2026 AI Educator Summer Institute

This session equips educators to address key limitations of AI tools, including bias and hallucination, often caused by reliance on uncontrolled or unreliable sources. It provides participants with the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to guide AI toward generating insights from curated, reliable, and controlled resources.    Participants will begin by comparing open- and closed-source AI tools, developing a clear understanding of their strengths, limitations, and appropriate use cases. They will then explore two project examples created with a closed-source platform such as Google NotebookLM, examining how these models can be adapted for technology and engineering classroom contexts. Next, participants will develop their own project and resource library on a topic of personal or curricular relevance, emphasizing organization, content curation, and instructional design. By the end of the session, educators will leave with a project in progress and a practical framework for selecting and applying AI tools in teaching.

*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.