Alexandria Ng

School systems across the country have sought to set more uniform expectations for buying ed tech, and for its performance and compatibility with other tools and platforms. In this session, we talk with top district tech officials about their tech expectations, and how they weigh factors such as cost, interoperability, data privacy, and student and teacher engagement, when making purchases.

Artificial intelligence has arrived in school districts. Classroom educators and central-office administrators are already weighing what technologies like ChatGPT will mean for everything from students’ critical thinking to the streamlining of teacher lesson plans to risks of academic fraud. But what will the evolution of AI in schools mean for the types of products and services that education companies work to create for schools? In this session, led by Khan Academy Director of Professional Learning Stacie Johnson, we’ll discuss how district demands for AI – and their concerns about it – will influence the kinds of innovative new products and features companies attempt to bring to market, and how it may affect existing solutions. ||| Attendees will walk away with: + Insights on where AI has the greatest potential to upend school-focused products, and where its impact is likely to be limited, at least for now; + Information on how education companies are changing their internal product-development functions and teams to account for AI; + A greater understanding of the ethical and legal challenges posed to companies developing AI products.

Many school systems have put a major focus on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in curriculum and instruction and in overall educational opportunity. But now districts are also getting criticized for those efforts and drawn into cultural political fights. We talk with a district leader about how a school system navigates these battles, and what kinds of support it needs from vendors in answering critics.