Educators Push for Seat at the Table as AI Enters Classrooms
About 250 educators, administrators, and scholars gathered at Boston University on March 25 to confront a question schools can no longer avoid: What does teaching mean when students have access to AI?
The BU Wheelock Forum on AI and the Future of Education surfaced a consistent tension. Teachers acknowledge AI's presence in their classrooms-students use chatbots and language models daily-but worry about both the technology's risks and their own preparedness.
Aaron Rasmussen, cofounder of online education platforms Outlier.org and MasterClass, told attendees that educators need direct input on how AI gets built and deployed in schools. "When we think about the way AI is changing education, we need to think about who is going to guide AI to make education better," Rasmussen said. "And it seems to me that educators would be the best people to do that."
The forum highlighted a core concern: equity. Without educators steering AI development, schools risk widening gaps between well-resourced and under-resourced districts.
The event also featured a dance performance using Random Actor, a technology that uses AI to extend visual expression of human movement. The tool was developed by Boston University faculty James Grady and Clay Hopper.
Teachers caught between two pressures-student reliance on AI tools and fear of falling behind-need resources to understand the technology itself. An AI learning path for teachers can help educators address classroom challenges around AI use, lesson planning, and student engagement.
For broader context on AI's role in schools, explore AI for Education resources on classroom tools and learning optimization.
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