North Dakota department publishes AI guidance for public schools

Kiana Krueger and Sean Hughes perform "Theatre Kids at the End of the World," a play written by ChatGPT featured in "The AI Plays" at Bismarck State College on Dec. 7, 2023. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction published guidance for K-12 schools on using artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The guidance, available on the department’s website , doesn’t set hard-and-fast rules for using AI. Instead, it provides advice and resources to North Dakota public school teachers and a dministrators on how they can use AI as an educational tool.

“We must emphasize keeping the main thing the main thing, and that is to prepare our young learners for their next challenges and goals,” North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler said in a Monday announcement.

The Department of Public Instruction worked with North Dakota public school teachers, the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education and other state agencies to develop the guidance.

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The group also took inspiration from technology education nonprofit Code.org and its AI-focused initiative, TeachAI.org , which aims to help schools use artificial intelligence effectively, according to the announcement.

The guidance includes a list of AI resources teachers can use to generate presentations, quizzes, lesson plans and more. It features advice on how AI can make education more accessible to students with disabilities, too, like using speech transcription services for deaf or hard-of-hearing students.

There’s also a basic outline schools can use to set goals for integrating AI technology into their teaching.

The guidance emphasizes making sure teachers use AI in a way that’s age-appropriate for their students, as well. For example, the guidance cautions that students in kindergarten through second grade may struggle to grasp that artificial intelligence is not human.

High school teachers are advised to educate students on how to use AI in an ethical and responsible way.

“Our guidance is meant to provide some tools to the school administration and say, ‘Here are some things to think about when you implement your own AI guidance,’” Steve Snow of the agency’s Office of School Approval and Opportunity said in the Monday announcement.

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