Engaging our learners by exploring new technologies

"I'm the girl you’re talking about!” Tanvi exclaimed as I reached out to shake her hand following the MHS Technology Student Association’s (MHSTSA) inaugural event held on May 25th. Our young group of leaders, with their MHS club advisor Mr. Castleman supporting in the wings, had accomplished a successful first, their own student-led hackathon with more than 200 registrants from across the county. Tanvi was their marketing team member, and she successfully reached a large number of students beyond MHS. Vasista, President of the MHSTSA, invited me to speak as they gave the awards to the winners at the end of the night. I spoke about how I was inspired and delighted by their collaborative and enthusiastic leadership, and that it took ingenuity in developing the expert network they built along with funding resources and support for future events. I challenged them too, to recruit more students from MHS and many more young women as I noted there were only three participating. I know that they will as there were a number of female family members in the audience who had been there throughout the day supporting them in reaching their goals. 
​
Our learners are intrigued when their interests are engaged in how they learn. So are we. This generation of youth seems to know so much more about technology and social media than their elders; however, AI is a new frontier for all of us. Our youth and teens need their community of educators and caregivers supporting them so that they learn to use AI productively. On June 1st MUSD held its AI Fireside Chat, which engaged 65 participants in a conversation about AI and its place in our children’s lives now and in their future careers. Our panelists were MUSD teacher leader, Victoria Salas Salcedo; Stanford Learning Accelerator and AI professor, Dr. Victor Lee; MUSD Board Trustee and member of the CSBA State AI Taskforce, Chris Norwood; and MUSD Tech Services Director, Chin Song. Together they shared that parents and caregivers are partners with us in assuring we engage in conversations with our youth about what they see on social media, in the news, and in the world around them -- asking questions such as; is it real? How do we know? What other perspectives are there? What’s missing? What would you do? How might you use what you know to create something better? Essential discussions such as these prepare our learners to use AI with a critical lens and in a way that expands their resources so that they have more to draw from as they make meaning and conceptualize new ideas about what they are learning.

As we embark on summer adventures at home or afar, take time to be present with each other and to be curious together about our world. Talk with both sons and daughters about how things work, elevate conversations with them so that they dive below the surface, and push them to think critically by asking why and why again. In this way every one of our learners, regardless of their gender, will see themselves as capable of doing whatever it is that they wish to do in the coming year and beyond. 

In community,

Cheryl Jordan,
Superintendent

---