Background

Birthplace: Tucson, Arizona
Professional Background: University of Florida Instructional Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering since 2013.
AI Experience: Founder of AI-themed summer camps and contests for students across Florida with funding from foundational donors in partnership with school districts. These include camps for middle and high schools. Created grades 6-12 CTE frameworks for Data Science. Created two years of curriculum for teachers aligned to the data science frameworks. Created grades 6-8 CTE Frameworks for AI aligned to the 9-12 AI frameworks. Developed two one semester curriculum in partnership with Microsoft Minecraft Education for teachers in middle school. Develop and conducted professional development for Florida Teachers to upskill for the teaching of the Florida AI Frameworks for Career and Technical Education grades 9-12 in partnership with the University of Florida AI² Center.
Favorite AI App or Use: Napkin AI for graphics in a pinch and Claude to summarize things. I do not use AI for most work, owing to the energy resources used doing something that I can generally do myself.
Hobbies Outside of Work and AI: Gardening, thrifting, reading novels I never get through owing to work.

Why did you want to be involved in the commission and what has your experience been like so far?

The commission is doing important work to try and frame AI in, and for, education K20+. So far, the experience has been insightful. It is interesting to see the way some of the higher education partners are taking AI and running with it in all areas of academia, while other universities and colleges are taking a more conservative approach. I learn so much from the others on the commission when I meet with them.

How might AI change what  we teach?

I think the domain knowledge within our fields will grow as it always has, but we will need to find time to fit this type of computing in context into our courses the same way we fit in other important overarching topics like sustainability, entrepreneurship and workforce development. AI is also a cross-cutting domain that can be embedded in what we already teach.  

We need to teach the application of AI to students through hands on experiences with AI tools, but we equally need to teach students foundational knowledge for how AI works and how intelligence is built in AI systems.

How might AI change how we teach?

AI will change how we teach in many ways from providing supporting materials to students, allowing for use of agents to scaffold and support, and for monitoring and assessing student performance. There is a need in our society for the mechanics for AI and developers of models and tools, and consumers who use those tools. We need to understand not just the small AI tools we interact with, but also the larger systems that run those tools and develop those tools.  

In terms of teaching with AI or having AI do our teaching, grading and feedback for us, in the same way we ask ourselves the price of a car or the cost of gas or tires we need to understand the costs associated with our AI and if those costs are appropriate for the type of use and application.

Do you believe AI can support educators without diminishing human interaction and emotional intelligence in the classroom?

If people are provided with professional development for appropriate implementation and agency for AI tools then yes, if not then no. AI agents/tools should not be given agency as a teacher. In the same way many people use things off-label, there are educators who are using AI tutors as teachers, and that is not how they were designed, such that we cannot expect them to be successful for students.

How might the work of this commission change the course of AI in education?

The commission will help drive conversations between and within states. It will help states receive guidance for implementation of AI in education.

In addition to your commission work, you are working with SREB to develop high school AI curriculum for students in South Carolina. Please tell us more about that.

This is a nice project owing to the investment of the state in being a partner in the process. SREB has put together a strong coalition of educators from K12 and higher education and brought in industry and workforce leaders to help to build out the AI curriculum. Combining the SREB PBL focus with the EQuIPD system thinking and conceptual development pedagogy will allow for students to receive high quality curriculum in Artificial Intelligence.

Anything else you would like to share?

I think it is incredibly important to be able to understand what is behind the black box that is AI for most people. While you do not have to be a mechanic to drive a car, you do have to understand the basics of how the car works, and you have to be licensed to drive it as it can cause harm to self and others. AI is the same way. We do not need to turn our students into mechanics, but they do need to know the basics of how it operates and how to take precautions when using it to mitigate any harm or risk.