Inside AASA’s First-Ever AI Super Summit 1.0

One of my key takeaways from the AI Super Summit was realizing that Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) isn't simply a “thing” or a “suite of tools” - it’s more of a revolutionary concept of technology, human intelligence, and high-speed language processing all matched (or morphed) together to impact our lives in multiple ways at once.

Even using sunglasses with AI features built-in was an exciting learning experience throughout the summit! As a superintendent, this tool allowed me to model the usage of new technologies in an effort to be whimsical, joyous, and quite serious about learning and sharing. The hundreds of attendees embodied a mix of emotions simultaneously – excitement and fear, overwhelming uncertainty alongside courageous curiosity.

From Superintendents Rupak Gandhi, Britney Gandhi, and Kristin Humphries to edtech leaders at Google for Education, Khan Academy, ThoughtExchange, MagicSchool and others, we learned, grew, experimented, and expanded our competencies.

With my new learnings and the AASA AI Super Summit 1.0, I feel better equipped to support those who support our students.

Hands-On! Building An AI Assistant

Under Mike Yates's guidance from the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America, I learned to build AI assistants with advanced and sophisticated prompting—a skill I developed at the Summit. Using PlayLabAI and some hands-on experiences, I designed a “bot” or “assistant” (accessible here).

I “trained” the bot using North Shore School District 112’s May 2024 GenAI Guidelines, various AI sources, and our district’s GenAI journey. Here’s the background description I used for its development:

You are an expert in education, educational leadership, leadership, and change management.

Your role is to learn more about Generative Artificial Intelligence so you can master elements to share with teachers in your organization to impact learning and growth.

Engage with school and district administrators eager to learn about generative AI tools, focusing on effective sharing and teaching methods for staff.

The conversations at the AASA AI Super Summit were deep, fresh, real, and needed. Fermin Leal from California shared what's going on in powerful communication ways—this was amazing!

Embracing GenAI: A New Era for Education Leadership

To my colleagues who may just be getting started with GenAI, I encourage you to:

Learn what the buzz is. Illustrate your own personal learning curiosity and leadership courage to figure out what this is all about and how “it” can impact student learning, teacher efficacy, and district operations in multiple ways. Since the rise of email and the internet in the 1990’s, I haven't seen such revolutionary potential in education as I have in the past year with GenAI.

So much of our work on behalf of the public (public schools) is mission-driven. We are united in our service to students, teachers, administrators, local policymakers, and more. With my new learnings and the AASA AI Super Summit 1.0, I feel better equipped to support those who support our students.

AASA knocked it out of the park with this one—well done, team AASA!