Tonight I watched the last session of the QM Connect conference 2024 AI Lightning Talks (part 1). Dr. Geetanjali Soni works with NC Public Schools and works on the North Carolina Virtual Public School. The title of the session was “Leveraging AI to provide Instructional Support for Diverse Learners.” Soni emphasized that AI can help with our teaching. Soni has been working with teachers to use AI to bring in multiple modalities: visual, audio, and text support to align with UDL principles. AI provided examples of how AI can accommodate varied abilities and needs of learners. Soni spoke about how AI can address accommodations and also provide enrichment materials. AI-powered personalization for students can help tailor content to reflect students’ diverse cultural backgrounds, for example. Soni described quick and personalized feedback. Soni also stressed that the teacher is the content expert and oversight ensures emotional and contextual appropriateness.
The second portion of the lightning talks started with AI for course design support. Darlene Schaefer, and educational designer with NC Virtual Public Schools spoke about “Leveraging AI in Middle School Course Design.” Schaefer focused on the course design elements and noted that this North Carolina program adheres to the state standards. Schaefer explained how they used AI to make the course content more relevant for middle school students. The team used AI to write a course outline and make it student-friendly. The before, during, after cycles provide opportunities for educators to reflect on their work and alignment with learning objectives.
