Leading in the Age of AI: A 4-Phase Approach

As of this post there are 10 states in the U.S. that have passed some sort of AI policy or guideline. With summer just a few weeks away, school systems across the country are grappling with how to best utilize AI within their institutions. This takes strategic planning, communication and professional learning from school leaders to be effective.

As someone who’s spent the last 25 years working with schools on the thoughtful integration of technology for learning, some of this feels like Déjà vu. Whether it was interactive white boards or iPads or social media, schools have wrestled with digital literacy and integration whilst under the weight of state-mandated initiatives. While AI holds promise of becoming a powerful personalized learning tool, my fear is that we will miss this opportunity because of all the outside “noise” that leaders have to deal with on a daily basis.

While I can’t fix all of this with one blog post, I do have the benefit of being connected with amazing education experts and spending time training staff on best practices around AI. Over the last few months I’ve been developing a full-day leadership workshop that focuses on the big ideas and small changes that will optimize AI integration in schools. Below are the four phases school leaders should consider around AI this summer as we head into the 2024-25 school year.

Phase 1: EXPLORE

It’s nearly impossible to make decisions around integration, ethics and literacy without first exploring what AI tools are out there and what they are capable of. When I kick off an event, I find it’s important to get everyone on the same page and almost instantly using various tools. Whether it be one of these AI-Inspired Icebreakers or my personal favorite, KarAIoke, exposing leaders and teachers to these tools in a fun and creative way sets a tone for the day.

Following the opening activity, we set some context around what AI can and cannot do as well as give everyone an opportunity to voice what concerns they have around AI. Crowd-sourcing concerns around AI doesn’t solve the problems, but it does place some context around what challenges we might need to over come later in the day. Then, we go into an overview of some of the top AI applications, starting with Large Language Models (LLMs).

It’s important at this point to give leaders some time to explore, try a few different prompt activities, and have some fun with the outputs. This time allows leaders to see that while a lot of the AI outputs can be pretty impressive, it’s not a substitute for human outputs. It also gives them time to build what I call their “AI Admin Toolkit” as they will be modeling the use of these tools as well.

Phase 2: DISCERN

As I mentioned above, listing out concerns can be a bit of a cathartic practice. However, it also helps identify areas leaders will need to address before fully integrating AI into their schools. How should schools address academic integrity around AI? What about misinformation and bias that comes from some of the outputs? How are these platforms using our data? Will using AI weaken our students’ critical and creative thinking? How do we assess with AI?

These are all important questions that need to be addressed before fully implementing any type of AI-integrated curriculum. These building blocks need to be defined and guidelines created to address each concern before moving forward. Now that leaders have spent time exploring the tools, it’s time to put them to good use. Using a combination of human experience and artificial intelligence, leaders will produce a series of “problems of practice” outcomes around each of these challenges and any others they may have identified. At this point, we turn theory into action.

Phase 3: PLAN

Exploring the tools and addressing the challenges set up the “third act” if you will. It’s now time to ideate and plan for AI literacy pathways and curriculum integration at all levels. Because of many of the age restrictions on AI tools (usually 13+), elementary is sometimes forgotten as part of this process, but they are in some ways the most important component.

Over the next several years of their educational journey, elementary students will be utilizing and creating with AI in their classrooms. Setting that foundation of what is “appropriate” and thoughtful AI use starts with kindergarten. Research shows that while some tech companies like to anthropomorphize tools like AI (have you ever called your Alexa “her”?), we need to make sure our younger students understand that it is only a tool, not a sentient being. Scaffolding the proper use of AI tools and modeling with elementary students sets them up for success in later grades.

In secondary schools, creating best practices and guidelines for AI use should come before policy in many ways. A policy is only meaningful if it’s followed and enforced. Teachers are ultimately the gatekeepers of AI use with their students. The use of AI should be intentional and transparent in the process of learning. Teachers will need to shift their evaluation and assessment of learning from the final product to that learning process as well. That might mean creating different rubrics to evaluate the process or the situational use of AI during various components of the learning cycle like I’ve outlined here.

Phase 4: GUIDE

Technology has been a part of schools for the past several decades. For the majority of that time, it’s been relegated to a musty computer lab where students learn how to type or create some sort of coding script. AI is different in that it is something that can be useful at all levels and for all subject areas. Universities are beginning to see this shift too and are implementing AI in all colleges. One of the early adopters to this shift is the University of Florida who makes AI a requirement course in each college, even agriculture.

Integrating AI into the curriculum can be both a simple and complex process. In some cases, like with some foundational learning skills, AI may not even be a part of the process. But in other cases, like creating presentations, visual representations, videos, songs, etc. that would have taken a lot of learning time, AI can be used to assist with that part of the creative process. Using tools like Khanmigo as a math tutor or Copilot to help with the peer review process can free up time for more personalized learning and one-on-one time between teacher and student.

These four phases could each take several days of intense work to accomplish and would need to include teachers as part of the process. Much like 12 years ago when I wrote about the iPad being the Swiss army knife of education, AI too has great potential to be a part of many stages of the learning process. Our job as leaders is to create space and be intentional about its use going forward.

Carl Hooker is an international speaker and trainer. He works with schools and events across the country to thoughtfully integrate tools like AI into learning. His latest book Learning Evolution shares several examples, strategies and ideas like this one. His latest session “Leading in the Age of AI” is designed for school leaders looking to implement AI thoughtfully in their schools. If you are interested in booking Carl for your next event or professional development day, fill out this speaking form to get more information.