2026 AI Educator Summer Institute

Session #1 -- Opening Keynote: AI is a powerful resource for educators, but if we stop there, we miss the full potential of this game changing tool... helping our students. With AI we can provide personalized support for every learner with tutoring, enrichment, feedback, review, conversations, reflection, accessibility, and more. This individualized instruction meets every student where they are and helps them grow and achieve. In this keynote, we will learn about the tools and techniques to help level up every learner and adapt to our changing roles as educators.

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.

*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.

The increasingly pervasive use of AI in popular online platforms frequented by adolescents has researchers worried about how this technology affects their online privacy and security. It also has teachers worried about how this technology affects classroom work and student learning. In this session, we will first present an overview of our CyberEd project, in which we designed and developed six education modules around AI-related cybersecurity topics that were implemented by Computer Science and Mathematics teachers in their 6th-8th grade classrooms. We will then dive into more details about the contents of one of these modules. Finally, we will provide an overview of our plans for "CyberEd 2.0" and extend the audience an invitation to join us for that project.

*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.

*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.