December 17, 2024 • 24 mins
How are educators feeling about AI?
In this bite-sized episode, host Kailey Rhodes sits down with Andrew Goldman, founder of Writable and EVP of HMH Labs. Together, they dig deeper into HMH's Educator Confidence Report survey results and share what educators really think about AI use in schools. Plus they discuss innovative ways AI is being integrated into lesson planning and curriculum development, all while adhering to high-quality, research-backed standards.
Teachers in America profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for Teachers in America, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, I'm Kaylee Rhodes and this is Teachers in America
.
Welcome to our mini-sode on AIand education.
Andrew, I'm going to introduceyou really formally in just a
second, but I'm just so excitedthat you're here to talk about
AI and education Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Kaylee, it's great to join you, excited to talk with
you and all of our listeners outthere about what's happening
with generative AI.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I mean, yeah, this is a hot topic, so you are in the
hot seat today.
Andrew, are you ready for it?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It is indeed a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, in our last minisode we broke down HMH's new
survey of educators, whichrevealed their top concerns, how
they view the profession andwhat can make it better.
Definitely check that one outif you haven't already.
The link is in the show notes.
And today we're going to digdeeper into that same survey to
share what educators reallythink about AI use in schools.
So before we do that, let'sjust cover the basics Generative
(00:59):
AI oh my gosh, andrew, am Igoing to make a fool of myself
saying all this stuff thatyou're an expert in?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Okay, generative AI is ChatGPT, microsoft Copilot A
lot of our teachers already knowabout that and it quickly
creates content based on prompts, and prompts are what you feed
it.
Prompts are how you talk to it.
So, for instance, a teachermight ask for a list of research
project ideas for high schoolstudents on the topic of women's
(01:26):
basketball and get 10 ideas ina matter of seconds, instead of
having to sit there and figureit out themselves.
Students, meanwhile, can useGen AI to help them develop an
outline for an essay that then,of course, they go write
themselves, and principals mightask it to design a survey for
parents or students that gaugestheir satisfaction with the
school's teaching methods.
So here to weigh in oneducators' use of AI in the
(01:49):
classroom and the survey resultsis Andrew Goldman.
Andrew hi, evp of HMH Labs,which is an incubation team
within HMH focused on thedevelopment and customer
experience of emergingtechnologies, focused on the
development and customerexperience of emerging
technologies, includinggenerative AI for the classroom.
(02:10):
So, andrew, before we get intoit, can you tell us a little bit
about HMH Labs, what exactlyincubation means and you know
what is it you do here and howAI informs the work that you
guys are up to.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
All right.
Well, a lot to share in there.
This is super exciting stuff.
So, first off, incubation isthe idea that we're
experimenting with these newtechnologies to find ways to
apply them in ways that helpteachers in the classroom and
(02:43):
labs was set up as anenvironment where we could bring
together all the differentcomponents of the teacher
experience.
So customer success sits rightwith the engineering team and
the curriculum designers sitwith engineering teams.
(03:04):
It's a completelyinterdisciplinary group that is
set up to be able to rapidlyexplore new ideas and, uh, then
try them in small case, uh,small laboratory type
environments with realclassrooms, and find what works
(03:25):
and you know inevitably,unfortunately, what doesn't work
.
But the goal is to try thingsquickly and build on what we see
as resonating and helpful toeducators.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And on our HMH survey that we administer to educators
, we see that a lot of them arecurious about generative AI and
they're trying it out, but maybethey're still a little wary or
a little cautious about it.
And the survey shows thateducators' use of AI has
increased fivefold, five timesin the past year.
How does that strike you?
(04:01):
Does that surprise you?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It doesn't surprise me at all.
When this round of AI came out,there was an initial bit of
fear, I think, in teachers, butthey quickly became comfortable
with it and saw what anassistance it could be.
(04:23):
And saw what an assistance itcould be.
And when we were talking aboutessay feedback, the opportunity
to get your students writingmore is so significant when you
use AI to help provide feedbackthat it really it's essential
that teachers embrace theopportunity there.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, and it's essential that we provide ways
of using AI that really helpthem see that we're not trying
to dumb down the work, fortrying to streamline the work so
that we can get really evenmore intentional and even more
one-on-one with, maybe, our 150students.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Exactly, and that is the opportunity.
Oops, sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
No, are you kidding me?
You're my guest.
You talk over me whenever youwant, Andrew.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think that is the opportunity with AI is that if
you have so many students, itcan quickly become overwhelming
and it's very hard to have apersonal connection with them
when the AI is able to look atit and understand.
Ok, this was what the studenthad in their last revision of
writing.
(05:34):
These are the changes that theymade and, while they really
address the feedback that yougave them, that's a level of
personal connection that ateacher, unassisted, never could
get to with the numbers ofstudents they have.
It's like making a teacher beable to have a tutor
(05:56):
relationship with their wholeclassroom.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's so important for teachers to hear that AI
isn't coming in between.
It's not like we're robbingthat personal one-on-one,
human-to-human connection.
We're not taking that away.
Ai is actually pouringsomething back into your cup so
that you have.
You can't pour from an emptycup, teachers.
So now that you have just alittle bit of assistance, those
(06:20):
conversations, those momentsthat you do have one-on-one with
those kids can be even morevaluable.
Because you didn't stay up till2 am not reading their essays.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I'm tattling on myself a little bit.
Artificial intelligence couldmake teaching more human,
because it makes the history ofwhat the student has done much
more accessible to the teacherand allows them to interact in a
way that is far more specificthan they could do if they
(06:57):
didn't have that assistance.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That's right, and the survey actually shows that 76%
of educators say generative AIis somewhat valuable to their
work.
I mean, over three-fourths aresaying that AI is, at least
they're like curious about it.
That, to me, shows me thattheir little ears have perked up
.
And 73% say that it saves themtime, with 38% already.
You know this is likecomparatively new technology.
(07:21):
38% are reporting that it savesthem very much or a great deal
of time.
And we also learned that amongeducators who are currently
using AI, 72% plan to use iteven more in the next school
year, especially as they seeeven more ways that it can be
useful, because we have to learnthis technology too.
So I want to read the top sevenways that educators say
(07:42):
generative AI can be useful.
But listeners, what I want youto listen for as I read this
list is that teachers the onething that teachers need every
profession needs more in theirday is time, and when teachers
have more time, they are able todirectly translate that into
impacting students.
So in these top seven ways thatAI is helping teachers save
(08:03):
time and being useful is numberone creating study guides.
Just what have we learned?
How can I distill it into aquick list of what my kids need
to study for their upcomingassessments.
Two designing worksheets.
You know worksheets are notsomething that teachers.
One of the best lessons I gotas a new teacher is do not spend
two hours on something thatyour students are going to spend
(08:24):
10 minutes on.
So this is helping first yearteacher Kaylee.
Number three developing lessonplans.
Number four deliveringpersonalized instruction for
students.
That's really helping teachersdo what they.
What keeps them up at night?
What keeps us up at night isnot being able to have enough
time to differentiate for all ofthe various learners in our
room.
Ai can help with that.
(08:45):
Number five helping withadministrative or repetitive
tasks.
Teachers, we do not need to bedoing things that are taking so
much time and not impactinginstruction whatsoever.
Number six generating writingprompts.
And number seven this one'spretty useful and pretty
interesting producing usefullearning analytics.
(09:06):
So, andrew, any of those sevenor, in particular you want to
chat further about?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, a bunch of them .
They're all interesting indifferent ways.
Number six is actually where westepped into this generation of
AI with Writable.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And so for our listeners who may not know, can
you just tell us a little bitabout Writable?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Sure Writable has been around for about eight
years.
It really formed out of theidea that teachers want to bring
more writing into theirclassroom.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But it just quickly can overwhelm a teacher.
So if a teacher has 150students, if they have a
one-minute interaction withevery student, they've spent two
and a half hours there.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Oh my gosh, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
It just doesn't scale .
So eight years ago we startedWritable with this idea that we
could help teachers optimize theworkflow and offload some of
the feedback needs in writing tothe students through peer
review and self-review andlimited use of AI, and that led
(10:27):
us to about a 30% optimizationin the amount of time.
So, but really three and fourtie together into the ones that
got us so excited about joiningHMH.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Let me restate those really quick.
That's number three, developinglesson plans.
Number three, developing lessonplans and number four,
delivering personalizedinstruction.
So you're really hitting theinstructional ones.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yes, the idea that AI can help in developing lesson
plans and personalizing them toa classroom is incredibly
appealing, and doing that insideHMH is a whole different
opportunity.
There's so much focus out thereon high quality materials and
(11:19):
giving educators materials thatare research-backed.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And one of the risks in generative AI in the wild is
that we could see a repeat ofthe Google DIY curriculum
materials where quality wentdown for the sake of convenience
.
Are you talking to?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
me.
Are you looking at me, Gosh?
Leave me alone.
No, I completely hear you.
I completely hear you.
The DIY does kind of correlatewith forsaking some of the rigor
that we really need to seereintroduced to our curriculum.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yes, and that was what was so exciting about
developing generative AI insideof HMH was that we can actually
take the framework of our highquality materials that are
research backed and meticulouslycrafted, but then we can apply
a remix using generative AI tomake it fit a particular
(12:22):
classroom.
So that may be replacingexamples with student work with
new examples that are relevantto the students in the class and
in writing.
We'll take the lesson plan andcite student work in place of
using a generic lesson thatcomes from outside.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So cool.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, it's.
It's magical what you can doand and how you can take the
framework and use it asscaffolding to build something
that is retains the research andthe quality and delivers it in
a way that is customized forthat classroom.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It's customization and it's streamlining.
And really, where we startgetting into the woods with
where this becomes a littleintimidating for educators is,
you know, the lack ofprofessional development around
AI and maybe what students aregoing to do with it.
So we would be remiss if wedidn't talk about educators'
concern over the lack ofprofessional development around
(13:30):
AI, because educators like me,we crave and want guidance on
how to use Gen AI safely andeffectively.
In fact, in the survey, 76% ofeducators said there needs to be
professional development andcoaching around AI.
That's up from 18% last year.
So it's clear that ourdistricts and our schools must
prioritize training andestablish clear policies for
(13:53):
using AI tools, not onlyprofessionally among teachers,
but also in what we communicatewith our students but also in
what we communicate with ourstudents.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Absolutely, it's so important that schools and
districts lay down their viewson what academic integrity is
going to mean in this new age.
There will be places wherestudents using Gen AI is
completely appropriate, butthere are other places where
there really is the risk thatthey can rob themselves of the
opportunity to do the learningthat they're supposed to be
(14:28):
doing, and so it's veryimportant that schools and
teachers are explicit on how youcan use these tools so that
they make sure that they retainthe integrity of their
instructional plan.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and as this gets, as AI gets more popular in
high schools and middle schoolsand elementary schools, I'm
sure that we'll be hearing fromeducators on the guardrails that
they're putting in place forstudents.
I'm sure that there's stuff thatwe haven't even thought of yet
that's going to get reallycreative place for students.
I'm sure that there's stuff thatwe haven't even thought of yet
that's going to get reallycreative.
But I think that it's importantto emphasize that.
I think that the value that AIcan bring in an environment
(15:09):
where we're really making surethat we are working as a united
front as educators to make surethat we provide the kind of
support that we provide withphones and with just the
internet period, I think thatwe're going to see that it
really yields a lot of rich workand support for whether we're
providing support to parents onhow to support students or
(15:30):
whether we're giving teachersthat time back, or whether we're
just helping students kind ofminimize the busy work and get
to the meat of whatever we'rehaving them learn.
You know, andrew, I'm curiousabout when you picture AI in the
hands of whatever we're havingthem learn.
Andrew, I'm curious about whenyou picture AI in the hands of
students when you picture themusing it in a way that really
enriches their school anddoesn't incringe on their actual
learning.
(15:50):
What would you want for, say,your kids?
What would you picture?
What would you want theguardrails to be in place for
them?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It's an interesting question and I'm lifting this
from someone so I don't knowwhere this is coming from, but I
heard someone say that AIshould be a dessert or an
appetizer, but it shouldn't be awhole meal, and it can be used
in part to help start or tofinish the work that you're
(16:24):
doing, and I think that appliesfor both teachers and students
and is really what we shouldlook forward to as the key
skills that we need to build instudents as they are educated
for this AI age that's in frontof them and what we've said.
(16:47):
I wrestled with this a lot.
What I came to is that what'sreally important is that we
teach students that the behaviorwe're after is that you will
sit down to anything that you'regiven and you'll work at making
it better, and that's themindset that I think we need to
approach in this, this age,where we often will have a
(17:10):
starting point that is wellbeyond the blank page that we
used to have to begin from.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, and it's so intimidating to students and I
love what you said about maybeit's just a starting place.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
It's kind of like I don't think I'm going to put
pressure on myself to bake acake the way that they did in
medieval times, but just becauseI used some tools doesn't mean
I didn't do the work to make thecake.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yes, and it was your cake, decorated your way.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, Andrew, I want to read a quote to you from
Francie Alexander, who is HMH'sSVP of research, and it stresses
the importance of providingteachers with the training to
make the most of AI tools.
Francie says we must ensureteachers have the tools,
technology and professionallearning support they need to
(18:04):
help every student get a qualityeducation.
At HMH, we help educators putthe curriculum, assessment, data
and professional developmentpieces together to accelerate
student success.
We know that AI means there's alot more data coming in.
A well-trained coach canpartner with teachers to help
them make the most of that data.
Andrew, how do you respond towhat Francie's saying here?
(18:25):
Because I mean when we startedout defining generative AI in
terms of chat, GPT and MicrosoftCopilot, which teachers can use
to build lessons, and they cancertainly benefit from PD on how
to use those effectively.
But HMH is developing all thesenew AI-powered tools that can
support teachers too.
So what's the difference andhow do we ensure teachers can
(18:46):
make the most and feel supportedduring their access of those
tools that we're building?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Well, it's a great point there.
What I would say is that a lotof times, with data, we present
it to teachers in a way thatsort of treats them like data
scientists.
Right and that's not theirprofession, and what we've found
(19:15):
is that dashboards can be datarich and insight poor.
This back to school, one of ourfocuses was taking the
dashboards that we provide withall of the data on what your
students have done and producingbrief narratives using
(19:38):
generative AIs.
We're no longer looking to theteacher to interpret the data
from just numbers.
We're giving them the insightsthat we take away from it, based
on the data and the curriculumthat is driving the reading, the
(19:59):
writing, instruction.
So it's really the opportunitywith generative AI is to make
the data much more actionablefor teachers and deliver it to
them in a way that is mucheasier to digest.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, teachers are storytellers and you're using AI
to help tell the story so thatthey can get what they need to
know quickly and get back toteaching.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I want to share just a quick little story for the
listeners that hopefully bringsAI into even more of a positive
space for them.
I recently was a math teacher.
I needed to teach a lesson forPi Day and I wanted to do
something with variouscircumferences of circular
objects, the common pizza or abicycle wheel.
(20:47):
And I needed a lot of thembecause I wanted to assign them
individually to students andthen they would work together in
groups.
But I couldn't go around beforemy lesson and measure go get a
bicycle wheel and go order apizza.
I needed, and I didn't haveaccess to a regulation Frisbee.
I needed all these things andso I said I asked ChatGPT to
(21:10):
generate a list ofcircumferences of common objects
and it did it in you know twoseconds and I had that time back
to make my lesson really shine,whereas if I had wanted to
follow through my lesson byhaving to do it manually, I
would have lost all that timeand I just I.
I was immediately given timeback and it was.
It was especiallytransformative.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's wonderful.
That's the magic that AI shouldbring to the, to teachers
across the country.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, and it's not.
That's not like very hard, youknow, but some of my some of my
colleagues don't know that.
They could just ask that.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, it's incredible that and that's why for years,
we've been making promises ofwhat ed tech could do for
teachers.
But now it's, it's really just,it's happening, it's there.
Teachers will need to becareful with it because, like I
said, there is that risk ofgenerating low quality materials
(22:05):
.
But the opportunity to enableuh teachers is is off the charts
right now.
Exciting time in teaching anded tech.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Just like when we saw phones enter the classroom or
the internet enter our dailylife.
There are, of course, concerns,and we want to respect those,
not only as the teachers arenavigating them, but also as
they're trying to set an exampleand set guardrails for our
students and how they use them.
So, while our educators do haveconcerns about AI, especially
the lack of training and maybehow their students are using it,
(22:40):
we've never encountered aproblem that we haven't managed
to solve together in theeducation space, and I'm so
excited to be a part of HMH'ssolution.
Our overall response in thatsurvey shows cautious optimism.
They see emerging technology asa tool for battling burnout and
giving us much needed time back, which we then use to build
(23:00):
meaningful relationship withstudents.
So we're going to be keeping aneye and a pulse on this space
and how it all plays out.
We're so glad that you're inthat space with us, andrew,
hoping that generative AI canlive up to its promise, and I
feel really confident about thatbecause I know we're in good
hands.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, andrew.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Thank you.
This has been incredible Greatconversation.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
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(23:44):
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You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shaped blog
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The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Thank you to the productionteam of Christine Condon, tim
(24:06):
Lee, jennifer Corujo, neil Fry,thomas Velasquez and Matt Howell
.
Thanks again for listening.
Hi, I'm Kaylee Rhodes and this is Teachers in America
.
Welcome to our mini-sode on AIand education.
Andrew, I'm going to introduceyou really formally in just a
second, but I'm just so excitedthat you're here to talk about
AI and education Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Kaylee, it's great to join you, excited to talk with
you and all of our listeners outthere about what's happening
with generative AI.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I mean, yeah, this is a hot topic, so you are in the
hot seat today.
Andrew, are you ready for it?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It is indeed a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, in our last minisode we broke down HMH's new
survey of educators, whichrevealed their top concerns, how
they view the profession andwhat can make it better.
Definitely check that one outif you haven't already.
The link is in the show notes.
And today we're going to digdeeper into that same survey to
share what educators reallythink about AI use in schools.
So before we do that, let'sjust cover the basics Generative
(00:59):
AI oh my gosh, andrew, am Igoing to make a fool of myself
saying all this stuff thatyou're an expert in?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Okay, generative AI is ChatGPT, microsoft Copilot A
lot of our teachers already knowabout that and it quickly
creates content based on prompts, and prompts are what you feed
it.
Prompts are how you talk to it.
So, for instance, a teachermight ask for a list of research
project ideas for high schoolstudents on the topic of women's
(01:26):
basketball and get 10 ideas ina matter of seconds, instead of
having to sit there and figureit out themselves.
Students, meanwhile, can useGen AI to help them develop an
outline for an essay that then,of course, they go write
themselves, and principals mightask it to design a survey for
parents or students that gaugestheir satisfaction with the
school's teaching methods.
So here to weigh in oneducators' use of AI in the
(01:49):
classroom and the survey resultsis Andrew Goldman.
Andrew hi, evp of HMH Labs,which is an incubation team
within HMH focused on thedevelopment and customer
experience of emergingtechnologies, focused on the
development and customerexperience of emerging
technologies, includinggenerative AI for the classroom.
(02:10):
So, andrew, before we get intoit, can you tell us a little bit
about HMH Labs, what exactlyincubation means and you know
what is it you do here and howAI informs the work that you
guys are up to.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
All right.
Well, a lot to share in there.
This is super exciting stuff.
So, first off, incubation isthe idea that we're
experimenting with these newtechnologies to find ways to
apply them in ways that helpteachers in the classroom and
(02:43):
labs was set up as anenvironment where we could bring
together all the differentcomponents of the teacher
experience.
So customer success sits rightwith the engineering team and
the curriculum designers sitwith engineering teams.
(03:04):
It's a completelyinterdisciplinary group that is
set up to be able to rapidlyexplore new ideas and, uh, then
try them in small case, uh,small laboratory type
environments with realclassrooms, and find what works
(03:25):
and you know inevitably,unfortunately, what doesn't work
.
But the goal is to try thingsquickly and build on what we see
as resonating and helpful toeducators.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And on our HMH survey that we administer to educators
, we see that a lot of them arecurious about generative AI and
they're trying it out, but maybethey're still a little wary or
a little cautious about it.
And the survey shows thateducators' use of AI has
increased fivefold, five timesin the past year.
How does that strike you?
(04:01):
Does that surprise you?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It doesn't surprise me at all.
When this round of AI came out,there was an initial bit of
fear, I think, in teachers, butthey quickly became comfortable
with it and saw what anassistance it could be.
(04:23):
And saw what an assistance itcould be.
And when we were talking aboutessay feedback, the opportunity
to get your students writingmore is so significant when you
use AI to help provide feedbackthat it really it's essential
that teachers embrace theopportunity there.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, and it's essential that we provide ways
of using AI that really helpthem see that we're not trying
to dumb down the work, fortrying to streamline the work so
that we can get really evenmore intentional and even more
one-on-one with, maybe, our 150students.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Exactly, and that is the opportunity.
Oops, sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
No, are you kidding me?
You're my guest.
You talk over me whenever youwant, Andrew.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think that is the opportunity with AI is that if
you have so many students, itcan quickly become overwhelming
and it's very hard to have apersonal connection with them
when the AI is able to look atit and understand.
Ok, this was what the studenthad in their last revision of
writing.
(05:34):
These are the changes that theymade and, while they really
address the feedback that yougave them, that's a level of
personal connection that ateacher, unassisted, never could
get to with the numbers ofstudents they have.
It's like making a teacher beable to have a tutor
(05:56):
relationship with their wholeclassroom.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's so important for teachers to hear that AI
isn't coming in between.
It's not like we're robbingthat personal one-on-one,
human-to-human connection.
We're not taking that away.
Ai is actually pouringsomething back into your cup so
that you have.
You can't pour from an emptycup, teachers.
So now that you have just alittle bit of assistance, those
(06:20):
conversations, those momentsthat you do have one-on-one with
those kids can be even morevaluable.
Because you didn't stay up till2 am not reading their essays.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I'm tattling on myself a little bit.
Artificial intelligence couldmake teaching more human,
because it makes the history ofwhat the student has done much
more accessible to the teacherand allows them to interact in a
way that is far more specificthan they could do if they
(06:57):
didn't have that assistance.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That's right, and the survey actually shows that 76%
of educators say generative AIis somewhat valuable to their
work.
I mean, over three-fourths aresaying that AI is, at least
they're like curious about it.
That, to me, shows me thattheir little ears have perked up
.
And 73% say that it saves themtime, with 38% already.
You know this is likecomparatively new technology.
(07:21):
38% are reporting that it savesthem very much or a great deal
of time.
And we also learned that amongeducators who are currently
using AI, 72% plan to use iteven more in the next school
year, especially as they seeeven more ways that it can be
useful, because we have to learnthis technology too.
So I want to read the top sevenways that educators say
(07:42):
generative AI can be useful.
But listeners, what I want youto listen for as I read this
list is that teachers the onething that teachers need every
profession needs more in theirday is time, and when teachers
have more time, they are able todirectly translate that into
impacting students.
So in these top seven ways thatAI is helping teachers save
(08:03):
time and being useful is numberone creating study guides.
Just what have we learned?
How can I distill it into aquick list of what my kids need
to study for their upcomingassessments.
Two designing worksheets.
You know worksheets are notsomething that teachers.
One of the best lessons I gotas a new teacher is do not spend
two hours on something thatyour students are going to spend
(08:24):
10 minutes on.
So this is helping first yearteacher Kaylee.
Number three developing lessonplans.
Number four deliveringpersonalized instruction for
students.
That's really helping teachersdo what they.
What keeps them up at night?
What keeps us up at night isnot being able to have enough
time to differentiate for all ofthe various learners in our
room.
Ai can help with that.
(08:45):
Number five helping withadministrative or repetitive
tasks.
Teachers, we do not need to bedoing things that are taking so
much time and not impactinginstruction whatsoever.
Number six generating writingprompts.
And number seven this one'spretty useful and pretty
interesting producing usefullearning analytics.
(09:06):
So, andrew, any of those sevenor, in particular you want to
chat further about?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, a bunch of them .
They're all interesting indifferent ways.
Number six is actually where westepped into this generation of
AI with Writable.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And so for our listeners who may not know, can
you just tell us a little bitabout Writable?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Sure Writable has been around for about eight
years.
It really formed out of theidea that teachers want to bring
more writing into theirclassroom.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But it just quickly can overwhelm a teacher.
So if a teacher has 150students, if they have a
one-minute interaction withevery student, they've spent two
and a half hours there.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Oh my gosh, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
It just doesn't scale .
So eight years ago we startedWritable with this idea that we
could help teachers optimize theworkflow and offload some of
the feedback needs in writing tothe students through peer
review and self-review andlimited use of AI, and that led
(10:27):
us to about a 30% optimizationin the amount of time.
So, but really three and fourtie together into the ones that
got us so excited about joiningHMH.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Let me restate those really quick.
That's number three, developinglesson plans.
Number three, developing lessonplans and number four,
delivering personalizedinstruction.
So you're really hitting theinstructional ones.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yes, the idea that AI can help in developing lesson
plans and personalizing them toa classroom is incredibly
appealing, and doing that insideHMH is a whole different
opportunity.
There's so much focus out thereon high quality materials and
(11:19):
giving educators materials thatare research-backed.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And one of the risks in generative AI in the wild is
that we could see a repeat ofthe Google DIY curriculum
materials where quality wentdown for the sake of convenience
.
Are you talking to?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
me.
Are you looking at me, Gosh?
Leave me alone.
No, I completely hear you.
I completely hear you.
The DIY does kind of correlatewith forsaking some of the rigor
that we really need to seereintroduced to our curriculum.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yes, and that was what was so exciting about
developing generative AI insideof HMH was that we can actually
take the framework of our highquality materials that are
research backed and meticulouslycrafted, but then we can apply
a remix using generative AI tomake it fit a particular
(12:22):
classroom.
So that may be replacingexamples with student work with
new examples that are relevantto the students in the class and
in writing.
We'll take the lesson plan andcite student work in place of
using a generic lesson thatcomes from outside.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So cool.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, it's.
It's magical what you can doand and how you can take the
framework and use it asscaffolding to build something
that is retains the research andthe quality and delivers it in
a way that is customized forthat classroom.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It's customization and it's streamlining.
And really, where we startgetting into the woods with
where this becomes a littleintimidating for educators is,
you know, the lack ofprofessional development around
AI and maybe what students aregoing to do with it.
So we would be remiss if wedidn't talk about educators'
concern over the lack ofprofessional development around
(13:30):
AI, because educators like me,we crave and want guidance on
how to use Gen AI safely andeffectively.
In fact, in the survey, 76% ofeducators said there needs to be
professional development andcoaching around AI.
That's up from 18% last year.
So it's clear that ourdistricts and our schools must
prioritize training andestablish clear policies for
(13:53):
using AI tools, not onlyprofessionally among teachers,
but also in what we communicatewith our students but also in
what we communicate with ourstudents.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Absolutely, it's so important that schools and
districts lay down their viewson what academic integrity is
going to mean in this new age.
There will be places wherestudents using Gen AI is
completely appropriate, butthere are other places where
there really is the risk thatthey can rob themselves of the
opportunity to do the learningthat they're supposed to be
(14:28):
doing, and so it's veryimportant that schools and
teachers are explicit on how youcan use these tools so that
they make sure that they retainthe integrity of their
instructional plan.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and as this gets, as AI gets more popular in
high schools and middle schoolsand elementary schools, I'm
sure that we'll be hearing fromeducators on the guardrails that
they're putting in place forstudents.
I'm sure that there's stuff thatwe haven't even thought of yet
that's going to get reallycreative place for students.
I'm sure that there's stuff thatwe haven't even thought of yet
that's going to get reallycreative.
But I think that it's importantto emphasize that.
I think that the value that AIcan bring in an environment
(15:09):
where we're really making surethat we are working as a united
front as educators to make surethat we provide the kind of
support that we provide withphones and with just the
internet period, I think thatwe're going to see that it
really yields a lot of rich workand support for whether we're
providing support to parents onhow to support students or
(15:30):
whether we're giving teachersthat time back, or whether we're
just helping students kind ofminimize the busy work and get
to the meat of whatever we'rehaving them learn.
You know, andrew, I'm curiousabout when you picture AI in the
hands of whatever we're havingthem learn.
Andrew, I'm curious about whenyou picture AI in the hands of
students when you picture themusing it in a way that really
enriches their school anddoesn't incringe on their actual
learning.
(15:50):
What would you want for, say,your kids?
What would you picture?
What would you want theguardrails to be in place for
them?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It's an interesting question and I'm lifting this
from someone so I don't knowwhere this is coming from, but I
heard someone say that AIshould be a dessert or an
appetizer, but it shouldn't be awhole meal, and it can be used
in part to help start or tofinish the work that you're
(16:24):
doing, and I think that appliesfor both teachers and students
and is really what we shouldlook forward to as the key
skills that we need to build instudents as they are educated
for this AI age that's in frontof them and what we've said.
(16:47):
I wrestled with this a lot.
What I came to is that what'sreally important is that we
teach students that the behaviorwe're after is that you will
sit down to anything that you'regiven and you'll work at making
it better, and that's themindset that I think we need to
approach in this, this age,where we often will have a
(17:10):
starting point that is wellbeyond the blank page that we
used to have to begin from.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, and it's so intimidating to students and I
love what you said about maybeit's just a starting place.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
It's kind of like I don't think I'm going to put
pressure on myself to bake acake the way that they did in
medieval times, but just becauseI used some tools doesn't mean
I didn't do the work to make thecake.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yes, and it was your cake, decorated your way.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, Andrew, I want to read a quote to you from
Francie Alexander, who is HMH'sSVP of research, and it stresses
the importance of providingteachers with the training to
make the most of AI tools.
Francie says we must ensureteachers have the tools,
technology and professionallearning support they need to
(18:04):
help every student get a qualityeducation.
At HMH, we help educators putthe curriculum, assessment, data
and professional developmentpieces together to accelerate
student success.
We know that AI means there's alot more data coming in.
A well-trained coach canpartner with teachers to help
them make the most of that data.
Andrew, how do you respond towhat Francie's saying here?
(18:25):
Because I mean when we startedout defining generative AI in
terms of chat, GPT and MicrosoftCopilot, which teachers can use
to build lessons, and they cancertainly benefit from PD on how
to use those effectively.
But HMH is developing all thesenew AI-powered tools that can
support teachers too.
So what's the difference andhow do we ensure teachers can
(18:46):
make the most and feel supportedduring their access of those
tools that we're building?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Well, it's a great point there.
What I would say is that a lotof times, with data, we present
it to teachers in a way thatsort of treats them like data
scientists.
Right and that's not theirprofession, and what we've found
(19:15):
is that dashboards can be datarich and insight poor.
This back to school, one of ourfocuses was taking the
dashboards that we provide withall of the data on what your
students have done and producingbrief narratives using
(19:38):
generative AIs.
We're no longer looking to theteacher to interpret the data
from just numbers.
We're giving them the insightsthat we take away from it, based
on the data and the curriculumthat is driving the reading, the
(19:59):
writing, instruction.
So it's really the opportunitywith generative AI is to make
the data much more actionablefor teachers and deliver it to
them in a way that is mucheasier to digest.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, teachers are storytellers and you're using AI
to help tell the story so thatthey can get what they need to
know quickly and get back toteaching.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I want to share just a quick little story for the
listeners that hopefully bringsAI into even more of a positive
space for them.
I recently was a math teacher.
I needed to teach a lesson forPi Day and I wanted to do
something with variouscircumferences of circular
objects, the common pizza or abicycle wheel.
(20:47):
And I needed a lot of thembecause I wanted to assign them
individually to students andthen they would work together in
groups.
But I couldn't go around beforemy lesson and measure go get a
bicycle wheel and go order apizza.
I needed, and I didn't haveaccess to a regulation Frisbee.
I needed all these things andso I said I asked ChatGPT to
(21:10):
generate a list ofcircumferences of common objects
and it did it in you know twoseconds and I had that time back
to make my lesson really shine,whereas if I had wanted to
follow through my lesson byhaving to do it manually, I
would have lost all that timeand I just I.
I was immediately given timeback and it was.
It was especiallytransformative.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's wonderful.
That's the magic that AI shouldbring to the, to teachers
across the country.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, and it's not.
That's not like very hard, youknow, but some of my some of my
colleagues don't know that.
They could just ask that.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, it's incredible that and that's why for years,
we've been making promises ofwhat ed tech could do for
teachers.
But now it's, it's really just,it's happening, it's there.
Teachers will need to becareful with it because, like I
said, there is that risk ofgenerating low quality materials
(22:05):
.
But the opportunity to enableuh teachers is is off the charts
right now.
Exciting time in teaching anded tech.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Just like when we saw phones enter the classroom or
the internet enter our dailylife.
There are, of course, concerns,and we want to respect those,
not only as the teachers arenavigating them, but also as
they're trying to set an exampleand set guardrails for our
students and how they use them.
So, while our educators do haveconcerns about AI, especially
the lack of training and maybehow their students are using it,
(22:40):
we've never encountered aproblem that we haven't managed
to solve together in theeducation space, and I'm so
excited to be a part of HMH'ssolution.
Our overall response in thatsurvey shows cautious optimism.
They see emerging technology asa tool for battling burnout and
giving us much needed time back, which we then use to build
(23:00):
meaningful relationship withstudents.
So we're going to be keeping aneye and a pulse on this space
and how it all plays out.
We're so glad that you're inthat space with us, andrew,
hoping that generative AI canlive up to its promise, and I
feel really confident about thatbecause I know we're in good
hands.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, andrew.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Thank you.
This has been incredible Greatconversation.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
on the Teachers in Americapodcast, please email us at
shaped.
At hmhcocom.
That's S-H-A-P-E-D.
At H-M-H-C-O dot com.
Be the first to hear newepisodes of Teachers in America
by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get
your podcasts.
If you enjoyed today's show,please rate, review and share it
(23:44):
with your network.
You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shaped blog
by visiting hmhcocom.
Forward slash shaped.
That's hmhcocom.
Forward slash s-h-a-p-e-d.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Thank you to the productionteam of Christine Condon, tim
(24:06):
Lee, jennifer Corujo, neil Fry,thomas Velasquez and Matt Howell
.
Thanks again for listening.
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