British Columbia: Artificial Intelligence in Action to Spark Innovation in the Classroom

EngagED Learning

Type: Newsfeed, Uncategorized
Published on November 27, 2024

At the recent Canadian Edtech Leadership Summit, West Vancouver School District Superintendent Chris Kennedy shared his vision of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into schools. He encourages teachers to familiarize themselves with AI technologies by using them personally, before implementing them in the learning environment, to increase engagement. In British Columbia, a flexible approach to AI in education allows school districts to tailor their policies. According to Chris Kennedy, promoting the sharing of innovative practices instead of their replication fosters an educational system that can adapt to change.

By Marie-Sophie Chavey
Engaged Learning

Chris Kennedy is Superintendent of Schools & CEO, of West Vancouver School District in British Columbia. In his opening keynote addressing AI in Action: Sparking Classroom Innovations at the recent Canadian Edtech Leadership Summit, he outlined his vision for how schools can implement new technologies, such as generative AI, in a positive and useful way.

To begin, he advocated for educators to start by embracing technological tools in their personal lives, before integrating them into the classroom to enhance engagement. Drawing on his previous experiences, particularly the emergence of social media in schools, he emphasized the need for ongoing education and caution regarding potential pitfalls. He clearly recalls the initial reactions at the time, which were to ban everything due to our lack of understanding of how to handle the influx of social media platforms in schools. It’s similar to the current situation with artificial intelligence (AI) in various spheres

Chris Kennedy then proposed a few interactive activities for his audience. He asked them to experiment live with generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to gain personal insights. For instance, he suggested asking the AI what it thought of the user, a popular question these days: “What do you know about me that I might not know about myself?”.

How is British Columbia approaching the integration of generative AI in school?

Chris Kennedy went on to explain how British Columbia’s school districts handle the integration of generative AI in education. The province’s Ministry of Education provides broad principles and recommendations, whereas individual school districts create their own policies that align with their unique educational needs. The approach encourages the personalization of teaching using AI, allowing teachers to decide whether to use these tools to support and diversify learning.

A strong point of this initiative is the collaboration between various stakeholders: administration, teachers, IT services, and parents, notably through awareness-raising sessions. The speaker stressed the importance of addressing issues of bias, discrimination, and ethics in the use of AI in the classroom. He also emphasized the “diffusion” rather than “replication” approach, seeking to promote varied models of AI integration.

Finally, he underscored the importance of building connections between districts and global networks to share policies and resources, thereby enhancing the collective ability to adapt to technological change.