Superintendent’s Corner

One of the joys of being an educator is to follow the experiences of our students and see what they can “become” once they leave your building and venture into the world. One of those graduates – from nearly two decades ago – is “back” in my life, with the intent on helping students all over our country. Alex Kotran, a former student of mine at Copley, is the CEO of aiEDU, a nonprofit organization that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students with Artificial Intelligence literacy. Artificial Intelligence is the fastest growing skill in our country, and aiEDU is intent on making our teachers, staff and students aware of just how much it will influence our world in the next 10-15 years. There’s a small belief that if one doesn’t understand the complete magnitude of AI that’s about to occur, he or she could be lost in some important life areas. aiEDU has built a curriculum that allows educators to present either small or large topics of conversations for our students, and this is beginning to be used throughout the United States. These are either full-scale, curriculum-based lessons or daily, 5-minute snapshots that challenge students and educators to integrate AI language and thinking into our school days.  

How does this impact Hudson?  aiEDU hosted an event at the University of Akron in November, and I was proud that our Hudson Education Team led a cohort of local schools in investigating the influx of AI work that’s coming our way. While foundationally, Hudson City Schools provides wonderful and vital educational opportunities for our students, we also are required to know what’s next . . . to predict what our students may need to thrive in the world they are about to enter. I would hope that our beginning work in understanding how we can equip our students with important understandings will eventually allow them to compete at the level they desire.  

We all use Siri, self-checkout at stores, GPS when we drive, etc., but these are first-level examples of AI. As the skill begins to develop and impact our world on a greater scale, we are working hard in Hudson City Schools to make sure our students have a thorough introduction and eventual understanding of the technology that will influence their lives as they leave us and go out on their own. ∞