As AI technology becomes more widely used and important around the world, Colorado is taking steps to ensure school districts have the guidance they need to use it in the classroom.

“If students can’t use AI, they fall behind,” says Andrew Gitner.

Gitner is a K-12 Ed Tech Specialist in the Jefferson County Public Schools District. As someone who will help the district and its teachers learn about AI and test certain AI tools, as well as a teacher who has used AI in his classroom, he knows how game-changing this technology can be. Not only does it help some students achieve more, but it also makes it easier for teachers to focus on teaching.

“I’ve spoken to so many teachers who swear by certain AI products because they have made the profession sustainable,” he said.

In his case, he used an AI program called Cograder to significantly speed up the writing of feedback on students’ essays.

“I used it to complete about 90 papers in two hours, so the next day the students had really good, really actionable feedback,” Gitner said. “I would never have been able to live such a good life without something like Cograder or other AI products I’ve used.”

“The ability to get things translated quickly, the ability to differentiate instruction to meet students’ personal needs, that’s suddenly much more possible than ever before,” said Karen Quanbeck.

Quanbeck is vice president of statewide partnerships for the Colorado Education Initiative. The nonprofit released a roadmap this week that provides guidelines for using AI in K-12 districts.

One recommendation in this roadmap is to create time for professional development for teachers so that they learn how to use AI.

“To be clear about what AI competency and AI safety mean for them in the classroom,” Quanbeck said.

Other recommendations include developing a district policy that reflects ethical and transparent use of AI and ensuring families know how to use these tools.

“I, as a parent, have to be careful about how my child might use AI,” she said. “Most districts will probably issue notices to families describing how they use it, whether they use it, what is OK for children and what is not?”

Quanbeck says these recommendations are ultimately intended to ensure that AI does not replace human interaction in the classroom, but rather serves as a complement to learning.

“Maybe I’ll use it for grading,” she said. “Maybe I’ll use it to create great lesson plans that meet Colorado state standards.”

“How do we use technology to do more human work? How can we do less administrative work and instead do more to actually teach and engage my students,” Gitner said.