AI Is Not A Tool, It's An Ecosystem with Kevin Shindel Transformative Principal 548 #SummerofAI

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.

Kevin Shindel, a high school social studies teacher, discusses the impact of technology and AI in classrooms. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the purpose and potential of AI before fully adopting it. Shindel raises concerns about trust, privacy, and the need for collaboration with AI. He believes AI is not just a tool, but an ecosystem that requires careful consideration.

About Kevin Shindel

Kevin Shindel is a high school social studies teacher with 28 years of experience. He has taken a keen interest in technology and its impact in classrooms. 10 years ago, he created a digital detox program for students, and he runs this experience every year with his kids. He’s very interested in the holistic impact of technology on students when adopted in schools. 

Begin with purpose.What’s the purpose of AI?Skeptic by nature.Personalization is important.Aristotle’s goldenVirtuous but vices at the extremes.How much will taxpayers be willing to pay to have teachers be hand holding and AI.What is driving the AI Push right now?MoneyPower and statusFearHubrisCan use the technology they create to solve the world’s ills.Big tech exploitations.Trust is a big issue.We need to work with Collaborators, not Service Providers.What are the problems in today’s classrooms?We don’t know the advice an AI Therapist would give.What is the problem and is this the solution?It would be difficult to replace me in a classroom right now, but these are the dumbest AI we will ever work with.AI’s carbon footprintGreatest learning tool ever created by humans. Greatest cheating tool, also.AI is not a tool. It’s an ecosystem.Unleash learning about AI before we unleash using AI.How will this affect Human relationships, privacy, data, Accessibility, hard work vs. meaningful workWhere do we have the hard work happen?Promise of offloading hard workSee people wanting to get this plane off the ground without knowing everything in there.Defining hard work is incredibly challenging.The purpose is to help someone find gainful employment.4-month exploratory window before we adopt whole heartedly.Ai is not a tool, it’s an ecosystemSee Jason Fried’s ideas about tools hereWhen AI tool is not a user error.

Support our Sponsors

SchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-generated experiences that will change the way you teach.
Scrible: Worried about AI Plagiarism? Take the high road and improve your students' skills before they feel the need to cheat with this modern research and writing platform for school
FocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.