Much of the focus on the use of AI in K-12 instruction has been on traditional academic subjects and whether the technology is helping or hurting students’ ability to learn the subject matter.
Less attention has been paid to the role of AI in career and technical education programs. That is the case even though careers in agriculture, cooking, welding, health care, cybersecurity, and other fields are now using AI tools in a variety of ways.
But Michael Connet, the associate deputy executive director for outreach and partnerships for the Association for Career and Technical Education, is seeing rising interest in the CTE community in AI’s potential to transform that landscape. And he expects the interest to continue rising.
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In a recent conversation with Education Week, Connet talked about how the technology is being used to solve problems and create opportunities, why the CTE community has embraced greater use of AI tools and platforms in general, and how to guard against unintended consequences in learning environments.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When did CTE educators start thinking more deliberately about the role of AI?
I’d say early 2023, there was significant growth. That growth has been on a steady upward curve. About a year ago, I’d [estimate] about half of CTE programs had some use, be it preliminary or more advanced. Now the challenge is how you move beyond what I call the “Googlification” of AI, where it’s just used more or less as an advanced search tool.
What is an example of how CTE programs can move beyond “Googlification”?
A big problem for CTE has always been transportation to and from [school to CTE training centers]. One CTE director said they’ve been able to apply an AI-powered tool to look at all of the schedules from all of the sending schools and the times and availability of lab space at their center. It’s come up with recommendations [in minutes] for scheduling that otherwise would have taken hours, days, maybe even weeks to complete.
Is the surge of interest in AI part of a more technology-oriented approach to CTE?
By virtue of the hands-on, experiential nature of CTE instruction, there hasn’t been historically a major role for educational technology in CTE classrooms. That all changed because of the pandemic when teachers had to go remote and use the learning-management system for communication and virtual learning. Now that we’re back in person fully and doing things that are hands-on, ed tech has stayed with them.
What are some examples of rising use of AI in CTE classrooms?
Culinary. You’ve got instructors who are using the technology to do makeshift food and nutrition analyses by taking a photo of a refrigerator with items that are in there and being able to concoct what recipes on a health level would be good for a person with specific dietary needs.
HVAC tech. That’s another traditional skilled-trades area using tools that basically are designed to provide predictive analytics that help them monitor energy efficiency. Those are tools that students are now being trained on that are [used with] real products that those technicians need to deal with and helping those learners understand not just how to use [the tools], but what’s the secret sauce that’s contributing to the information that the AI is able to act upon.
AI often gets things wrong. How should schools teach students to be critical evaluators of the technology?
That’s the opportunity for CTE. It is to continue to find ways to embed that critical thinking with those applications. You’re seeing early adopters acknowledge that, and they’re successfully doing it. I liken it to what I call our light switch concept. You flip the light switch on, and the lights come on without any consideration about what’s happening either there at the switch level or even at the power-generating level.
Once a CTE program can dissect that so that you understand when you flip the light switch, there’s a circuit relay that allows electricity to flow that’s generated from transmission lines. Then you have a greater understanding of the entire ecosystem.
There has always been an inherent tension in CTE around preparing students for jobs in local companies versus helping them develop skills to go where the most lucrative job opportunities exist. How is technology influencing that debate?
If I’m out in rural Idaho, I don’t have to necessarily think only about programs that are going to meet the needs of my local employers. If there is a remote learning opportunity around a career and tech field that there’s a need for nationally, then some of those programs can be offered, whereas before, maybe they wouldn’t have been.
What about the kid who wants to stay in Idaho and work in agriculture?
A traditional farming program now needs to also talk about using drones with AI-powered sensors to teach students about soil monitoring and crop-yield optimization or sustainable farming, whereas before it was pretty perfunctory to what an individual could do physically with their hands.
Any cautionary notes about the use of AI in CTE programs?
Trust but verify. It’s so new, and a lot of us don’t really know what sits under the water line in that algorithm.
How do we sensitize learners to the privacy issues and the accuracy of the information? In a very overt way, don’t just make it a side part of the conversation or something that’s handled in one module of learning within a semesterlong course. Make sure it’s woven throughout.
