Safety, ethics guide local school systems’ steps into the AI arena | Local News

Julie Simpson reviews AI use during a STEM Family Night at Eastern Elementary.

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North Carolina in 2024 became one of the first states in the country to issue official guidance to schools on the use of artificial intelligence. Today, 34 states have guidelines or policies on AI in education, which Allied Market Research predicts will grow over the next six years to a more than $85 billion industry, with much of that growth expected to come from K-12 education.

José Garcia, director of K12 curriculum and STEM education for Greene County Schools, has seen evidence of that growth in local schools, where technology that was essentially unheard of a few years ago is now being used to help students brainstorm for projects, develop essays or get past roadblocks in math.

“It’s one of those things that just popped on the scene, and it really took off,” Garcia said of generative AI, a type of artificial intelligence that creates content based on input from users. “As more people started to use it, that’s when it really exploded. It’s still playing itself out.”

Julie Simpson, interim chief technology officer for Pitt County Schools, saw demand for and adoption of the technology come quickly after the coronavirus pandemic, when school closures prompted a swift transition to online learning. The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 thrust AI even more into the mainstream.

“It is something that’s kind of boomed,” Simpson said, “and we’ve had to work to adapt not only our student skills, but also our teacher skills for that.”

Despite the rapid growth of the technology, schools throughout the region appear to be taking a measured approach, proceeding with caution into the unfamiliar landscape.

“As with any new technology, safety and ethics guide every decision we make,” Lindsay Skidmore, digital innovation director for Duplin County Schools, said, explaining that student privacy and data protection are among top priorities.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction addressed similar concerns when it became the fourth education department in the nation to issue guidance to its schools on the use of this evolving technology. Its guidance emphasizes AI literacy at every grade level along with responsible implementation of this new tool for learning.

Why this effort to navigate AI in schools instead of taking a wait and see approach? Garcia said it’s lessons learned from working to adapt to other technology.

“I was still in the classroom when the smartphone kind of took off,” he said. “We did not get ahead of that, and we’re still trying to get ahead of that. That’s one of those technologies that just got away from us. We were not ready for it, and through those lessons learned, for this one we definitely were a little bit more prepared.”

In some areas, Greene County Schools has been a technology trailblazer. A rural district with fewer than 3,000 students, it embraced one-to-one technology in 2004, more than 15 years before COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns forced other districts to do the same. Garcia said some of the concerns people have about AI were the same ones they expressed about laptop use.

A girl raises her hand to participate in an interactive AI presentation during the STEM Family Night.

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“Years ago when we were going to the one-to-one devices, I remember the conversation was, ‘That’s going to impact students’ writing’ … outcomes that people thought were going to be negative. That wasn’t the case,” he said. “I think we’re just sometimes unsure ourselves because it’s new to us and we’re not sure how to use it. It takes time to build that capacity.”

In area school districts, that building process began with teaching the teachers. Pitt County Schools brought a group of 50 educators together during the summer of 2024 for an AI “boot camp,” where they learned about the technology and issues regarding its use. These “AI Champions” in each school are leading the integration of the technology into the classroom.

“A lot of our training to teachers is about teaching students in that K-5 realm,” Simpson said. “We provide professional development on how they could teach students to know what’s real and not real, how to identify fake images and things like that. That’s AI literacy.”

In elementary grades, AI access is teacher driven, and there is no student interaction with chatbots. Some AI technologies contain terms of service that prohibit use by ages under 13 or require parental permission.

“As they get older, our professional development that we provide our teachers does change to match what the kids would be interacting and doing,” Simpson said. “The goal is that they’re using it to support their learning. It’s a tool to enhance what they already know, not necessarily replace what they know.”

Duplin County Schools has integrated specialized platforms that use AI tools to deliver targeted, individualized support. For example, Skidmore said Edmentum’s Exact Path provides adaptive learning in core subjects. The platform identifies each student’s strengths and skill gaps, creating personalized learning paths. In mathematics, the AI assistant within the Envision SAVVAS platform offers help when students encounter challenging math problems but stops short of giving away answers, Skidmore said.

“AI makes differentiated instruction more manageable and effective in today’s classrooms,” she said. “By providing real-time insights and adaptable resources, these tools help teachers quickly tailor lessons to meet students where they are.”

Amira Reading Suite, used in grades K–3, listens as students read aloud, analyzes their progress in real time, and offers coaching. At the high school level, Amira’s biliteracy features support English as a Second Language students.

Garcia said some of the AI-based learning platforms such as Magic School are capable of providing instruction in dozens of different languages, a tremendous help for students arriving from other countries and having to complete grade-level coursework while working to learn English. Other mathematics learning aides customize problems based on a student’s hobbies or provide extra practice in areas where it is evident that the student has not mastered a skill.

In the classroom, Garcia said, older students can share ideas in AI and receive feedback while they wait for their turn to talk with a teacher.

Students raise their hands to participate in an interactive AI presentation during a STEM Family Night at Eastern Elementary.

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“It’s one of those things where you almost have a personalized mentor,” he said. “It’s like having somebody you can talk through that process to help you with your projects and tasks and activities. But it’s never going to replace a teacher.

“No matter what the technology is, I can tell you this: The most powerful tool in a classroom, in a school, is the teacher.”

While K-12 educators seek to find a balance between competence and over-reliance on technology, the state’s community colleges also are working on ways to best navigate the changes that AI is bringing to education.

Bruce E. Panneton, vice president of instruction and chief academic officer for Edgecombe Community College, was among educators who helped the N.C. Community College Success Center develop an AI handbook to be used across the state’s community college system.

“I like to think we’re kind of ahead of the curve,” Panneton said, “especially considering that a number of people I work with at the system office are presenting at large conferences in other states.”

At the community college level, the handbook is not so much a rule book as a recipe for getting started, he said, explaining that educators differ in terms of how much AI technology they want to use in their classrooms. Edgecombe has provided options for instructors to embrace or prohibit AI use in the courses they teach.

“Trying to figure out how to adapt your assignments to that whole new world is complicated,” Panneton said. “Our faculty are trying to work through it because a lot of industries want to leverage AI too to increase efficiency. If we can give our students that basic competency on proper and ethical use of those large language models, it could give them a leg up in trying to find jobs.”

ECC is one of five community colleges that were selected to participate in a Perkins-funded grant to incorporate generative into community college career and technical education programs. Instructors in applied engineering, business, criminal justice, emergency medical science and nursing are all participating, along with Panneton.

“We’re just trying to figure out ways of making it work and help better prepare students for what is quickly becoming the new normal,” said Panneton, who described language models, advanced AI systems designed to understand and generate human-like text, as “the calculator of this academic generation.”

The state’s community college system has even developed an AI degree program, but he said the adoption process takes some time. Panneton anticipates many community colleges will offer AI courses and workshops to help educate people in their communities about this technology, but the first priority is training faculty in ethical and effective use.

“It can be very helpful but it can also go off the rails in a hurry,” Panneton said. “It’s not necessarily a dangerous tool as long as you’re thoughtful in how you use it.

“We’re trying to figure out ways of leveraging because it’s not going away,” he said. “We either try to keep up as an educational institution or we’re doing our students a disservice and falling behind and making them less career ready.”

Eastern Elementary in Greenville holds a STEM Family Night where artificial intelligence is a popular topic.

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