also asked how the Legislature could prevent AI hazards that can harm kids.
Priest said the department is focusing initially on school administrators and teachers, but parent resources are available and the department’s goal is to build a course for parents to learn more about AI.
“Yes, we’re working on that,” said Priest.
Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, who is running to become the next state Superintendent of Public Instruction, voiced concerns as an educator.
Those concerns include teachers as well as students.
“(I’m a) former public-school teacher and now I work at a university. I have grad-level students who appear to be losing the ability to critically think and problem-solve,” said Kelly. “Because they’ve become so adept at having AI research for them, read for them, summarize, sometimes even read out loud to them.”
In classroom conversations, “a bit of atrophy in their cognitive functions” is noticeable, he added.
If teachers are using AI to deliver curriculum to students, they’re doing “less thinking” and relying on AI more, he said. Kelly asked what the state Department of Education is doing to research product hazards.
Same Level Of Concern #
Tedjeske said the department is on the same level of concern and doesn’t want to offload cognitive tasks.
“We’re very much on the side of human-in-the-loop with all this,” he said.
Tedjeske speculated that Kelly’s graduate school students didn’t get training before receiving “unfettered access” to AI, and that students should be trained beforehand.
Sheridan School District No. 1 developed a guidance document for AI issues, said Fred Hollingshead, director for the district's Cowboy State Virtual Academy.
Guidance is more flexible than policy in the fast-paced tech world, he added.
The district has faced concerns with AI research tools being biased, and hallucinating.
Hollingshead said, “We share with students good uses of AI and bad uses of AI,” and discuss prohibited uses like plagiarism and surveillance.
Teachers’ AI detection programs will sometimes “throw out false positives” and wrongly flag a student’s work for AI use, he added.
“I would want this committee to know, your districts are on top of it,” said Hollingshead. “We are paying attention.”