By Tyler Dahlgren

More than 220 educators from six Southwest Nebraska districts gathered in McCook Thursday morning for ESU 15’s Fall Kickoff, an annual daylong workshop with a rotating theme.

This year’s event came a few days before schools across the state welcomed students back into their buildings, and there was a tangible buzz in a packed E-Free Church.

“We’re all excited, because there’s a huge purpose in the work that educators do,” said McCook Public Schools curriculum director Joel Bednar. “Educators can literally change the trajectory of a child’s life. And so when we get back here, it just gives me inspiration like, ‘Okay, let’s get back to doing what we do best,’ and we’re doing just that. It’s good to see all the teachers. They look and feel refreshed. It’s just exciting.

This year’s focus was artificial intelligence’s integration into education, facilitated by The Artificial Intelligence Playbook co-author and renowned A.I. expert Meghan Hargrave, who flew into McCook from Iowa City Wednesday night. Hargrave, who has presented all over the world, said the area reminded her of the rural pockets of upstate New York, where she’s worked with several school districts.

A.I. can be a scary thing to talk about, let alone embrace, and the fact that ESU 15 has been so forward-thinking when approaching the subject had Hargrave fired up to present.

“This speaks volumes about where they’re at and the open-mindedness they have,” Hargrave said. “This isn’t a new committee or a new initiative. It’s a tool that’s here to stay, and today is all about showing them how we can work it into existing initiatives. I really appreciate their perspective.”

In February, NPSA visited a previous workshop centered around A.I. held by ESU 15 and Dr. Lynne Herr. The success of that session played a large part in the service unit finding both its theme for this year’s fall kickoff and, ultimately, Hargrave, whose presentation is highly-interactive and easily-digestible.

“I love it,” Hargrave said of meeting with hundreds of teachers right before the start of a new year. “I love nothing more than the challenge. I feel like as much as it’s energizing for me, it’s also a little overwhelming for them, but I thrive off of ‘How can we make this an experience where they learn a lot, but also get really excited about the year ahead?’”

ESU 15 administrator Phillip Picquet said he hoped attendees would walk away from the day with an understanding of A.I. and all the quick and easy ways it can be utilized in the classroom, adding that those who don’t adapt will surely get left behind.

“The ability for A.I. to change how we do things, in a good way, is pretty remarkable,” said Bednar. “It’s going to be way more efficient to do efficiency scales now, for example. Unpacking standards and identifying standards, even. That work used to take days upon days, discussion after discussion, and now we can fast-forward and get to a point where we have really quality things really quickly, while still having those discussions. It makes it so much more efficient.”

Schools aren’t the only ones gearing up for the new year. Picquet said there’s a similar sense of excitement around ESU 15 and in service units across the state. For them, it’s go-time, too.

“Everybody’s getting geared up to go out and to start serving our school districts,” Picquet said. “It’s truly encouraging to see that they want to learn and they want to take some of these practices and incorporate them into their school districts and into their work with kids.”

That’s what it’s all about, Picquet continued. For Hargrave, the goal of the day was much the same.

“I want them to leave empowered to see this technology as a tool that can serve them in the classroom.”