Karle Delo, AI strategist at Michigan Virtual, shares how educators can prepare future-ready students by integrating AI into teaching while prioritizing human skills. Karle recommends forming a district AI task force to assess policies, student data privacy and teacher usability. framework for AI integration on our Michigan Virtual AI Lab website. www.michiganvirtual.org/AI
Our guest, Karle Delo, is an AI strategist for Michigan Virtual, where she provides professional development on using AI in education for districts across the State, and has presented at larger national conferences, including I.S.T.E. [International Society for Technology in Education] and most recently F.E.T.C. [Future of Education Technology Conference].
One of Karle's presentations was called "AI FOMO No More". FOMO is the fear of missing out. We're really trying to simplify some of those tools and let teachers know you don't have to know it all. And just starting with a few small tools can make a really big difference. Karle suggests that "now we're starting to talk about how do we prepare for a future where all students are using AI, because that's the reality, and it's important to be intentional about student use.
Karle uses an analogy of a hammer which is a very simple tool. It can be used to build and create and construct and be really productive, or it can be used to break, destroy, and destruct, depending on the intention. And when we look back at every single human innovation, we can see that pattern. And the same is true for AI. It's just amplified because it is such a powerful tool.
Ideally a district task force should determine the 3 to 5 tools that the district is going to use because they're confident in their privacy protections and their commitment to protecting student data and their usability for teachers. We've created a framework for AI integration on our Michigan Virtual AI Lab website. www.michiganvirtual.org/AI It's also linked on the M.D.E. 's AI guidance website.
Suzanne Klein:
My name is Suzanne Klein, and I am an associate professor in educational leadership at Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan, and I'm also the director of the Galileo Institute for Leadership there. Today I am joined by the assistant director of the Institute [Elaine Middlekauff] as well as a very special guest on this Podcast for Leaderful Schools. You're going to be hearing more from Karle Delo, who has her Master of Arts degree in Educational Technology, was named one of the top 30 K-12 Ed. Tech. Influencers to follow in 2023 by Edtech Magazine. Let that sink in for a moment. That's quite an honor Karle.
Karle has over 14 years of experience in public education, including roles as a district curriculum director, technology coach and middle school science teacher. She's currently the AI strategist for Michigan Virtual, where she provides professional development on using AI in education for districts across the state, and I expect also from around the region and across the country based on the number of interesting and engaging conference presentations that she’s been doing. So, please Karle, tell us a little bit more about yourself, and the work that you've been up to.
1:22-2:44
Karle Delo:
Thank you. Thanks so much for having me today. And so, when I think about, you know, the work that we've been doing recently as you said, we are at Michigan Virtual talking to school districts and teachers and educators all across the State of Michigan, and we're working with them to really get them prepared for this future where AI is just part of our world. So, a little bit about my past and history.
Shortly after ChatGPT was released, I immediately was thinking this is a transformational tool, and so we need to tell as many, talk to as many educators as possible about it. So right after it was released, I started delivering P.D. at my district, at other districts across the State and creating content online for teachers. [I] never thought I would jump on TikTok but I did. I started making videos about AI in education. And then as you talked about, I've also been presenting at larger national conferences, including I.S.T.E. [International Society for Technology in Education] and most recently F.E.T.C. [Future of Education Technology Conference]. I was down there last week and I'll tell you that coming back to this cold weather in Michigan was a bit of a shocker. So that's a little bit about the work I've done in the past, and I'm excited today to share more about what our team of AI strategists are doing at Michigan Virtual.
2:45- 3:14
Elaine Middlekauff:
Karle, you presented at our AI workshop for teachers and administrators sponsored by the Galileo Institute at Oakland University, in August of 2024. As you reflect back on that as well as the other professional development presentations that you've given, what is the message in terms of the benefits of AI?
3:14-6:18
Karle Delo:
Well, you know initially, my focus was on helping teachers not only save time, which is a big benefit of AI, it can save us a lot of time, right? But it also has this ability to really enhance instruction and elevate what we're doing and so when…what I like to talk about, you know, thinking about that time saving component, another thing to think about is the benefits for students. So, when teachers use AI in really innovative and creative ways, it's not only going to save them time, but it's really beneficial and helpful for students.
So, I'll give just a couple examples real quick. I was working with a teacher who was, and this is a simple example, but I was working with a teacher who was getting her students learning how to calculate the speed of a moving object. So, they're looking at data tables. And she knew that they needed more practice in this skill, but if they saw another worksheet with problems, they were just, gonna you know, crumple it up, throw it away. So, she instead used ChatGPT to make these data sets and problems for students to analyze that were about Taylor Swift and Minecraft and Fortnite, and that, you know, students were so excited to do those activities. And so that's just one simple example of how it's not only beneficial for the teacher, but it's really helpful for students, and so that's kind of how it has started, and we still talk about that.
But I've shifted thinking about the session that I delivered last week at F.E.T.C. It was called AI FOMO No More. FOMO is the fear of missing out, and a lot of us have experienced that in life in general. But when it comes to AI, there’re so many different tools that a lot of times teachers are overwhelmed.
So now we're at the point where we're really trying to simplify some of those tools and let teachers know you don't have to know it all. And just starting with a few small tools can make a really big difference. And then eventually, we're starting to shift into this message with other schools who are prepared for it, where teachers have already explored AI themselves.
And so now we're starting to talk about how do we prepare for a future where all students are using AI, because that's the reality, whether we like it, love it, hate it, right? That's the reality of our future. So, we're starting to get into that and really see what is that going to look like. And it's important to be intentional about student use. And I think later, we're going to talk about some of those risks and limitations as well, because that's a very important part of the conversation. But those are some of the big messages we've been talking about with the benefits and thinking about student use of AI.
We have started to see, you know that when AI is used correctly with students, it has this ability to really elevate what students are able to do, their confidence in the classroom, their level of engagement, so excited to see where that, where that's going to go as well in the future.
6:20-6:50
Suzanne Klein:
Interesting job title, AI strategist, and based on what you were just saying. You’ve opened up the next question in terms of diving a little bit deeper on how AI can be used to impact teaching and learning going forward. I’m curious from your experience what has changed and why, over the past 3 to 4 years, in terms of the extent to which AI has gained acceptance and use, both on the side of the teacher as well as excitement to try it on the part of students?
6:53-11:15
Karle Delo:
So, this still holds true that when, whenever you talk about artificial intelligence, it is an emotionally charged topic, and it's one of those things that some people are really excited about. Some people are terrified. And then there's everything in between.
And I've always liked to invite everybody to the table and let people know whether you're a skeptic or more of a “hypester”, as we call them, someone who's real excited about it. Your viewpoints and your ideas are valid, and a very important part of this discussion. So that has been kind of a constant.
And what I'm actually seeing is more people listening to some of the skeptics as well, and some of the people who have concerns, whereas at the beginning there was so much hype surrounding AI, and it was, "Look at these 20 tools, you know, for teachers". And now we're kind of pulling back, going back to that idea of AI FOMO as well. We don't want people to feel overwhelmed. So, what are the actual practical use cases of AI?
So, I'm starting to see that shift. But when it comes to that fear or hesitation about exploring AI in education, I think one big thing that's changed is, you used to have to go to ChatGPT, or Google Gemini. It was Google Bard back then, right? But you used to have to go to these tools if you wanted to interact with AI, but already these are being quickly embedded into our everyday tools. So, if you do a Google search, you'll see an AI overview at the top. If you, if students, have Snapchat or Instagram, they have AI tools embedded right within there. You can actually write an essay with Snapchat, which blows my mind, but these tools are being embedded. And it's not something we can really choose to ignore anymore. And so that is a big shift that I've seen.
There's really 2 ways to think about talking to students about AI in education, and there's teaching students about AI and then teaching with AI, where students are using it as well. And most people are in agreeance that we at least need to be talking to students about AI because they have access to it, whether we want to admit that whether we like it or not, it's there, right? So that's a big change, if people are realizing it's not going away.
I talked about all that hype at the beginning. Then we realized the real problems and issues that come with AI. And now we're moving past all of that and starting to think about real practical solutions. So that's kind of where I see it going. And there's also a lot of...we're still doing those introductory trainings. And I feel like that's an important component of how do we get everyone on the same level as far as their understanding with AI.
But we're also seeing districts doing some real, deep, more meaningful work with AI as well. So just one example. I know Kent I.S.D. is doing some really cool things with embedding AI tools into their work with assessments. So, for example, they're thinking about how can we revise and improve our assessments? Which was an existing initiative before AI, you know, but how can we use AI to help elevate that process? And so really starting to embed it into what they're doing, which I love.
And then also, this is new, so the Michigan Department of Education did release some general guidance on the topic of AI in education. They have a website. And I'm really proud to say that they referenced Michigan Virtual resources several times throughout their website. So, the Michigan Department of Ed. is even saying this is something that we really need to focus on. Here's some resources. So, I feel really proud to be part of that team and that work of how can we approach this in, you know, a really intentional manner, and not just dive into the hype and dive into all the tools, but what are the real applications that we can take away and use in education?
11:15-11:45
Elaine Middlekauff:
Karle, having presented at both ISTE, which is the International Society for Technology in Education, and most recently at F.E.T.C., which is the Future of Education Technology Conference, what excites you most about AI and what do you see as the future of AI in education in 2025? Although we can’t think in terms of a longer future, what do you see happening in the next 3 years?
11:46-15:52
Karle Delo:
Big question. I'll first share that the one thing that was everywhere that I kept seeing at F.E.T.C. were the AI powered glasses from Meta, so they look like regular glasses. I don't know if you guys have seen those yet. They look like regular Ray-Ban glasses, but they are powered by AI. I have not tried any on yet. That should have been on my list at F.E.T.C., but they're really cool, and it takes everything to the next level when thinking about AI being embedded into everyday tools. Now it's embedded for some people in their vision, and there's a lot of concern that comes with that, but it's a reality we should face.
So just you know, there was a TikTok video that went viral a couple weeks ago of a teacher who said their student had AI glasses on in class, and so they would take a picture of their work, and through a Bluetooth mechanism they were able to ask AI for responses and for help on that homework. And so, if that's where our students are, and we have some teachers and administrators who aren't ready to talk about it yet, that's a huge gap, right? So, we have to be ready to start moving forward. And when I think about what that future could look like, there's a lot of capabilities of AI, and it's advancing really rapidly.
And one thing I think about like, just in general, a human skill that I think is very important is creativity. And for a long-time people said, "Well, AI can't be creative.". Now we're at the point where AI, depending on how you define creativity, AI can be pretty creative as far as combining different words and different things. However, this was a big conversation at F.E.T.C. We want to live, or at least I want to live in a world where humans still get to be creative. Right?
And so how do we design, intentionally design and prepare for that world? So, there's this group called the Human Intelligence Movement, and that a big focus throughout the whole conference was on those human skills. What are the human skills that are going to be so important in a world with AI?
And there was a report released a few weeks ago from the World Economic Forum, the Future of Jobs Report. That's really interesting to check out. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/
I recommend everyone go look at it because some of the top skills that are going to be needed in the next 3 to 5 years are things like analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, the ability to change and adapt, because that that's going to be the world we live in the near future, creative thinking and curiosity. So those are things that we need to be embedding into what we do, and actually using AI to help with that process.
So, when we think about what does this look like at an elementary versus a secondary level. At the elementary level, students are still learning core foundational skills. And I think that's going to stay the same. We still need to learn those foundational skills at that, at that lower level. But as students get older, that's where we really need to be developing some of these critical thinking skills. And oftentimes we see a lot of textbooks at the secondary level, and that's not going to work any longer as a curriculum. Not if we're going to prepare students for this future.
But it can't all fall on teachers, either. There's got to be an opportunity for and training for teachers to figure out how do they make that shift. Because, taking a textbook and turning it into lessons that are going to prepare students for this future with AI, that's a big task. And so it's got to be done intentionally, systemically, and oddly enough, we can use AI to do that. So, I can use AI to say, “What are some ways to teach students about Newton's laws of motion that involve that collaboration and curiosity?”. So, we can use AI to do some of those things, but it's just going to take a really intentional approach to get there.
15:55-16:34
Suzanne Klein:
Your last comments are interesting, Karle, because there are those who take another step down that road and say here's the promise of AI. But what about the challenges, and how can we balance off the challenges and opportunities with the inherent concerns about privacy, accuracy of information, bias, or fears of AI may replace teachers at some point in the future. So, please Karle if you will, help us with your comments as well as your best thinking and maybe some ideas for strategies that you would recommend to help schools and districts address these concerns.
16:36-21:20
Karle Delo:
Yes, I think that oftentimes this part of the conversation is skipped over, and the session I gave back at Oakland University for the Galileo Institute in August. The title of that session was The Double-edged Sword of AI in Education, because I think that the limitations and risks. They've got to be addressed, and we can't just skim over them.
So, I like to use an analogy of a hammer which is a very simple tool. It can be used to build and create and construct and be really productive, or it can be used to break, destroy, and destruct, depending on the intention. And when we look back at every single human innovation, we can see that pattern. And the same is true for AI. It's just amplified because it is such a powerful tool.
When it comes to a district approach or an administration, the approach of administrators, I highly recommend building some sort of AI task force or a team that can start thinking about these things together. And what that can include is a lot of districts have policies that are already written that are very vague. But how do we bring those to life? What would AI guidelines look like for our teachers and our students?
And so that your AI task force can help determine that and start piloting some of these tools so that teachers aren't using 20 different tools, right? But what are the 3 to 5 tools that our district is going to use because we're confident in their privacy and their privacy protections and their commitment to protecting student data and their usability for teachers. All of those things are really important to consider. And it's so much more effective when it's done with that team approach.
And the other thing about that task force approach is you give your innovators and early adopters a space to really thrive and start the process in a very natural way, because not everybody is going to want to jump on board right away. That's not how we work as humans. It just doesn’t, it doesn't go that way. So, I highly recommend doing that.
We're actually working at Michigan Virtual, with a couple of different districts across the state with that approach of, we're not just going to, we come in and do professional development. We do professional development series over time, but we're also working with districts on how do you build a task force and create those guidelines and bigger structures for long-term change? So, I recommend that districts look at that.
We do have a framework for AI integration on our Michigan Virtual AI Lab website. So that's just michiganvirtual.org slash AI, www.michiganvirtual.org/AI It's also linked on the M.D.E. 's AI guidance website, so you could check that out.
But another thing, when really thinking about some of the challenges, I like to tell this story of how I use AI for feedback, because this is something I see a lot of times teachers will use AI to give feedback, or students will use AI to get feedback. And that's a powerful way of potentially using AI. I do it myself. I record most of my talks that I give, whether it's just audio or video, and then I'll transcribe them and ask AI for feedback.
And that's a really powerful tool. It gives me some great pointers, but almost every single time it tells me to remove some of the best parts of my talk, and I only know that because I have been doing this for a while right, I collect feedback from multiple sources. I do exit surveys. I talk to people afterwards. I can also read the room as I'm talking, and so I know not to trust that and say I'm going to use my own judgment there. Thanks so much ChatGPT, but I'll pass. And what worries me is what if our students who are not yet experts and they're doing something very personal like writing, and they ask AI for feedback, and it tells them to remove the best part, but they don't know that that's the best part. That thought breaks my heart.
And so, it's important to give students permission to push back and to really remind them that those human skills are what are so important. And judgment is one of those. AI can make judgments too. But I want to live in a world where students and where people get to be the judge and make some of those judgment calls.
21:22-21:38
Elaine Middlekauff:
Now, as we move toward the end of our podcast, Karle, I have a special request. Could you share a tool or site that you recommend for those who are just starting out in AI or for more advanced users?
21:39-23:46
Karle Delo:
All right. So, my first recommendation for people who are starting out is going to be very boring. It is going to be to go to either ChatGPT or Google Gemini, or Claude or Microsoft Copilot, one of those chatbots and just start asking it questions and asking it for ideas.
One of the things that I heard; this was from Dr. Sabba Quidwai at F.E.T.C... She was saying how important to, we don't go to AI for answers. We go to AI for 3 to 5 ideas that can then spark some really cool ideas and end products and solutions. And so, I recommend people start out there.
And the reason why is because a lot of these other AI tools which I will show you one, for people who have already experimented a little bit with chatbots. If you are able to talk to and prompt a chatbot on your own, it's like being able to cook for yourself. You can get exactly what you want.
Some of these other tools are more like going out to a restaurant for example, and ordering off the menu. Now I think I'm a pretty good cook. I still like going out to eat at restaurants, because it might give me, I might be able to get something I couldn't make myself, or I might not feel like cooking that night. So that's my recommendation for starting is just check out a chat bot.
But then, once you are ready, I'm going to show a tool called School AI, (www.shoolai.com) and I will share my screen. So, SchoolAI is all of these tools are a “freemium” type of tool, meaning that there's free options available for teachers. Are you able to see my screen right now with school AI up? Perfect. Okay?
What SchoolAI does is it allows students to interact with AI in a more safe and controlled way. Now, there are also tools specifically for teachers. So you can check that out too. I'm curious. Have either of you used school AI at all?
23:47-23:55
Elaine Middlekauff:
Little bit exploring, but certainly not, in my position right now to create lessons. But I've loved exploring it.
23:56-24:45
Karle Delo:
Cool. Yeah, okay. So, what we have is I'm going to show the tool.
But first I want to…I guess backup a minute and talk about where these tools kind of came from. So, Michigan Virtual did just release some AI literacy lessons, and they're really great free YouTube videos. They're about 90 seconds. They're TikTok style or social media style, so they're really going to be engaging for kids. And this teaches students about how to use AI, so you could check those out. There's videos and free teacher guides that you can download, accompanying many of these lessons are SchoolAI spaces for students.
So, one of the lessons is about how to write a really good prompt and how to use a chatbot. In this tool, I'll show you what the students might see first, and then I'll show you what the teachers would see.
24:47-27:30
Karle Delo: (Shared Screen, demonstrating SchoolAI)
So, let's say, a student just learns about prompting. They could then go to SchoolAI and SchoolAI would ask them, okay, let's look at this prompt, and then I want you to improve it. So as a student I might see this and say, you know, the prompt says, Tell me about science for school. So instead of that, what's the way I could improve this? I could say tell me about how photosynthesis works in a way that a 12-year-old could understand.
Okay, so now I'm giving it… I'm being a little bit more specific. I'm defining what the output is. And so SchoolAI is going to look at my prompt and then give me a little bit of feedback.
So, there's this ability for students to get instant feedback. Now, this is about AI literacy. But you could do this about anything that you're teaching as well. So, there are pre-made exit tickets and warm-ups that you can use in SchoolAI, to give your students a more controlled way to interact with chat bots. And these spaces that are for these AI literacy lessons teachers can remix them and change them however they want.
Now, here's the really cool part, other than the ability to for students to interact with the tool, this is what it would look like for the teachers on their teacher dashboard. So I actually did this at F.E.T.C. and I told, I prompted the audience to do a couple of things, so this will be a great example, but I can see right here all of my students, and how they're doing with the assignment. So, I know that Byrd, for example, this student is doing really well but there are some other students who are not doing so well, and I told them to do this, so I told this the students in my room to, you know, kind of be mean to the chatbot.
And so the teacher can actually go in and see, you know that Logan is frustrated, and I can click on their name and go through and look at their chat and actually see that they asked SchoolAI to just write something for them they wanted. I need you to do my assignment for me.
Write me an essay on the Water Cycle is what the student said, and SchoolAI said. “No, I'm not going to do that for you. Actually, let's focus on what we're supposed to be doing today”. So, it will redirect them, which is really cool, and then again, gives teachers that opportunity to monitor what's going on in the classroom so that students are using it appropriately and correctly. So, do you guys have any questions about SchoolAI?
27:31-27:56
Elaine Middlekauff:
What would be the range of…I would say age level or classroom level that a teacher might you go to SchoolAI for supports? Is this a K-12 or a 6 -12, or how might you recommend teachers approach this?
28:00-29:31
Karle Delo:
So, I have heard of people using it in lower grade levels. What I do recommend is that, especially at those lower grade levels, but in all, but especially as with younger kids, it's so important to teach students about AI before they are getting in and actually using it.
So that's why I like the idea of pairing it with some AI literacy lessons, and especially at those younger grade levels, it's important to teach students that AI is not a human, and that it's very different. And you can see with the way SchoolAI is responding to me. It's talking to me like a human would. It's so important if you're going to use it with younger grade levels, there needs to be a really big discussion about the difference between AI and humans. And we could do a whole podcast on that. But I just want to give that caveat first.
I have heard of people successfully using it at lower grade levels. It does help if students can type because they're going to be typing. There are some other tools such as I could use the speak button to actually have it read the response to me. And I could use this microphone button too, instead of typing. I could do voice-to-text. It does have those features. I could see it being used in maybe second or third grade if there's a lot of AI literacy taught. I think the ideal grades for this is middle school and up. I see a lot of potential there, as far as students being able to get some feedback.
29:32-29:41
Elaine Middlekauff:
Do you have a favorite tool for those lower el, or elementary teachers or sites that you enjoy using or sharing?
29:43-30:14
Karle Delo:
I really like Quick, Draw! as far as starting to teach students a little bit about how AI works and what Quick,Draw! does is, it's free to use, it tells you something to draw. And then you would actually try to draw it. I've seen teachers do this on a Smartboard, and then the AI will try to guess what you're drawing, so I can go ahead and demonstrate this real quick. I don't know how well the audio will come through. But if it’s okay, it wants me to draw a Flip- flop. Okay, this will be fun.
30:15-30:29 Karle Delo: (shared screen, demonstrating Quick Draw!) =
Put me on the spot here. Quick draw says “I see pond or swimming pool, horseshoe or garden hose. Oh, I know it's flip-flop.” Karle: Okay, so it got it. It got that I was drawing a flip -flop there.
30:31-30:55
Karle Delo:
So that's a really cool way to start teaching kids about AI, but a lot of times, too, and at the elementary level and at every level, don't forget the impact of also the ability to use AI yourself as a teacher to really enhance and elevate what you're doing. So, that's my advice. There I could go on and on about tools, and specific use cases. But those are just a couple places to start.
30:56-31:16
Elaine Middlekauff:
Karle, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. It’s always exciting to learn about new AI tools. SchoolAI is a wonderful tool that I would want to share with teachers. So, thank you once again. You always bring such insight and expertise into our conversations about artificial intelligence.
31:17-31:18 Karle Delo: Thank you. Yeah.
31:19- 33:00
Suzanne Klein:
I'll add my thanks for returning to the Galileo Institute for some conversation. There has still been talk about the workshop you did for us in August, and this will be a nice new batch of information from those who've probably been wondering what you've been up to, as well as taking some of the 1st steps yourself. So, thank you so much for the practical applications, as well as your advice about what privacy requires and appropriate use and teacher preparation, so that it is used as a successful tool.
Thank you to our listeners who have joined us for the Galileo Institute Podcast for Leaderful Schools. Keep your eye on our website, information about upcoming workshops, seminars, and special events. We also have a newsletter, 5 Minutes 4 Leadership, that goes all over the state of Michigan, which is open to anyone beyond those borders who would like to subscribe. We would love to add you to our mailing list, so you'll learn about the podcasts that are currently out in view, as well as updates from various other fields that will help build strong teaching and learning opportunities for students in every school, every classroom, every day.
Again, our thanks, Karle Delo. We wish you much success. We'll be watching where things are going at Michigan Virtual as your work as an AI strategist, as it’s unfolding and keep us in the loop. Let us know the latest news. Thanks again.