UEN Launches AI & School Leadership Collaborative

The UEN professional development team has partnered with the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) on a program called the AI & School Leadership Collaborative, a professional learning series for school leadership teams.

The series includes five sessions—three in-person sessions and two online sessions—and the next cohort is slated to begin sessions this spring. The program is primarily run by UEPC and UEN, with participation from the Utah State Board of Education as appropriate.

One of the interesting aspects of the program, according to Braxton Thornley, who taught the first course alongside Dani Sloan, is that people attend as school teams. Generally speaking, each school in the program sends an administrator, an instructional coach and two or three teachers. “That structure allows the professional learning to more easily extend into folks' day-to-day practice and helps facilitate meaningful collaboration,” said Thornley. The first cohort includes ten schools and nine LEAs (charters or districts).

The program is important because it's one of the few, and possibly the only, programs in Utah that allow school leaders to learn about AI alongside their teachers on an ongoing basis. This is critical for the successful implementation of AI to support instruction because it ensures the instructional leaders in schools have the capacity to support their teachers' use of AI and ability to develop their students' AI fluency.

Additionally, because of the program’s team-based, collaborative approach, schools that participate are more likely to sustain meaningful AI initiatives in their buildings over the long term. Shared initiatives across multiple levels of the school lead to sustainable implementation, and that is one of the program’s main goals. “Dani and I are going to continue working with our participating schools even after they exit the program to ensure they continue receiving the support they need to build their students’ and teachers’ AI fluency and continue using AI in meaningful ways,” said Thornley.

To sign up for the program’s interest list, visit the program site and fill out the interest form. This list will keep you informed about developments, including the start of the next cohort and how to participate.

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