Q&A: METRC Director Laura B. Fogle Discusses Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Use AI

In the Q&A below, Laura B. Fogle, director of the NC State College of Education’s Media and Education Technology Resource Center (METRC) discusses the work she is doing to help pre-service teachers grow their skills in AI.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What work are you doing related to AI in pre-service teacher education?

I collaborated with Rebekah Davis at the Friday Institute to recruit participants in the ISTE – a professional organization that focuses on educational technology integration into K-12 instruction– AI certification for educators as part of a grant. I completed the certification along with several faculty members and graduate students. I also presented a poster at the national conference this year about AI integration. I represent the college in ISTE’s Digital Equity and Transformation Pledge and have attended online training and collaborative planning sessions for educator preparation programs to explore the implications of AI innovations.  NCTIES is the state affiliate of ISTE and I presented an online workshop for practicing teachers on the integration of AI into instruction, applying recommendations from the NCDPI AI guidebook at the NCTIES Fall 2024 Forum.

I organized and facilitated a faculty panel discussion about generative AI with four faculty members in March of 2023. College of Education faculty and staff attended to learn more about generative AI and its impact in K-12 and higher education. I have had individual consultations with faculty members regarding their students’ use of AI and their own use of AI in instruction and administrative tasks and I am a member of the university AI in Teaching and Learning interest group organized by DELTA and Office of Faculty Excellence.

I have taught sessions for undergraduate students on emerging AI technologies and their potential integration into instruction. These courses include:

• Introduction to Teaching in Today’s Schools (ED 204)
• Intro to Instructional Technology for Educators (ECI 201)
• Introduction to Elementary Education in a Global Society (ELM 250)
• Instructional Design and Assessment (ELM 400)
• New Literacies, Emerging Technologies, and Electronic Portfolios (ECI 445)

I am the founder of a nonprofit organization, Digital Durham, focused on closing the digital divide in Durham. In 2022, I received the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award for my work with Digital Durham. In this role I have worked with Durham Public Schools and the Durham Public Schools Foundation to provide digital literacy training to families and initiatives to enhance access to affordable devices and broadband for the community. AI technology advances are creating a new digital divide, the AI divide.

Why is this work important/necessary?

The rapid advancement of innovation in AI and the unprecedented rate of adoption means that students and teachers are using AI tools without the careful consideration and reflection applied to previous technology adoption. It has the potential to revolutionize some aspects of education and make it possible to more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of individual learners, but it also has the potential to disproportionately benefit some learners and disadvantage others. 

What do we already know about this area from research and practice?

Frameworks for technology adoption and integration can be applied to AI. The best practice for integration of technology into instruction takes the content and pedagogical practice into consideration. So instruction about AI integration is most effective when it includes this context. 

Access to AI tools is currently unequally distributed due to the cost of the tools themselves, inequities in access to basic technology resources and differences in the technology integration within schools. These issues are highlighted by the National Educational Technology Plan. 

Where do we need to learn more and make further investments related to this work?

Many materials have been developed and articles written about integration of AI into K-12 classrooms and higher education settings, including professional development series, policy statements and certifications. However, educator preparation programs (EPP) have unique challenges related to adoption of artificial intelligence since we must understand and balance the implications for higher education and for K-12. Our faculty and graduate students must consider how they need to adapt their teaching and assessment practices in light of generative AI. They also need to understand how AI is impacting K-12 instruction so they can prepare candidate teachers to be effective instructors in that setting. Neither EPP faculty or students have extensive previous experience with generative AI tools since they are so new. Faculty are deeply connected to innovation and research in their subject area, but generative AI is impacting faculty and K-12 teachers in all subject areas. 
To maximize the potential of every learner, we must address the digital divides (the National Educational Technology Plan identifies three). We need to invest in additional research about the most impactful uses of AI in K-12 classrooms and translate that research into our practices for preparing future teachers. We also need to invest in interdisciplinary approaches to closing the digital access divide so K-12 students have equitable access to connectivity, devices and digital content inside the classroom and at home.