Educators See the Bright Side of AI Despite Some Concerns

It's no secret: artificial intelligence is here to stay. AI is revolutionizing nearly every domain of modern life, and education is no exception.

While AI feels very new to most education stakeholders, it's something we at Carnegie Learning have been working with for 25 years. That's why we wanted to investigate the practices, perspectives, and outlook of educators on the ground. With a better understanding of your challenges, we hope to help you leverage AI for your and your students’ success.

To that end, we recently conducted a survey of nearly 800 educators about AI in education. Though we anticipated some of the responses, we did find some surprises. For example, though 77% of our respondents said that AI can be helpful, only half of them actually use it!

Here's a look at some of the other things you'll find in our report:

A mixed landscape

Interestingly, our data highlighted an enthusiasm gap between administrators and teachers regarding the adoption of AI tools. Administrators seem decidedly more eager to use artificial intelligence, with 39% saying they are “extremely optimistic” about the future of AI in education. Meanwhile, teachers are markedly more hesitant, with only 22% responding that they are “extremely optimistic.” 

Along with their optimism, though, most educators also have concerns.

Main concerns

A whopping 81% of our survey respondents indicated that they worry about AI's impact on academic integrity. Della Nagle, a Spanish and English teacher from Bernal Middle School in Texas wrote: "Unfortunately, students ... are not able to understand that by using AI they are cheating themselves out of learning how to write in their own words and voice.”

Another notable concern? The general lack of AI training. Half of the teachers we surveyed identified this as one of their primary concerns. And while 93% of the administrators we surveyed indicated they believe it is important to provide AI training and support to teachers, only 25% have done so.

Noted Dr. Matt Vosberg, the superintendent of Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District in Illinois: “We have not made any district-wide commitments at this time as our focus is to get better at what we currently do. If our teams decide AI makes them better at what we do, we'll embrace it.” 

A general lack of training may explain why 74% of teachers and 80% of administrators indicated they have no classroom policy for AI.

Teachers and AI

Despite prevalent concerns, some teachers have embraced available AI tools. Of the teachers we surveyed, 53% shared that they are use AI “sometimes,” “often,” or “always” to streamline their workflows, including lesson planning and grading. 

Among the most popular AI tools for teachers were MATHia, ChatGPT, Google Gemini (formerly Bard), Diffit, and Magic School.

Beyond saving time

Although some educators use AI to lighten their workload, many are enthusiastic about a different aspect of AI in education. AI's potential to help students by by deepening student learning ranked higher than its ability to make learning more efficient. 

Romaine McCarthy, a middle school learning specialist from Louisiana stated: "AI has become the missing piece of the puzzle. Yes, AI helps with efficiency, but I want my students to be proactive in building their learning skills. AI helps gather content while students make the connections. Without the technology, the learning gets lost in the burden of the process.”

Looking ahead

Artificial intelligence is an education trend that is here to stay. Despite varied feelings and viewpoints, educators seem cautiously optimistic about AI and the future of education.

For a fuller look at the state of AI in education, we invite you to read our report.