Co-Labbing at the Co-Lab
Sharing my experience at a collaborative online PD on AI and assessment
đ Howdy friends,
Iâve been sharing this two-part series of podcasts in my network recently:
AI Literacy Part 1 âWhere Angels Fear to Treadâ with Sam Wineburg
AI Literacy Part II âWhat We Talk About When We Talk About AI Literacyâ
In it, the host Justin Reich examines AI literacy approaches in our schools. The pods have been enlightening. The conversations highlight errors in our approach to AI literacy and suggest ways to adopt these technologies more responsibly.
I also learned about the AI Co-Lab via these podcasts. Yesterday I was able to attend my first session. There, I engaged in a one-hour exploration with a small group of educators. We also had a group discussion/debrief about the activity. It was a well-constructed and simple learning experience that I plan to attend regularly.
I am sharing it here in case others are looking for a collaborative space to explore AI. I also want to share some notes about the experience to help you decide if it is the right fit for you.
The activity we did in a four-person group was simple: use a provided prompt in an LLM of your choice to develop an assessment on an activity/project in a particular content area. We were put in groups based on our area of focus, either humanities or STEAM.
As a capstone teacher, I donât quite fit into either, so I chose STEAM. I help manage a maker lab and am part of a math curriculum group, so I thought there might be some overlap there.
For the activity, we focused on a 9th-grade Algebra project with a physics lens. It was interesting to collaborate on the prompting process, since I typically operate solo when using LLMs, and I gained a lot of insight from hearing how others approached prompt creation. Iâm curious how PLCs or small instructional teams tackle this same process. During our 30-minute activity, we developed the bones of a project.
The purpose wasnât to develop a classroom project. It was to examine the effectiveness of the provided prompt to develop an âAI-proofâ assessment.
The final debrief focused on whether it was more useful to use a single in-depth prompt or to engage in a series of smaller prompts, a good thing to think about.
This was a great experience, and I look forward to participating in it again. If youâre interested in learning more, I suggest you listen to part 2 of the two podcasts I shared to hear more about the origins of the AI Co-Lab, or check out their website. I always benefit from collaborative learning and exploration with other teachers.
â¤ď¸ Love & Learning â¤ď¸