Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
WEST JORDAN — When ChatGPT first emerged on the scene, Jordan School District restricted access to it on the district network.
That didn't mean the district was looking to completely dismiss using artificial intelligence in its classrooms, though.
"I was looking for a solution, and I was looking for a way that we could connect students and teachers to artificial intelligence in a meaningful way," said Anthony Godfrey, superintendent of Jordan School District.
Ironically, it was at a national conference where Godfrey discovered SchoolAI, a Lehi-based company working to integrate generative AI into K-12 classrooms.
"Sometimes it takes being out of town to meet someone who's right next door who can help you with what you're trying to do," Godfrey said.
Godfrey connected SchoolAI to the district's information systems team and piloted the program with 100 teachers over the summer. It turned out to be "wildly popular."
Part of the reason for this is that SchoolAI held regular meetings with teachers in the district in which teachers could provide input, allowing SchoolAI to develop software based on the input they were getting.
At the start of the 2023-24 school year, 300 more teachers signed up to integrate SchoolAI into their classrooms, and that number has now grown to 2,350 teachers.
But what does SchoolAI do to help both teachers and students?
The platform offers over 1,000 activities with AI tutors, interactive games, simulations, well-being check-ins and a library of grade- and subject-specific activities. Teachers also benefit from dashboards with real-time feedback and moderation, allowing them to easily track student progress and develop tailored learning plans to meet students where they are.
"It's like a tutor for students and teacher's aid for teachers," Godfrey said.
He added that SchoolAI can create assignments that are calibrated to individual student's needs. For example, if a student is having trouble with run-on sentences, SchoolAI can create exercises to practice correcting run-on sentences — all while tailoring the lessons to the student's reading level and personal interests.
When you put great tools in the hands of teachers, they become even better as teachers innovate and think about how they can improve learning for their students.
– Anthony Godfrey, Jordan School District superintendent
"We built SchoolAI because artificial intelligence can transform the learning experience for both students and teachers. And we built in guardrails to protect students and enable teachers to deliver personalized curriculums at scale," Caleb Hicks, CEO of SchoolAI, said in a statement.
"Future generations aren't going to know a world without AI, so it's critical that we deliver it to students to take them to the next level," Hicks continues. "We've given teachers a solution that helps them reach their goals with their students while opening up their bandwidth to focus their attention on what's most important: each individual student and their needs."
Even with the help of SchoolAI, teachers are still the final say on what lessons and assessments look like.
"When you put great tools in the hands of teachers, they become even better as teachers innovate and think about how they can improve learning for their students," Godfrey said.
Eric Price, principal at West Jordan Middle School, was one of the "pioneers" pushing for the integration of AI into classrooms to help the current generation of students prepare for a future with AI.
"Artificial intelligence is going to be a part of everyday life for our students. We're doing them a disservice if we're not updating our concept of what it means to teach and learn with all the tools available to us now," Price said in a statement. "As educators, we have to go beyond content sharing, which is how the curriculum was structured thus far, and embrace a new era of teaching our kids the skills needed for critical and conceptual thinking, no matter what level they're starting from in the classroom."
Godfrey said that a teacher's job includes a lot of tasks that take time away from student-to-teacher interaction. SchoolAI gives teachers more time to work directly with students.
"As access to knowledge and information increases, we have to adapt the way that we educate students. When the calculator came out, we had to adapt our instruction. When the internet came out and search engines became available, we had to adapt our instruction — and the same thing is true for artificial intelligence," Godfrey said. "Every time that's an advancement. Every time that's a step forward and that can be alarming, it can be a cause for concern. But I think it's a tremendous opportunity to expand student learning and really prepare them for the future."
