Developing Your School’s Vision for AI

Navigate the role of AI for yourself and your school community with our guide for leaders and administrators. Get resources to create your school’s AI policy, to evaluate AI tools, and to introduce AI to your staff and your students.

Cindy Blackburn, Sarah Phillips and Parita Parekh

5 min read

As a school leader, decisions concerning AI add a new layer of complexity to an already demanding role. This challenge encompasses preparing students for an AI-driven future, staying current on school best practices, and confidently addressing questions about academic integrity and ethical use.

We get it—school leaders are pressed for time, and the onslaught of new information, often buried in lengthy reports from organizations like UNESCO and UNICEF, can be overwhelming. While staying informed is crucial, you might find yourself asking: What’s truly essential for me to know and prioritize as a school leader?

We crafted this guide with you in mind. Our aim was to provide school leaders with a user-friendly, all-in-one resource for shaping your vision for AI and planning next steps for your school. We provide clear and comprehensive answers to the following questions:

What questions should I be asking about AI use?
How do I select and evaluate tools?
How might we adapt our curriculum for an AI future?
What is the role of citation and academic integrity connected to AI use?

But this guide goes beyond theory! It’s jam packed with resources you can actually use. Including an exemplar AI policy, an AI tool evaluation checklist, and a brand new student citation template! We’ve got everything you need to put theory into practice, to navigate this new terrain with confidence and a toolkit for success.

Let’s jump in!

What questions should I be asking about AI use?

As leaders we don’t need to have all of the answers, but we definitely need to be asking the right questions. Our favorite framework for organizing thinking around AI comes from UNICEF. We call it the 3Ps:

We also provide a sample AI policy organized around the same framework! Feel free to use or adapt our AI policy to meet your school’s unique needs.

Get our sample AI school policy

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How do I select and evaluate AI tools?

In the world of education, AI brings some exciting possibilities. It can personalize and differentiate instruction, simplify assessment and feedback, and truly meet the needs of every learner. Plus, it’s a game-changer for teachers, helping them save precious time. At Toddle, we believe in the power of AI to not just save time but also take teaching to the next level.

It’s quite common for various tools in the market to tout AI as a panacea, a one-size-fits-all solution to any educational challenge. While the potential of AI in education is undoubtedly significant, it’s crucial to approach these claims with a discerning eye. AI is a powerful tool, but its effectiveness depends on how well it aligns with the specific needs and goals of a school or educational institution.

With so many AI tools being advertised, how do you choose the right ones for your community? To make it easy, we’ve put together an AI tool checklist as a guide to help you pick tools that match your vision and needs.

Access our checklist for shortlisting AI tools

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How might we adapt our curriculum for an AI future?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model that can serve as a virtual assistant and educational companion for teachers. It’s like having a knowledgeable and supportive friend by your side, one who is ready to help with planning lessons, answering questions, brainstorming, designing resources, and offering creative ideas. With its ability to understand and generate human-like responses, ChatGPT empowers educators by making complex concepts more accessible, fostering collaboration, and sparking enthusiasm for teaching and learning.

As educators, we do our best to prepare students for an unknowable future, but one thing is absolutely certain: AI will have a profound impact on the lives of our students. Whether or not we have chosen to use AI in our classrooms, we cannot simply ignore the new needs that have arisen for our learners. We will need to develop AI literacy- to teach students to effectively and ethically use this technology and respond to the new challenges it presents.

What and how we teach must adapt. Although this truth is clear, the next steps can feel less certain.

To help address these questions, we break down the current findings about what should be included in an AI curriculum. We also provide both an international and national example of a K-12 AI literacy program as well as considerations for instructional requirements.

Whether you plan to adopt a new AI curriculum or adapt your existing curriculum, this section of the guide will help you to better understand the essential knowledge and skills students will need to develop.

Get our comprehensive guide for school leaders and administrators

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