2026 AI Educator Summer Institute

Artificial Intelligence can be used in so many different ways in schools to improve teaching, learning, creativity, productivity, support, and more for educators and students. Explore dozens of uses for generative AI including brainstorming, creating educational content, altering content, processing information, supporting all learners, grading and feedback, student engagement and much more. 

Participants will develop a proficiency with a variety of educational AI tools such as Google Gemini, NotebookLM,  as well as exposure to other tools such as Brisk, Snorkl, and others, and will understand the benefits and uses of each.Participants will explore practical ways to use AI tools for brainstorming, creating educational content, altering content, processing information, supporting all learners, assessment, grading, feedback, student engagement and more.

The morning "Let's Chat" AI chatbot session will focus on AI Literacy and help provide an overview of varying levels and methods by which AI chatbots may provide scaffolded and collaborative learning opportunities to students who have grown up in the technical age. Students today have access to information faster than ever before. They are accustomed to—and demand—immediate feedback. AI chatbots are especially designed for digital collaboration. By using AI chatbots proactively, with guardrails incorporated by educators, students will learn new content and critical thinking skills simultaneously through creative, relevant, and engaging lessons.

After engaging in the Let's Chat session, participants will be able to build upon current AI Literacy and explore the potential for using AI chatbots to enhance instruction, digital collaboration, student motivation, and engagement.

*This is a cohort session. All participants who attend the morning session are invited to attend an accompanying afternoon expansion pack session each afternoon this week to apply your morning learning to the Special Education classroom.*

Special educators carry an extraordinary load. Differentiated instruction, IEP documentation, progress monitoring, parent communication, and the daily work of meeting every student exactly where they are. AI tools cannot replace the human expertise at the heart of that work. But they can extend it.

This session builds a practical, critical framework for using AI in inclusive classrooms and special education contexts. We explore what AI does well, including generating differentiated materials, audio versions of text, scaffolded activities, and adapted assessments. We also examine where it fails. From hallucination to awareness of bias and privacy risks that matter, especially when working with vulnerable students.

Participants work hands-on with Google Gemini and NotebookLM to adapt reading levels, generate modified materials, and explore AI-assisted documentation. Data privacy, FERPA, and keeping human judgment at the center of every decision are woven throughout, not added at the end.

Following the Rise of the Machine: An Introduction to A.I., this session will build on our understanding of the what A.I. and machine learning are to explore the why, when and how of integrated A.I. instruction in your classroom. In this session we will explore why is it essential that we address the mechanical elephant in the room and teach students the best practice around A.I. use. A.I. does not have to make us lazy and stupid, if we use it right. We will then explore some common tools and ways to integrate A.I. into any content area. We will share ideas and brainstorm. Participants will leave with a toolkit and specific ideas for how to bring A.I. into their classrooms safely, effectively, and appropriately.

During the workshop time the participants will be able to apply the tools from the morning to their specific subject area to create content for their classes. This will include opportunities to: narrow in on specific Gemini Gems from my EduGems website and create practical content for their classes. Add course content to NotebookLM and generate teaching and learning materials. Try out other AI tools such as Brisk, Snorkl, or others to generate learning materials for their classes.

The Let's Chat Expansion Pack Workshop will provide educators with practical strategies for customizing AI chatbots to facilitate AI Competency. Educators will be equipped to utilize AI chatbots, specifically MagicSchool AI, as a collaborative tool for both educators and students to better understand how educational chatbots are useful and relevant in the 21st Century classroom. Participants will apply strategies discussed in the morning session to actual lessons and be able to customize a generic chatbot for use as an instructional tool. Individualization of chatbots for all age levels and subjects will be further addressed. No coding is required—instead, the focus will be on designing lessons that utilize AI chatbots as a collaborative tool to facilitate metacognitive thinking. Practical lessons will be demonstrated and created during the sessions that encourage students to reflect, ask questions, and attain ownership of their thinking processes while practicing self-directed learning.

*This is a cohort session. All participants who attend the morning session are invited to attend an accompanying afternoon expansion pack session each afternoon this week to apply your morning learning to the Special Education classroom.*

The 3-hour afternoon workshop gives participants dedicated creation time to apply the morning's framework to real materials from their own classrooms. It is structured as a creation studio rather than a continuation of the lecture.

Hour 1 (1:00–2:00) — Identify and Design: Participants select one real instructional challenge. A lesson that needs differentiation, a text that needs to be adapted for a lower reading level, an assessment that needs scaffolding, or a documentation task they want to streamline. Small groups form around shared challenges. Special educators learn as much from each other as from any presenter. Introduction to the creation workflow: original material → AI prompt → draft → critical review → revision.

Break (2:00–2:15)

Hour 2 (2:15–3:15) — Create: Hands-on creation using Gemini and NotebookLM. Facilitator circulates with targeted coaching. Structured peer feedback in pairs: Does this serve the student? What did the AI miss that a human expert would catch? What needs to be fixed before this goes near a classroom?

Hour 3 (3:15–4:00) — Share, Critique, and Plan: Small group shares. Not just "look what I made" but "here's what the AI got wrong and how I fixed it." Whole-group reflection on AI as a tool for inclusive practice versus a shortcut that bypasses expertise. Individual action planning to identify one specific thing I will try with students in fall 2026.

Participants leave with a real, usable adapted resource and a realistic, critical framework for continuing independently.

In the Afternoon Workshop we will provide:1. An interactive session to help participants adapt the materials of one CyberEd module (again, likely the AI bias module) for their own classroom use;2. A presentation of our new AI tool that visualizes students' own online data and how AI makes inferences about that data;3. A brainstorm session about how we can build a new education module around this tool (providing a preview of the "CyberEd 2.0" project).

Following the Rise of the Machine: An Introduction to A.I., this session will build on our understanding of the what A.I. and machine learning are to explore the why, when and how of integrated A.I. instruction in your classroom. In this session we will explore why is it essential that we address the mechanical elephant in the room and teach students the best practice around A.I. use. A.I. does not have to make us lazy and stupid, if we use it right. We will then explore some common tools and ways to integrate A.I. into any content area. We will share ideas and brainstorm. Participants will leave with a toolkit and specific ideas for how to bring A.I. into their classrooms safely, effectively, and appropriately.

During the workshop time the participants will be able to apply the tools from the morning to their specific subject area to create content for their classes. This will include opportunities to: narrow in on specific Gemini Gems from my EduGems website and create practical content for their classes. Add course content to NotebookLM and generate teaching and learning materials. Try out other AI tools such as Brisk, Snorkl, or others to generate learning materials for their classes.

The Let's Chat Expansion Pack Workshop will provide educators with practical strategies for customizing AI chatbots to facilitate AI Competency. Educators will be equipped to utilize AI chatbots, specifically MagicSchool AI, as a collaborative tool for both educators and students to better understand how educational chatbots are useful and relevant in the 21st Century classroom. Participants will apply strategies discussed in the morning session to actual lessons and be able to customize a generic chatbot for use as an instructional tool. Individualization of chatbots for all age levels and subjects will be further addressed. No coding is required—instead, the focus will be on designing lessons that utilize AI chatbots as a collaborative tool to facilitate metacognitive thinking. Practical lessons will be demonstrated and created during the sessions that encourage students to reflect, ask questions, and attain ownership of their thinking processes while practicing self-directed learning.

*This is a cohort session. All participants who attend the morning session are invited to attend an accompanying afternoon expansion pack session each afternoon this week to apply your morning learning to the Special Education classroom.*

The 3-hour afternoon workshop gives participants dedicated creation time to apply the morning's framework to real materials from their own classrooms. It is structured as a creation studio rather than a continuation of the lecture.

Hour 1 (1:00–2:00) — Identify and Design: Participants select one real instructional challenge. A lesson that needs differentiation, a text that needs to be adapted for a lower reading level, an assessment that needs scaffolding, or a documentation task they want to streamline. Small groups form around shared challenges. Special educators learn as much from each other as from any presenter. Introduction to the creation workflow: original material → AI prompt → draft → critical review → revision.

Break (2:00–2:15)

Hour 2 (2:15–3:15) — Create: Hands-on creation using Gemini and NotebookLM. Facilitator circulates with targeted coaching. Structured peer feedback in pairs: Does this serve the student? What did the AI miss that a human expert would catch? What needs to be fixed before this goes near a classroom?

Hour 3 (3:15–4:00) — Share, Critique, and Plan: Small group shares. Not just "look what I made" but "here's what the AI got wrong and how I fixed it." Whole-group reflection on AI as a tool for inclusive practice versus a shortcut that bypasses expertise. Individual action planning to identify one specific thing I will try with students in fall 2026.

Participants leave with a real, usable adapted resource and a realistic, critical framework for continuing independently.

In the Afternoon Workshop we will provide:1. An interactive session to help participants adapt the materials of one CyberEd module (again, likely the AI bias module) for their own classroom use;2. A presentation of our new AI tool that visualizes students' own online data and how AI makes inferences about that data;3. A brainstorm session about how we can build a new education module around this tool (providing a preview of the "CyberEd 2.0" project).