Classroom Technology

What Educators Know About Artificial Intelligence, in 3 Charts

By Arianna Prothero — July 14, 2023 1 min read
Image of AI sources and tools.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Most educators say that teaching students on how to use tech tools powered by artificial intelligence—and understanding the potential pitfalls of the technology—should be a priority.

But only 1 in 10 say that they know enough basics about artificial intelligence to teach it or use it to some degree in their work. That’s according to a nationally representative sample of teachers, principals, and district leaders surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center in May and June of this year.

The survey results paint a picture of a profession that is keenly aware of how artificial intelligence is swiftly changing what students need to learn and how educators will do their jobs, but one that may not be fully prepared to meet these new demands.

Most telling is how few educators say they have received any professional development on how to incorporate AI into their work in K-12 education: Eighty-seven percent said they had received no such PD at the time of the survey.

It’s not hard to see why. Advances in artificial intelligence are happening rapidly. While AI is already used in schools—in adaptive assessments, translation services, and programs that plan bus routes, to name a few examples—the release of the free and easy-to-use AI tools ChatGPT 3 and DALL-EE late last year changed the state of play almost overnight. ChatGPT can write essays in seconds and even pass the standardized bar exam.

While ChatGPT led to early fears of students using the technology to cheat, generative AI—which can create text, audio, images, videos, and computer code with simple prompts—is fueling a surge of new uses and tools for educators. Teachers can ask ChatGPT to create a grading rubric for an assignment or use new AI-powered tools that can create an entire slide deck for a presentation on a given topic and grade in seconds. However, generative AI also poses a number of sticky ethical challenges around data privacy, disinformation, and bias.

Experts say that AI advances are poised to alter many industries—including K-12 education—and the jobs that today’s students will be asked to do in the future.

Following are three charts that illustrate in detail how teachers, principals, and district leaders view the importance of teaching AI, how they rate their own knowledge of the technology, and what, if any, training they have received on it.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Classroom Technology From Our Research Center Are Teachers Finding the Right Balance of Tech in Math Class? What They Think, in Charts
Educators weigh in on whether there is too much, too little, or just the right amount of tech use in math classes.
1 min read
Image of someone doing math on a laptop
Getty
Classroom Technology Students Get Hundreds of Notifications on Their Phones Every Day. Even at School
Nearly a quarter of the cellphone notifications students receive each day come during school hours, new report shows.
2 min read
Group of diverse 8-10-year-olds sitting in a window sill looking at their cellphones.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Classroom Technology Opinion Skip the AI Hype: What Can Educators Do With It?
Artificial intelligence can provide practical assistance in the classroom, in the front office, and at home.
7 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Classroom Technology Monitoring or Blocking What Students Do Online Poses All Kinds of Problems
Schools need to do a better job examining the downsides of monitoring students online behavior and blocking internet content, says a report.
4 min read
Photo of high school student in classroom using tablet computers.
E+ / Getty