Feeling Guilty Using AI?

AI in Education- a touchy subject- from guilt and shame to cheating.

Over the winter break, I had the pleasure of meeting with a few school leaders to collaborate and curate professional development for their staff.

We discussed the needs of the staff and what kind of topics they would be most interested in hearing.

Of course one topic that was universally brought up was “how do we stop kids from cheating?”.

Put a pin in that topic. I will circle back.

In a candid conversation with a principal, they admitted that they used AI to write letters of recommendation and even last year’s graduation speech.

I asked the principal if they shared with their staff how they are using AI to help them with their job.

A look of horror crossed their face.

Absolutely not and they will not share that.

Ok, I didn’t push the envelope with this principal, I wanted them to feel comfortable with an already uncomfortable topic.

But it really got me thinking.

The feeling of shame that educators feel when using AI is outstanding.

A few months ago I asked the Linkedin Education community if they feel guilt for using AI to help complete job tasks. Most of them said “no” but a decent amount said “a little”.

One response stuck out to me. Someone outside of the educational space, a CEO of a company, said, "Guilt?! Absolutely not. I won’t hire someone now who doesn’t know how to leverage AI.”

Here in lies the issue:

Students will need to know how to leverage AI for their future success. 
Students are not taught how to properly leverage AI.
Students are currently being punished for using AI (cheating),
School leaders are using AI in secret.
Educators feel shame for using AI.

That’s one hell of a disconnect.

As I continue to create curated professional development for schools and districts, I have decided my approach should include dispelling the unnecessary guilt surrounding its use.

AI should be seen as an empowering, freeing tool that allows you to bring your best self to the table for your students….

Or for your staff of teachers.

Educational leaders, we are looking to you to lead the way in the AI world, be transparent, admit you use it, how you use it, and what you learned along the way in doing so.

You may just spark curiosity, be a model for change, and help elevate some of that guilt.

Because until we stop seeing AI as something to shame:

We cannot learn about AI
We cannot innovate with AI 
We certainly cannot teach how to use AI ethically to our students

Want to stop students from cheating? Please stop shaming yourself for using the tool so we can get to work.

Interested in AI professional development for your staff? Reach out by replying to this email.

You got this and I would love to work with you!

Stay tuned for my latest project being launched in January!

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I love reading your feedback, it helps me design effective solutions for others. I try to respond to all my emails. Just hit reply to this email. Rooting for you and your students! Love, M.

Beep. Boop.

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