Teachers are using artificial intelligence in all kinds of ways to help them do their jobs. But that expanding use has school district tech leaders worried that it could prompt more cyberattacks against schools, concludes a new report.
The , released April 30, recognizes that AI has significant potential to improve education, but at the same time it poses huge cybersecurity risks for schools.
Cybersecurity continues to rank as district technology leaders鈥� top priority, especially as attacks increasingly originate from all the tech tools schools use for teaching, learning, and daily operations. And many of those tools now include AI features.
Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of district tech leaders are 鈥渧ery鈥� or 鈥渆xtremely鈥� concerned that the emerging technology will enable new forms of cyberattacks, according to the report, which surveyed 981 district tech leaders between Jan. 10 and Feb. 29.
Diane Doersch, the CoSN board chair and the senior director of information technology for Digital Promise, said district tech leaders are asking: 鈥淗ow could AI be used by people with nefarious motives to even create more damage?鈥�
鈥淲e all want to make sure that generative AI is used in the right way, but for every good, it seems like there are evils out there,鈥� Doersch said. 鈥淪o the way we鈥檙e thinking about leveraging it for the good, I鈥檓 sure someone else is thinking: 鈥楬ow can we use this for bad?鈥欌��
About half (49 percent) of district tech leaders are also 鈥渧ery鈥� or 鈥渆xtremely鈥� concerned about the lack of teacher training for integrating AI into instruction, the report found.
The EdWeek Research Center has found that a majority of teachers haven鈥檛 received any training on generative AI. Teacher training is important, not just so they can use it responsibly in their work, but also so they can help model that use for students, according to experts.
New forms of cyberbullying, the spread of false information, and threats to student data privacy round out the top five concerns, the report found.
At the other end of the spectrum, district tech leaders are not at all concerned that AI will replace teachers, lead to overall job loss, or surpass humans.
Most districts don鈥檛 have an AI use policy
When it comes to having a defined approach to how staff and students can use generative AI, 4 in 10 district tech leaders said they do not currently have a defined approach, according to the report. But building an AI strategy is one of district tech leaders鈥� top five priorities.
We can't pause AI to get ready for it.
More than half (54 percent) of district tech leaders said their district doesn鈥檛 have an existing AI use policy, and almost one-third (31 percent) of districts are fitting AI use within their current policies around tech use, the report found.
Still, generative AI has made it more urgent for districts to reassess the tech tools they鈥檙e using, Doersch said.
鈥淒istricts have a lot of learning tools and apps that they have looked at and approved for the staff and students to use,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut now, it seems every existing application needs another review, because they鈥檙e adding AI into it. So it鈥檚 causing leaders to have to kind of go backwards and reassess.鈥�
It鈥檚 not easy for districts to address these AI-related concerns, district tech leaders say, especially as they work through budget constraints and staffing shortages.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 pause AI to get ready for it,鈥� said Sarah Radcliffe, the CoSN board secretary and the director of future-ready learning for the Altoona school district in Wisconsin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really not about preparing for it, because it鈥檚 here. It鈥檚 about working with it and continuing to better the systems that you have in place to allow AI for use for productivity and for learning, while at the same time protecting student information, protecting your cybersecurity. All of those things are very challenging.鈥�
