← AI for Educators Daily with Dan Fitzpatrick
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If this episode makes you think, please let us know in the comments and support us by subscribing and leaving a review. Thank you. Today we are exploring a sentiment that echoes through so much of the current educational discourse. Artificial intelligence in education is transforming classrooms. This phrase, this idea. You hear it everywhere, in articles, in webinars, in conversations, in the staff room. It's almost become a foundational truth, repeated so often it just hangs in the air, assumed. But what does that really mean for us, day to day in the classroom or lead in a school? What does transforming classrooms actually look like when you step past the headline and get down to the chalk face, or rather the whiteboard marker face? For me, when I hear that phrase repeated, I find myself asking, what kind of transformation are we talking about? Is it revolution or is it evolution? Because my philosophy time and again is that it's an evolution, not a revolution. We're not suddenly ripping everything up and starting again. We're enhancing what we already do well, and we're finding new ways to address those persistent friction points that have always been there, making life harder for teachers and sometimes limiting learning for students. When we say AI is transforming classrooms, it can sound like it's this big, scary, inevitable thing that's just going to happen to us. But I think that misses the point. The real value, the real transformation, comes when we are intentional about how we integrate it and always, always start with purpose over technology. What problem are we trying to solve? What educational goal are we trying to achieve? Not what can this shiny new tool do? Think about your own classroom for a moment. You've got students who are thriving, students who need a bit of a push. And then you've got that incredible, often invisible middle 80%, the ones who don't always get the bespoke attention they deserve because teachers are stretched so thin. Could AI transforming classrooms mean genuinely reaching that middle 80% with personalized feedback, with differentiated resources, with support that feels tailored? Without adding three more hours to a teacher's already packed week, I think it absolutely can. The idea here is enhancement, not replacement. AI doesn't transform classrooms by swapping out the teacher for a bot. That's a ridiculous notion that completely misunderstands the human element at the heart of education. The relationships, the judgment, the care. The wonder machines can compute. They cannot wonder. They cannot care. So the transformation isn't about replacing those uniquely human domains. It's about augmenting human capability. It's about giving teachers more capacity to engage with those very things. Consider the amount of time teachers spend on Tasks that are repetitive, that are administrative, that frankly don't demand their highest cognitive function. Mark informative assessments, drafting, communications, generate and starter activities, differentiating content for varying reading levels in a year 7 English class. These are all examples of the doing. This is where we outsource the doing, not the thinking. An AI can draft a set of differentiated questions for a Year 8 geography lesson on climate change in minutes, freeing up the geography teacher to think deeply about the nuances of the topic, to plan, engage in discussions, to connect with individual students, and to provide that truly human, insightful feedback that an AI just can't replicate. The transformation is giving teachers back time, focus and energy to connect with students more deeply. And what about the students themselves? How does AI transform their learning? It's not about them just using AI to get the answers, is it? It's about teaching students not to outsmart machines, but to outthink them. The transformation for students is in developing a new kind of literacy, AI literacy, which is really a collaborative reasoning ability. It's about thinking with AI, not just using tools. It's understanding its limitations, its failure modes, managing conversations with precision, and developing a reflective awareness about its influence. Imagine a student using AI to brainstorm ideas for an essay, then critically evaluating those ideas, improving them, adding their own unique voice and judgment. The real value is not in what the machine produces, but in how the student responds, how they iterate, how they demonstrate process and productive struggles. That's where the learning happens. We're designing learning that cannot be faked because it demands depth, care and imagination. When we talk about transforming classrooms, it also brings to mind the structures that enable change. How do schools actually make this transformation happen in a meaningful way, beyond just buying some new software? This is where I often think about the seven lessons for AI adoption. You don't just jump in. You start by auditing hands on pilots, not just marketing claims. You build a diverse task force, give them weekly challenges and have them reflect. That's how you really see what works. Then you anchor AI to existing friction points. Where are teachers genuinely struggling? That's where AI can offer immediate value. If the history department spends hours finding primary sources adapted for different reading levels, well, there's your anchor point. AI can help here, and that provides immediate relief and builds trust. That's a practical transformation. We have to act now. But that doesn't mean acting rashly. It means experimenting, pilot and learning. And crucially, we need to align these efforts, customize for our institutional context. What works for one school might not work for another. This transformation isn't a one size fits all solution. It's about tailoring it to the specific needs of your staff, your students, your community. And how do you activate this transformation? By empowering teachers as change agents. Build an AI core team across departments. Encourage those coffee car conversations where teachers can share quick wins and frustrations informally. That organic spread of enthusiasm is far more powerful than any top down mandate. And then you accelerate that with dedicated structures. An AI sandbox where teachers can play without fear of breaking anything. Working groups, peer to peer networks. The ultimate aim, the true meaning of transforming classrooms is to give teachers back their professional agency and their joy. AI is helping us hold the complexity so we have capacity for creativity. We want a world where educators have more time to connect with their students, to inspire wonder, to cultivate judgment and to build those invaluable relationships. That's the real transformation. A human centered one where technology serves the profound purposes of education. So when we hear that phrase artificial intelligence and education is transforming classrooms, let's not just nod along, let's dig into it. Let's ask what kind of transformation we want, how we can lead it and and how we can ensure it always keeps the human in the loop. Focusing on enhancement, not replacement and outsourcing. The doing, not the thinking. That's how we move beyond a buzzword and into meaningful progress for our schools. That's all for today. Thanks for listening.