Burgess Owens: I’m Excited That We’re Finally 'Putting This Power Back In The Hands Of Parents’

2 days ago

During Tuesday's House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) discussed the role of AI in K-12 classrooms and state power in education.

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Transcript

00:00The representative from Utah, Mr. Owens, is recognized for five minutes.

00:05I want to, first of all, thank the witnesses for participating in this very timely use

00:08of AI in education.

00:09If we want our children and our education to be at the forefront of the world, we need

00:14to start adapting the latest technologies for the use in classrooms in a safe and responsible

00:18manner.

00:19And I look forward to, again, talking with the witnesses about this.

00:22It's probably one of the more important conversations we're going to have in a bipartisan way.

00:27Dr. Dobrin, one tricky aspect of AI adoption in schools is assessing the cognitive impact.

00:34You mentioned that further research might be helpful to understand how AI-generated

00:39content and automated problem-solving might affect students' ability to think critically.

00:44And that highlights a real concern.

00:47While it's obviously a rapidly growing field, how does research base tell us so far of AI's

00:54impact on critical thinking, and what type of additional research would be helpful?

01:00Thank you for that.

01:01And yes, indeed.

01:02That, as other witnesses have said, research right now is one of the keys.

01:07And what we don't have regarding cognitive development right now is long-term effect

01:12research.

01:13And we have data that both shows the improvement in critical thinking and problem-solving skills

01:20when AI is in use, and we also have data that also shows that some students are turning

01:25to the technology to do the work for them.

01:28I think that the real key here for educators has a lot to do with demystifying how these

01:34technologies actually work.

01:36In the conversation we've had thus far, we tend to talk about AI as a single thing.

01:41AI does this, AI can do this.

01:44AI is an umbrella term for a lot of different kinds of technologies.

01:48And so when we start looking specifically at cognitive development, part of what we

01:52have to think about is how we're using those various kinds of AI's in various contexts.

01:58This is one of the reasons that in my work, and this was also brought up by one of the

02:02other witnesses earlier, that I emphasize that this is about augmentation, not automation.

02:08All AI requires three things.

02:12Fantastic computing process, lots of data, and human expertise, what was referred to

02:17as human in the loop a moment ago.

02:19If we can influence that, then part of what we're inherently influencing also is that

02:25role of cognitive development, that the human is the one running the process.

02:30That to me is where the research has to unfold, is how that expertise gets manifest.

02:35Okay, thank you so much.

02:37Dr. Rafel Behr, you highlighted the importance of state autonomy and implementing AI literacy

02:43and integrating AI tools into the K-12 education.

02:47As AI adoption grows across school systems, how can we ensure that all states can develop

02:52the necessary frameworks and support structures to ensure the safe and effective AI integration?

02:57Well, ILO Group has built now two frameworks, one that has been developed for state education

03:03agencies and one for district superintendents.

03:06That was based off work that we've been doing with a working group of 40 different districts

03:10and states across the country.

03:12Beyond creating these frameworks which are grounded within the political, operational,

03:15technical, and fiscal realities of AI implementation and giving department by department questions

03:21to start to consider, we've also rolled out a three-tiered process that begins with deep

03:26stakeholder engagement.

03:28Our belief is that there is no work that should be getting done on AI that isn't starting

03:32first with an incredible amount of listening within your community and within your state.

03:38We think that you go from that part of the process to developing ethical guardrails and

03:43principles based on the kinds of conversations that are coming up in your community, using

03:47that to then develop guidance.

03:49And then from there, you can go into larger scale optimization.

03:53I think what ends up happening so often though is that states start to feel pressure and

03:58in turn districts start to feel pressure that they need to do something.

04:02They need to show that they're being responsive.

04:04Well-intentioned organizations will provide templates of resources.

04:09And then often you'll hear all these data points that 90% of states have guidance that's

04:15up on their websites, but it hasn't trickled down.

04:17And it's to the comment that was made earlier about the reality that many parents don't

04:22feel like they're even hearing about AI.

04:24That's because there's too many templatized guidance and resources being provided without

04:28starting with deep stakeholder engagement and listening and bringing these conversations

04:33to our communities.

04:34We're hearing over and over again from the leading providers that we're moving closer

04:39to AGI, right?

04:41The idea that artificial intelligence will have human-like capabilities.

04:45That means that we have to be doing even more around stakeholder engagement and communication

04:49to make sure that all parents and citizens really understand that.

04:54Thanks so much.

04:55I just want to, and I'm running out of time here, to the, I just want to say real quick

04:59to the point of Department of Education.

05:03That shield has sailed.

05:05We now have to make sure that innovators like yourself are part of this conversation and

05:08not bureaucrats in D.C.

05:09And I'm excited about the fact we're finally going to be putting this power back in the

05:13hands of parents and school teachers and those in the local level.

05:18So I'm excited about that process.

05:19With that, I'll yield back.

Burgess Owens: I’m Excited That We’re Finally 'Putting This Power Back In The Hands Of Parents’

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