The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education

My latest read is The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education (The Hitchhiker's Guide for Educators Series) by Dan Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, Brad Weinstein. Given it was published March 23, 2023, which is about a month ago, it is about as current as you can get. But, even given that, ChatGPT-4 came out (as of March 13, 2023), and ChatGPT-5 may be out be end of 2023.

The world is moving fast! Which can be scary. As I shared in my March 29th post "Chasing Life Podcast Season 6: The Science of How Tech Is Impacting Our Brains" and in reference to seeing author Tom Friedman, people are resistant to change--especially when it comes with the speed of tech, globalization, and environmental climate change. Takes you to that old adage: "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." 

As the book points out--the future is here and the future is now. And it brings about a lot of thinking about ethics. Not only when it comes to AI/Artificial Intelligence and the power of chatbots. Same is true when it comes to genetic research and editing with CRISPR (= "Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats"), animal testing, human medical trials, weapon development, and the idea of space colonization. A lot of this sounds like it come right from a sci fi movie or Star Trek episode. But, tracking the timeline of major inventions over the last 100-125 years, we have had a lot of innovation and change. Smart phones, computing, modes of transportation, medicine...innovation equal change. 

While I'm still mid-book with my reading, I'm fascinated by and curious how AI will impact schools. In some ways, I'm glad I teach technology in the elementary school. In some ways, it feels like we are still young and insulated. But even thinking about digital citizenship alone, with the prevalence of phones, computers, and other technology in every space and place for kids these days (schools, home, beyond), the trickle down is there. What used to be high school problems can now be middle school problems with social media and tech connection at play. In that same way, what was once primarily 6th-8th grade digital drama is now moving its way down to 4th and 5th graders' friendship issues. I'm sure it is the same with AI.

It's a good thought experiment for sure, yet I also am enjoying the practical side of this book as well. The book also focuses in on 4 major sections that can help maximize the effectiveness of AI for teacher productivity and teaching critical thinking skills: "The AI Uprising" (including that part about the future is now), "The AI Educator" (and what that looks like for teachers now), "The AI Tool Repository" (listing tools you can use immediately), and "The AI Horizon" (looking forward to where we go next in this AI world).

I highly recommend the book for anyone in education.... and for parents of curious kids. 

Kids are digital native and have been for the last 20+ years. It's important to see what kids will most certainly find fascinating, and it's a good way to get maybe one step ahead of them. Not to mention, this book and it's analysis of where we already are with AI is about as close to a crystal ball as we may get!

Image from https://www.amazon.com/Classroom-Artificial-Intelligence-Education-Hitchhikers/dp/1959419110/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ai+in+the+classroom&qid=1681567313&sprefix=ai+in+%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1 and the second one was created at www.canva.com