Professional Development (PD) Days are the equivalent to a school day for educators. School districts in BC schedule six PD days per school year which allows teachers to network with other teachers, learn new content, and update their skills such as technological literacy. We were able to attend the online PD Day on February 13th with Focused Education. They had many session choice with teachers and professional who guided activities, navigated through different resources, and provided their expertise in their area of work/research. These sessions are great opportunities for teachers to gain new insights, ideas, information, and resources that they can bring into the classroom.

I chose to register in the following Focused Education Sessions for the PD Day: Student AI Literacy Lessons K-12, NFB K-12: More than Just Great Canadian Films!, and Privacy Essentials for K-12 Educators. These sessions provided a great opportunity to listen, learn, and develop my resources as a teacher candidate. I’m happy I was able to experience a PD Day before becoming a teacher so I know what to expect down the road. Everyone who helped lead the the sessions was lovely and so kind for sharing their resources, research, and time.

The Student AI Literacy Lessons K-12 session reminded me a lot of what I was looking at last week during my Week 4: Designing for Learning blog post. During the PD session, we discussed the rapid increase in AI usage for students. As educators, we have a responsibility to be aware of the benefits and harms AI poses. We must learn about AI allowing us to become conscious consumers of AI. Once we become experienced using AI we can better understand the potential benefits and harms we can educate students. This doesn’t mean we have to be experts at using AI to bring it into the classroom, but we do have to begin trying to learn with our students. I really appreciated how we touched on safety considerations when using AI as an educator and allowing AI usage for students. The consequences can be far more extreme than we often imagine with the deep fakes that are progressing rapidly. As educators I also believe it is our role to speak up for students who aren’t able to understand these consequences or voice concerns yet. Teachers have a more powerful voice than they often believe. Together we can take a stance for companies to encompass better regulations into their policies by boycotting AI models and speaking out against companies who support poor privacy regulations. Some districts have actively starting doing this, and we are beginning to create more competition in the market. For example, Magic School Bus provides a AI platform tailored to educators and has been adopted by some districts. For those who don’t know British Columbia has a page on digital literacy and the use of AI in education which is worth looking at.

The second session I attended was the National Film Board (NFB) K-12: More than Just Great Canadian Films! We started off by answering different questions about what we were hoping to gain from attending the session. Most teachers wanted educational films they could bring into a classroom. Many specifically wanted to bring Indigenous voices into their classroom through film, which is something I want to do when I become a teacher. Getting to know Indigenous voices, culture, and history is something I am actively learning as a colonizer currently living on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations. Other people wanted to learn more about the other resources that the NFB provides including the lesson plans. These lesson plans provide the subject, educational overview, overarching ideas, and gives you various activities to develop an understanding. For example, this is a mini-lesson for Bill Reid Remembers which teaches aspects of social studies/science/art for grades 6-8 and discusses Bill Reids life as a Haida Gwaii artist. I really recommend looking at their resources because they are easy to use and very adaptable for teachers.

The last session I attended was Privacy Essentials for K-12 Educators. Focused Education is rooted in technology, so I think it’s SAFE to say they know what they are talking about when it comes to privacy. Jokes aside, they have an entire Privacy Management Program that you can find on their page under the drop down menu under Risk Management. They breakdown all the steps to manage privacy for school districts and educators. To access this page on Privacy Awareness and Education you do need a teacher ID but they have a good breakdown for educators. My main takeaway from this session was keep your online footprint as low as possible. If there is an opportunity to stay anonymous you should always do this and encourage students to do the same. Not a lot of information, if any, is completely private online, so when in doubt opt out. There is another page on cybersecurity that is open and available to all and focuses on Cybersecurity Services which provides resources for educators to teach in their classes.