Teacher undergoes training with OpenAI and Common Sense Media's no-cost program designed for educators
In a significant move to empower educators, OpenAI and Common Sense Media have collaborated to create a free AI course aimed at K-12 educators. The course, focusing on writing effective AI prompts using the CRE Framework, is designed to help educators build competence and confidence in AI literacy.
The course, which takes less than an hour to complete, is packed with short videos, readings, quizzes, and interactive activities. It covers essential topics such as protecting student data, ensuring ethical use of AI in the classroom, and addressing potential problems with bias and privacy when using AI in education.
At the heart of the CRE Framework are three key components: building AI literacy through practice, meeting educators where they are, and focusing on interactive prompts. The course centers on practical application, offering strategies tailored to varying levels of AI familiarity among teachers. It emphasizes the use of structured prompting techniques such as Socratic questioning, hints, self-reflection prompts, and scaffolded information delivery.
The CRE Framework likely involves components that encourage clarity in prompt wording to reduce ambiguity, relevance by aligning prompts with learning goals or classroom context, and engagement through prompts that stimulate reflection, exploration, or analysis. These elements help teachers create prompts that guide AI to provide scaffolded, meaningful, and personalized educational support rather than generic or direct answers.
One example of a prompt template included in the course's library is for preparing a brief survey that contains 10 questions for students on a specific topic. The course also offers a PDF file filled with prompt templates for educators to create their own context-specific prompts.
The author of this article found the course to be really helpful and efficient, and a great way to improve AI use and learn the basics of prompt-writing best practices. The course may be particularly helpful for educators who are new to using AI tools in their classrooms.
It's worth noting that the course emphasizes the importance of ensuring that a human instructor is always in control when using AI tools. Teachers are advised that some versions of ChatGPT input data for future training, and that personally identifiable information regarding a student should never be shared with ChatGPT.
The course also covers the Human-In-The-Loop framework, which places AI use in education firmly within the control and direction of a human. This approach is embedded within wider professional development that balances standalone AI training and integration into existing educator workflows, aiming for sustainable and scalable AI literacy in K-12 education.
References:
[1] OpenAI. (n.d.). ChatGPT Study Mode. Retrieved from https://chat.openai.com/docs/guides/study-mode
[2] Common Sense Education. (n.d.). AI for K-12 Education. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/ai-for-k-12-education
[3] Common Sense Education. (n.d.). Prompting for Learning with AI. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/prompting-for-learning-with-ai
[4] OpenAI. (n.d.). AI in Education. Retrieved from https://openai.com/blog/ai-in-education/
- The AI course for K-12 educators, created by OpenAI and Common Sense Media, incorporates interactive learning technologies to enhance education-and-self-development by focusing on writing effective AI prompts using the CRE Framework.
- The course's content is divided into short videos, readings, quizzes, and interactive activities, providing a comprehensive understanding of topics like student data protection, ethical AI use, and managing bias and privacy in AI education.
- Teachers can apply strategies tailored to their AI familiarity level, as the course emphasizes the use of structured prompting techniques such as Socratic questioning, hints, self-reflection prompts, and scaffolded information delivery.
- The course, which promotes human control when using AI tools, also covers the Human-In-The-Loop framework, ensuring that AI use in education remains under the control and direction of instructors, contributing to sustainable and scalable AI literacy in the K-12 education sector.
