Navigating The Frontier Of Ai In Education

Pat Yongpradit, Chief Academic Officer of Code.org and Lead of TeachAI

Pat Yongpradit is the Chief Academic Officer of Code.org and the lead of TeachAI. As a global thought leader in artificial intelligence and computer science education, he has influenced each stage of the education system, from policy to practice, in the legislature and classrooms.

TeachAI launched in 2023 amid the rapid rise of generative AI use in workplaces, at home, and in schools. In the educational setting, AI is poised to transform student learning, teacher support, and school management and operations, and the education community naturally has questions about how to harness its benefits and mitigate its risks. Working with over 150 advisory committee members and education authorities, TeachAI is bringing together a community of diverse stakeholders to develop resources to guide the safe, effective, and responsible use of AI in schools.

AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit

Our first resource released; the AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit presents a framework for education leaders working on initial policies for implementing AI in their schools. The toolkit offers real-world examples and sets forth seven practical guiding principles:

• Purpose: Explicitly connect the use of AI to educational goals, including increasing inclusivity and reducing the digital divide.

• Compliance: Affirm adherence to existing policies, regulations, and ethical considerations.

• Knowledge: Promote AI literacy, which includes understanding how AI works, its limitations, implications and ethical considerations.

• Balance: Realize the benefits of AI and address the risks.

• Integrity: Advance academic integrity by addressing plagiarism risks and emphasizing fundamental values like honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

• Agency: Maintain human decision-making through intervention and approval processes.

• Evaluation: Continuously assess the impact of AI and review guidance, incorporating feedback from teachers, parents, and students.

Foundational Policy Ideas for AI in Education

Next, TeachAI unveiled a set of resources to help global leaders understand AI’s implications for education – both the benefits and the risks – to ensure that the future workforce is prepared. The Policy Resources seek to focus AI policies foremost on teaching and learning. They include four briefs – What is AI?; AI in Education and the Workforce; Classroom Perspectives on AI; and AI Policy Landscape - as well as presentation materials with the following five key policy ideas:

• Foster leadership: Create an AI in the education task force with experts, educators, students, community members and policymakers to guide policy and oversee implementation.

• Promote AI literacy: Integrate AI concepts into curricula and teach students to evaluate AI and its outputs critically.

• Provide guidance: Establish clear guidelines for the safe and responsible use of AI in education.

• Build capacity: Support educators and staff in integrating AI into teaching, learning, and school management and operations.

• Support innovation: Fund research and development to advance AI in education pedagogy, curriculum and tools.

Guidance on the Future of Computer Science Education in an Age of AI

Our newest resource, Guidance on the Future of Computer Science Education in an Age of AI, outlines preliminary insights for responsibly and effectively integrating AI into primary and secondary computer science (CS) education. Addressing common misconceptions and aiming for a balanced perspective on critical issues inspires the community to reflect on what it means to teach with and about AI.

This guidance comprises a series of briefs designed for a wide range of users, including teachers, administrators, curriculum providers, professional development providers, standards writers, edtech developers, and researchers. In the first installment of this series, we examine three of the most pressing questions in CS education today:

• Why is it Still Important to Learn to Program?

• How Are Computer Science Teachers Teaching with and About AI?

• How Can Students Become Critical Consumers and Responsible Creators of AI?

AI Literacy Framework

Looking ahead, we are preparing an AI Literacy Framework to facilitate effective curriculum development. In addition to identifying foundational AI skills, the framework will outline ways to integrate AI literacy into the curriculum and give teachers the necessary tools not only to teach skills but also to promote critical and responsible use of the technology.

AI literacy involves the responsible use of AI tools not only in computer science but across all subjects, and it prepares students to be critical consumers of AI at school, at home, and in the workplace. We aim to produce an AI Literacy Framework that is dynamic, user-centered, forwardlooking, and applicable in diverse educational contexts. To that end, we are using the same multistakeholder approach we have used in developing the earlier resources, and we expect that the framework will continually evolve, adapt, and improve.

Different Perspectives and a Common Goal

TeachAI will continue bringing together education leaders and technology experts in an ongoing conversation with many different perspectives and one common goal: Ensuring the safe, responsible, and effective use of AI in schools. If your organization provides curriculum or professional learning for CS education, we invite you to join us in the ongoing discussion. In the meantime, look at our resources, and sign up for updates, including our latest news and events.

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