Like so many people in the edtech world, I’ve been thinking a lot about the wide-ranging impact AI is having — and will continue to have — on K–12 instruction. We’re rightly focused on the big stuff: safety and digital privacy, copyright and plagiarism, policy, ethics, environmental impact, and AI literacy (whatever that actually means).
All of that is important, but one idea keeps coming back to me: maybe we first need to focus on something simpler — transparency.
I can’t tell you how many educators I’ve seen just kind of pretend this technology doesn’t exist, only to get frustrated or even punish students who are experimenting with it. What if, instead, we acknowledged that this world-changing technology is here, everywhere, and that it’s fundamentally reshaping how we work and learn?
Maybe it’s time to stop treating AI like some mysterious, magical, or dangerous force floating in the ether — and start seeing it for what it is: a tool. A tool we need to explore, understand, and use thoughtfully. From there, we can be more intentional and pragmatic about adapting our craft to fit the times we’re in.