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Indianapolis public schools have A new AI policy on the district scale aimed at improving the efficiency of educators and responding to concerns about confidentiality and security.
Politics, which the school board approved unanimously on Thursday, only applies to teachers and staff, and does not include advice on the use of students in artificial intelligence technology. It presents acceptable uses of AI, which include generation of quiz issues or practice equipment under teacher supervision, improving teaching materials and communications writing, but limits users to AI tools approved by the district.
“Finally, AI will not be a choice. For the moment, it's a choice,” said Ashley Cowger, director of district systems. “And what we want to do in IPs is to establish clear railings for what we are knowing at the moment.”
The adoption of the policy follows the first phase of a pilot program in which 20 staff members used an AI tool approved by the district throughout the year. The second phase of the pilot will be wider, but will still only understand teachers and staff. In the second phase, participants will use Google Gemini, at a cost of $ 122 per person, according to Cowger.
Cowger said the list of acceptable uses has been developed using Pilot program resultsThis noted that AI could help staff save time on complex and administrative tasks.
“We have a school director who plunged in mind with a generative AI and completely transformed his main schedule in high school,” said Cowger. “It has returned to the team a lot – not having to use small magnetic tiles on a whiteboard to understand how to do all their sections and lessons for their school.”
The new policy lists equity and inclusion, transparency, confidentiality and data protection, human surveillance and responsibility as guiding principles in the implementation of AI.
To guarantee security, teachers and staff will only be allowed to use AI tools approved by the district. Some district residents are already using free generative AI tools, and Cowger has warned that this could compromise students' data, including special education plans.
Staff should sign responsible use agreements, which include directives such as refusing the loading of a student's complete individualized education program in a generative AI tool.
Staff training is an important element in the district plan for AI. Participants in the second phase of the pilot will attend monthly professional development training on the use and implementation of AI, and there will be an online repository of professional development training available for staff at any time.
“We do not at any time encourage someone who will blindly use AI,” said Cowger. “This can be a slippery slope, which is why we have made a lot of effort to develop the professional learning roadmap for AI for pilot users for the next school year.”
The new policy also calls for the creation of an AI advisory council to monitor trends in the use of district AI and continue to develop best practices.
Samantha Camire is a summer report trainee covering education in the Indianapolis region. Contact Samantha at scamire@chalkbeat.org.
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