250+ Educators attend 1st-time Purdue AI in P-12 Education conference

Over 250 educators attended the first annual Purdue AI in P-12 Education Conference on Nov. 11, 2024, at Purdue University.

The theme, “Convergence,” focused on how pedagogy must change to accommodate and/or leverage the availability of generative AI for education.

“’Convergence’ also reflects the need for all of us to come together and start agreeing on AI’s appropriate and most effective use,” said William (Bill) Watson, conference organizer. Watson heads the College’s Artificial Intelligence/Data Science Initiative (part of Purdue Computes), directs the Purdue Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments, and is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction’s Learning Design and Technology Program.

AI is a key focus of Purdue Computes, a strategic Purdue University initiative to further scale Purdue’s research and educational excellence.

The conference is a part of the College of Education’s Artificial Intelligence/Data Science Initiative. 

“As far as we know, this conference is the first of its kind in Indiana, and the College of Education is very excited to take the lead in this area of ever-increasing importance – namely, the use of Artificial Intelligence in education,” said Phillip J. VanFossen, interim dean of the College.

Besides Indiana, attendees came from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Brazil.

The conference was sponsored by NextTech, a non-profit which specializes in professional development in technology education for Indiana teachers; as well as MagicSchoolAI and ColleagueAI, AI platforms for teachers and schools; Purdue Online; Purdue Curriculum and Instruction; Purdue Learning Design & Technology; Purdue Center for Early Learning; and Purdue’s College of Education.

The conference came about because Watson, VanFossen, and Wayne E. Wright, associate dean for research, graduate programs, and faculty development, felt that the College’s expertise could provide important professional development by offering a conference on the role of AI in P-12 schools – something everyone is scrambling to better understand.

The keynote speaker for this inaugural conference was Dr. Stephen J. Aguilar of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education and co-lead of USC’s new Center for Generative AI and Society.

Aguilar’s keynote provided a framework for considering the appropriate us of AI. He gave examples of how technology in the past has been warned against, starting with dire warnings from Socrates of how reliance on writing would damage learners’ capacity to remember. Aguilar explained concepts such as large language models and the limitations of AI while also discussing ethical considerations and the nature of schools working with companies seeking to innovate while protecting themselves legally. (His keynote may be viewed at https://youtu.be/kG8b0Eq0qO8?feature=shared.)

The conference also included 50 presentations across 31 sessions on AI Tools for Teachers & Students, AI Education Research, AI Ethics & Policy, and AI Curriculum Applications.

(left, center) Prof. Bill Watson organized the conference; (right) Attendees enjoyed the conference and learning about AI tools. (Photos/A. Ott)

Attendees enjoyed networking with AI vendors, and teacher attendees earned Professional Growth Points (PGPs).

Watson and his team plan to make it an annual event at Purdue and will gather attendees’ feedback to inform and plan a second conference next year. 

“It is our sincere hope that, no matter where you are in your AI in education journey, your experiences today will help you address one or more of these important AI issues,” said VanFossen.

About the College of Education’s AI/Data Science Initiative

We offer courses, graduate certificates, and degree programs that provide training for students in the analyses of large sets of numerical, textual, and multimodal data and practical applications of AI tools. In addition, we are leveraging our comparative advantage in P-12 education to provide professional development and training to our school-based colleagues. The College is home to faculty scholars, centers and funded grant projects engaged in interdisciplinary research to leverage AI tools and to collect and analyze data that seeks to transform learning and teaching, inform policy and make a difference in the lives of culturally and linguistically diverse students, families and communities.

Source: Bill Watson, brwatson@purdue.edu

Related AI in Education news:

• Read Students design “a game about AI using AI’
• Play Transforming AI for Learning (TRAIL), “a game about AI using AI” developed by Watson’s Educational Game Design graduate students.