S03E15 - AI: Are we Asking the Right Questions? | Ben Farrell

Build Momentum for Education - K-12 Superintendent Series

On this episode of Build Momentum, Sarah and Katie are joined by Ben Farrell, the Assistant Head of School and Director of the Upper School at the New England Innovation Academy. Prior to joining NEIA, Ben was the Principal and Head of School at The International Montessori School of Beijing. Ben received his M.A. in higher and post-secondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York, and completed graduate coursework in cross cultural conflict transformation and reconciliation at the School for International Training in Vermont.
Some Questions We Ask:

• How can teachers effectively use artificial intelligence in the classroom? (00:43)
• What are some of the challenges utilizing AI and how can they be addressed in the classroom? (03:37)
• What are some ways that you see projects being managed with AI? (05:14)
• How do you think administrators (maybe even PR firm owners!) can take advantage of AI? (8:07)
• What other ways do you see generative AI integrating into the curriculum? (11:17)
• How can teachers and school leaders navigate AI conversations with their communities? (14:10)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About the use of AI in classrooms (00:50)
• Challenges of utilizing AI (03:45)
• Ideas for differentiated learning with generative AI (05:44)
• AI use beyond education (08:24)
• Other integration of generative AI into the curriculum (12:13)
• Tips for having AI conversations in the community (14:51)

Quotes:
“All the information in the world is just out there waiting for us to find it and to utilize it..”
“This is going to be with us in the future. So I think we have to find ways to not only live with it but utilize it in an ethical, thoughtful way that our students can grab onto because they're going to be using this or some more advanced version of this the rest of their lives now.”
“For the first time in my career, I had the ability to sort of sit with my Upper School students and say, ‘What should we do? What do you think we should do?’ And I think they were taken aback by that.”
Connect with Tom:
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