AI is already changing how educators plan, assess learning, communicate, and make decisions, but school leaders are being asked to guide that change with wildly uneven levels of confidence, policy, and support. This three-part series gives Alberta education leaders a clear, practical way to understand where AI helps, where it fails, and where human judgment has to stay firmly in charge. Across the series, participants will build usable approaches to responsible practice, staff and parent communication, assessment, and synthetic media, with each session adapting to the questions and realities leaders bring.
Session 1: What AI Can Do, What It Can't, and How Leaders Stay in Charge
November 17, 2026
If you feel behind on AI, you are not. Nobody is. In this opening session, Rebecca draws on her AI ethics research and real-life experience working with thousands of leaders from hundreds of school districts across North America to sort the real concerns, like privacy, bias, and cheating, from the myths and headlines. We'll keep it practical: where AI genuinely helps, where it does not belong, and how to tell the difference without handing over the work that makes education human. Together we will look at what you already have in place, what you actually need, and where to start. You will leave with a calmer read on the whole conversation and a first step that is probably smaller and easier than you think.
Session 2: From Tool Use to Responsible Practice: Policy, Privacy, and Trust
December 1, 2026
Right now, AI use in most schools depends on a few confident early adopters making their own judgment calls. This session is about turning that scattered experimentation into shared expectations your whole team can stand behind: privacy, data boundaries, approved tools, staff guidance, and what to say to parents. We will work through realistic school scenarios, the kind that are probably already happening in your buildings. You will leave with a clearer path to guardrails people actually understand and use, and language for the conversations you are already having.
Session 3: Assessment, Authenticity, and the Realness Problem
January 26, 2027
When AI can write the essay and fake the video, what still counts as real? This closing session draws on Rebecca's graduate research on synthetic media in K-12 schools to tackle the two questions leaders ask most: what does authentic student work look like now, and what do we do if a fake image, audio clip, or video reaches our community? We will look at practical ways to rethink assessment and prepare a calm, credible response, without leaning on unreliable AI-detection tools and without fear. You will leave knowing what to strengthen now, before an incident forces the conversation.
