Since generative artificial intelligence broke into the stage a few years ago, schools and educators faced how to approach powerful but experimental technology. Prohibit it? Kiss her?
A new executive decree firmly plants the White House in this last camp.
On April 23, President Donald Trump signed Advance the education of artificial intelligence for young Americans. The order promotes “the appropriate integration of AI into education” to “ensure that the United States remains a world leader in this technological revolution”.
The main objectives of the directive consist of teaching students and training teachers to use AI in order to improve education results.
Using AI in schools, order indicates: “Demystifying this powerful technology but also arouses curiosity and creativity, preparing students to become active participants and responsible for the workforce of the future and to feed the next generation of American IA innovators to propel our nation to new scientific and economic peaks.”
To give life to this vision, the announcement calls for the creation of a White House working group on the education of artificial intelligence made up of members of the cabinet and chaired by the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The working orders of the working group include the establishment and “quickly” of public-private partnerships with AI industry groups, non-profit organizations and university establishments to quickly develop online resources to teach the literacy of AI to kindergarten students to the 12th year.
Meanwhile, the Executive Decree tastes the Secretary for Education to identify federal spending mechanisms to use AI to improve education results through federal, state and local efforts. The examples listed include the creation of AI -based educational resources, support for higher advice and increase the intensity, tutoring with high impact.
The ordinance also orders the secretary to prioritize federal expenses for professional development which will help teachers instruct students in AI in autonomous IT lessons as well as integrate technology into classes of all subjects. Another training mentioned teachers to use technology to “reduce high intensity administrative tasks. “This is an application that many teachers are already enthusiastic, according to Pete Just, the Director General of AI project for the Consortium for School Networking, a professional association for Edtech leaders from kindergarten to 12th year.
“It brought them back more time in their week,” he said.
In addition, the order calls for creation recorded apprenticeship Linked to AI, the creation of a presidential challenge of artificial intelligence for students and allow secondary school students to take artificial intelligence lessons, including through the double registration in colleges.
While some components of the order lack deadlines for completion, other objectives are supposed to be achieved in several months.
Some education leaders have expressed their support for the general objectives of the Order while expressing questions about how to achieve them.
The birth of the generating AI is “a bit like the arrival of electricity”, explains Beth Rabbitt, CEO of non -profit innovation Education of the learning accelerator, explaining that technology has the potential to change the world for the best – and, if we do not pay attention, also to trigger “lights”.
“It is incredibly important that we, as educators, help children understand how it works and use it in their lives,” says Rabbitt, “but avoid damage.”
Just, from the consortium for school networking, hopes that the decree will put artificial intelligence near the summit of the agenda of the superintendents and other chiefs of education, some of whom seemed reluctant to prioritize AI.
“More and more, they bury their heads in the sand,” says right. “I think it will certainly advance the conversation.”
Violation and defense
Until now, a large part of the discourse on AI in education has concentrated on play defense – against students using the tools has cheatmanagers using them for Replace the teacher workforce and deployments that strengthen Racial and economic iniquities for hand access. Then there are concerns about companies that rush into products in classrooms without adequately protect students from bias,, disinformationdata and inaccurate violations ”hallucinations. “”
The new decree was issued during a period of decline in the regulations governing the AI market, underlines Rabbitt of the learning accelerator. She notes that the Trump administration Rules of administration of Biden revoked Designed to put railings on artificial intelligence tools, and that this new executive decree of education does not have the Mefanity mitigation requirements Included in a separate executive decree ordering government agencies to increase their use of AI.
“There seems to be much more work than we need to make sure that the tools we give to our children are safe and ready to leave, and can actually support their learning in a way that keeps them healthy and whole and protected,” explains Rabbitt.
But many educators have already started playing offense by trying to find positive ways to use artificial intelligence. A group effort, supported by the apprenticeship accelerator, is the collaborative AI school team, which has dozens of school educators across the country Experience and assess the compatible instructions AI. For example, they use AI to Offer writing comments and to teach civic students By developing voter recording chatbots.
The use of AI to improve teacher training corresponds to the vision that Cheryl Holcomb-McCay brings to her new role as president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, she declared to Edsurge, stressing that certain teacher training programs already already use Mixed reality simulations To prepare teachers to excel in class.
“How can we adapt the AI tool to help teachers, in particular new teachers, to receive professional development on site, when they need it, instead of expecting professional development opportunities given by the school system, which could be completely unrelated to what the new teacher needs?” Holcomb-McCoy asks.
She was happy to see the decree indicate that the administration would invest resources in teacher training. Persistent teachers' labor shortages And Students are struggling in mathematicsHolcomb-McCoy says she would like to see additional federal support for the training of teachers of first-rate science, mathematics and technology who can prepare students today to become the innovators of the AI of tomorrow.
And with regard to the educational resources of the AI promised by the order, it asks: “How will the federal government ensure that each child and each teacher, regardless of their location, will have equal access to what it provides?”
To make the positive results of AI in education more likely, decision -makers and educators should plan a realistic rate of change with regard to AI, known as Rabbitt, allowing enough time to test thoughtful strategic applications.
“The worst thing we can do is that people feel forced, then throw a bunch of tools in classrooms that are not ready for them,” she said. “In the pandemic, we saw what it looked like to ask a whole bunch of educators to quickly move the practice in a very dependent manner of technology without being sufficiently prepared and supported.”
