Superintendent Dr. Dan Stepenosky recently made public a new set of guidelines for the use of AI in the classroom, along with his new plans to form an AI (Artificial Intelligence) Advisory group for Agoura High School and Calabasas High School.
The guidelines that Stepenosky developed contain simple points like using AI to aid in creativity and the formation of ideas, to clarify material discussed in class, and to help with research support. The point of the guidelines are to make teachers and students more comfortable as they explore and utilize AI in the classroom.
“I’m not coming in with a prescribed plan, but hopefully [staff, students, parents, teachers, etc] will come together with some practices and ideas. The guidelines are a living document, I mean, there’s already parts of them that I want to change,” said Stepenosky.
Once a finalized guideline is made, Stepenosky plans to get input from Superintendent Leadership, a youth advisory group composed of a select number of high school students who represent the larger student population. However, the new AI guidelines also mention new plans to give staff support to develop AI literacy.
“We’ve had three different professional development sessions, and we’re planning more for the fall. It’s really teachers talking to teachers about how they utilize [AI] best. The goal is [teachers] turn around and are more effective in their classroom,” said Stepenosky.
The AI Advisory group will be composed of many different community members who will assist in supporting teachers and students and minimizing the downsides of AI.
“We had thirty-five people apply, fourteen of them were high school students, the rest will be parents and teachers. I’m going to have at least one principal, and then probably going to have some folks from the Education Services Department. I’m looking for parents with experience in AI in a professional setting,” said Stepenosky.
Stepenosky is not specifically worried about the possible downsides of AI, though, and is more just open to exploring the possibilities.
“There were lots of things that were going to negatively impact education, [like] email, text messaging, cell phones, Google Docs, right? And these things were going to be the downfall of education and none of them were,” said Stepenosky.
In the future, there might be even more additional support in the classroom with AI, and there were talks of dedicating a unit to AI literacy.
“That’d be an awesome unit for a [computer science] class. It’s on the table,” said Stepenosky.
