Screen Value vs. Screen Time: AI in Schools

Vicki Davis (00:00): Happy Thought Leader Thursday, episode 1004. We’re talking with Dr. Jeremy Owoh, superintendent from Arkansas, who has amazing ideas for helping everyone work together as they tackle the important topics relating to AI and edtech.

Announcer (00:16): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (00:20): Our guest today has sat in just about every seat in education. Dr. Jeremy Owoh started as an English teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2003, went on to lead at the state level, and today he serves a district in Arkansas while serving as head of the board for the newly combined ISTE and ASCD. So, Jeremy, you have sat in every seat and you’ve seen a lot of change. What things are still the same about reaching kids?

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (00:51): That it takes a personal relationship to really reach young people. And when you connect with them, they connect with you. And then learning starts. It’s unrealistic to think that learning will happen without that relationship first.

Vicki Davis (01:04): Absolutely. What did we learn from the pandemic? Kids sitting there with a computer alone don’t learn anything. So we need the teachers. What do you think about the role of the teacher in the classroom in this age of AI?

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (01:16): Well, to me, an effective teacher was always the teacher who facilitated learning, gave the students the opportunity to take ownership. And in today’s time, even now with as much innovation we have, that remains true that educators, we have to be the facilitator and let the students have that spark of creativity, that spark of innovation while using edtech tools. In the classroom, but the teacher can facilitate that. There’s power and facilitation of it because you create the environment for learning to happen. And of course, AI can never create that type of environment.

Vicki Davis (01:53): So you lead a district and you got a little bit of pressure from like leading ISTE, right? So what are you telling all of your principals and your teachers about the role of AI? Because we don’t want kids circumventing their education by using artificial intelligence inappropriately. A lot of districts aren’t telling people how to use it.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (02:13): Right. We’re actually doing the opposite. I believe in learning together. So every year I bring a team with me and my team consists of teachers, media center specialists, assistant principals, principals, curriculum staff, and my executive staff, assistant superintendents. And we learn together at ISTE+ASCD. We even bring the infrastructure side of technology of our school district with us, by bringing technology specialists so that we’re able to have the curriculum conversation, leadership conversation, while ensuring that we have the infrastructure for implementation at our district. So learning together is important. And they know that’s my philosophy. We’re going to do what’s possible. But I also tell you, one of the learning moments for me was when Richard visited my campus and I was just giving him a tour, Richard, our CEO.

Vicki Davis (03:01): Richard Culatta.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (03:01): He said, well, Jeremy, let me look at your technology policy. And I showed him, he said, hmm, it’s typical. It was a list of don’ts. Don’t do this, don’t do this. And so that was about three years ago. And it sparked a revolution of how we looked at technology or edtech because we started revamping our technology policy. We presented it to our board members. But we did that by creating a committee of students and teachers and getting their input on what technology. So instead of running away from AI or innovative technology, we run to it. And make sure that we provide the infrastructures, the training, the learning, consistent, constant learning for our teachers so they’re comfortable with it, so that the students are comfortable and they know when to appropriately use it.

Vicki Davis (03:50): You believe in pilot programs.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (03:51): I do. We’re always willing to pilot programs. We do it so much, even with our curriculum or content courses like English and math. When the state comes out with a new program, we’ll pilot like we did high impact tutoring. And really, the high impact tutoring, the state asked us if we would like it. They showed us research behind it. And the high impact tutoring we utilized or opted in was AI. And it was small doses of high impact tutoring. And that was a game changer. It worked very well. And when I tell you it worked well, I always look at not just the quantitative data about any type of implementation, but also qualitative. So I had conversations with my students, conversations with the teachers, leaders, and the feedback was very positive. We’re always willing to do pilot programs because we never know what’s going to impact the students we have today. The thing that educators have always had to keep in mind, especially leaders at the district level, that our students change every year, their interests, but also our educators. So you cannot continue to do everything the same way all the time. And so we’re always looking for new ideas, new ways to engage our students. To continue to build the capacity of our educators and stretch us as adults.

Vicki Davis (05:05): Yeah, I’d like to work for you. I’m not applying for a job, but it requires a dose of humility.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (05:10): It does. The one recognizing we don’t know everything and that our students may know more than we know. That’s why it’s so important that we facilitate and be okay with our students taking full autonomy, ownership of their learning, because that’s what’s going to propel them to higher critical thinking, problem solving beyond high school.

Vicki Davis (05:33): And having the real conversations because so many schools feel like they’re just playing AI whack-a-mole. And it’s pointless.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (05:40): Pointless. And we have this debate about screen time. And what we really have centered on at the International Society for Transforming Education is more about screen value, quality than screen time. Educators, that’s our job to vet these edtech tools or any type of resources that we put in front of our students. That’s why AI can never replace a good teacher because there still has to be a vetting of what’s out there because everything that people or companies put out there is not what’s best for kids.

Vicki Davis (06:15): You and I have been around long enough. In the 1990s was, oh, the internet’s going to ruin everything. Let’s block it. And then we had social media is ruining everything. Let’s block it. Well, how did blocking the internet work for us? And how did blocking social media work for us?

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (06:30): I gave that example about the internet earlier this week. And it’s like, we were so hesitant about using the internet. And now adults, we use it all the time and we see the value. Why can we not look at AI like that? And in fact, AI has been around for years and we’ve used it as adults. But now because it’s more modern and mainstream, we’re trying to hinder it. Yeah. Which never really works for us.

Vicki Davis (06:58): So I do watch Survivor. The blindside is awful when you don’t see it coming. And I think a lot of teachers feel like they’re on an episode of Survivor, that they’re being blindsided. And it goes both ways. You have great writing kids who don’t touch AI. And because it’s great writing, it’s getting flagged as AI. And then you have kids who are deceiving teachers. And nobody likes to feel like they’re wasting their time. And as a teacher, it’s so frustrating when I sit there with 100 assignments to grade and I’m looking at them and I’m like, some of these don’t line up. Where do I even start? What am I going to do? Because we want to be fair. Like that’s part of what teachers are. So what’s your advice to the superintendents who have a lot of teachers like me who are like, okay, now I just want to teach.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (07:44): And you shouldn’t have to take time to detect AI. And I think as a former English teacher, I tell you, one of the things I’ve learned is that what’s more important, grading of a five paragraph essay or knowing that your student has learned the skills and the components of the essay. And when you really look at it, as a teacher, as an English teacher, my job was to teach the skill, not to have them to literally write a five-paragraph essay, but they should know how to create one, how to develop one. You can do a lot of that in class. To me, handwriting still has a place in education. And to me, we need to create an environment where students have a combination of all of it, technology use, but also just pen to paper. I would always tell superintendents and leaders, I would not say follow my advice, but what my thoughts have always been is to always remember what it’s like to be a teacher. And as you lead, because that’s where the important work happens. But also make sure you leave your office and get into the classroom and have conversations with your teachers, with your students, and see how you can assist, how you can support, and then make well-informed decisions. Because you cannot make well-informed decisions by sitting behind your computer and telephone.

Vicki Davis (09:02): Because it’s all about people. Right.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (09:04): And when you engage, if you’re in the classroom and engage with your teachers, you can see what the struggles are. And you can have those instructional, professional conversations and dialogue and work with your teachers and leaders through those struggles. Because there’s always going to be struggles, reaching kids, engaging kids. Our kids are different. Always struggles. But I think there’s power in dialogue. And absent of that is what creates opportunities for chaos and confusion and distrust.

Vicki Davis (09:31): We shouldn’t play king or queen of the hill. We should always make a bigger hill.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (09:34): We should.

Vicki Davis (09:35): Because it’s going to take a lot of conversations moving forward. Authentic, real, honest conversations because AI is different for everybody. In a time of change, teachers are more important but can easily get more discouraged because we can’t choose who walks in our room. I started off in business. The difference between business and teaching is if somebody didn’t come to work, I could fire them. If they don’t come to class, I still got to teach them somehow.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (10:02): Our students are our students. And it’s not like our parents are choosing a set of students to send to us each day. They’re sending the students they have at home. That’s right. And our job is to teach them.

Vicki Davis (10:13): Well, it’s been a delight. Dr. Jeremy Owoh from Arkansas. I think the big thing is to remember that our kids, this is about reaching them. It’s about teaching. And thanks for being a voice for the classroom.

Dr. Jeremy Owoh (10:28): For the kids. And thank you for being a voice across the country. Thank you. Really appreciate the work that you’re doing in the classroom and outside the classroom.

Announcer (10:36): Thank you for tuning in to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.