By Sukainah Abid-Kons, contributor
The Harrisonburg City Public Schools next month will launch a pilot program in some classrooms to training teachers on AI programs that could assist them.
Deb Cook, the district’s director of innovation for instruction and leadership, emphasized two key aspects of the program.
First, it’s optional. Only teachers interested in integrating this technology into their routines will participate. Secondly, the program in no way replaces teaching or teachers with AI, she said.
“We’re not forcing anyone to use AI who doesn’t want to use it,” Cook said.
The trend of training educators in generative AI is gaining traction across the country. From 2023 to 2024, the number of teachers trained in using the tech doubled, and that figure will likely continue to grow.
While other counties in Virginia, such as Loudoun, have also started incorporating AI into their classrooms and curricula, Harrisonburg’s pilot program to train teachers is the first of its kind, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
For example, a teacher could use AI to help tailor their curriculum to students who are still learning English. Especially in a district as linguistically and culturally diverse as Harrisonburg, where there are over 50 different languages spoken by students, this could be incredibly helpful for both teachers and students.
“AI is a tool, and like all tools in society, it can be leveraged and used in different ways,” Cook said.
So far, teachers have had the option of using AI in their classrooms with the guidance of instructional technology coaches, which some have taken advantage of. Additionally, as a Google school district, Harrisonburg teachers and staff gained access to Gemini, Google’s own generative AI program.
AI has actually been present in classrooms for many years. Translation, writing, and other learning programs used forms of AI for years before ChatGPT became available to the world in 2022. However, since the launch and subsequent growth of free and open generative AI models (AI used to generate information), students have been quick to integrate this technology into their learning routines. Teenagers in particular have been very quick to learn and adopt these new tools, with a reported 7 in 10 teens using generative AI, often for help with assignments.
While students at HCPS have had access to these tools outside of the classroom, there has not yet been an official introduction of student-facing generative AI programming into their curricula — until this pilot program launches next month.
The pilot program will be followed by monthly meetings to check in with participating teachers on how the use and incorporation of the technology are progressing. The program will not only give teachers access to specific AI programs but also train them in best practices in accordance with the district’s acceptable use policies.
“We give our teachers a lot of praxis in terms of what makes sense in order to walk our students towards mastery,” Cook said.
Cook said that while this option is open to teachers, student-facing AI is something that will have to come later. There will still need to be discussions in terms of what grade levels have access to Gemini, how and when they can use it in and out of the classroom, and how to communicate these standards with students’ families.
“Students are already using AI whether or not they’re being invited to in instructional spaces,” Cook said. She said that student-facing AI in the classrooms – such as Google’s Gemini – is something that could be coming in the future to the district, but the details of such a rollout still need to be ironed out.
This would be on par with the goals that the VADOE has outlined for school districts, encouraging them to be “exposed to foundational AI concepts and applications.”
For now, HCPS will first focus on getting teachers trained in and familiar with AI, so that they’re on the same page when the day comes that students can use it in the classroom as well.
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