Teachers consistently say they want to spend less time doing administrative tasks and more time teaching. A rural Texas school district is piloting an artificial intelligence tool that promises to help educators do just that.
Jim Beasley, the director of technology for the Llano Independent school district, and his wife Maurie Beasley, the network system administrator and a former teacher and assistant principal, developed a chatbot named Agnes that serves as a virtual personal assistant for school employees. The tool became available this fall for educators in the nearly 1,900-student school district.
Agnes鈥攏amed after the little girl in the Despicable Me movies鈥攃an answer teachers鈥� questions about school and district policies, look up timely information like schedules and extra-duty assignments, and share information about the state education code.
The Beasleys, who also have a consulting company for AI in education, spoke to 澳门跑狗论坛 about the initial rollout of Agnes and how teachers can use AI for other time-saving measures. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What gave you the idea for Agnes?
Jim: I鈥檝e been doing trainings here a long time鈥擨鈥檝e been here for 18 years. There鈥檚 always a bunch of information that we would like to get to teachers, and no matter how hard you try, the training just doesn鈥檛 always seem to stick.
So a year and a half ago, we started creating our own [training] app. But then large language models [like ChatGPT] came on the scene, and I got a little bit obsessed.
Maurie: I had to tell him鈥攂ecause we are married鈥�'I have to have my first cup of coffee before you can start talking about artificial intelligence.鈥�
Jim: So we decided that ... we鈥檙e gonna make our own AI instead.
What kind of questions can teachers ask?
Maurie: Of course you have your district information鈥攖his is our code of conduct, this is our HR documentation. What鈥檚 the superintendent鈥檚 phone extension? What鈥檚 the payday for this month? That kind of thing.
But then on a campus level, we have digested information鈥攍ike [schools鈥橾 duty schedules and testing schedules. Since I was an assistant principal, I knew this is what teachers are always looking for. 鈥淲here did I put that piece of paper?鈥� And you鈥檙e digging through your desk: 鈥淲hen does the window open for the first curriculum-based assessment?鈥� 鈥淲ho鈥檚 supposed to be on duty with me?,鈥� because you show up for your duty post, and you鈥檙e the only one there.
We鈥檝e been piloting it into classrooms, and also for administrators. My administrators are actually really wanting us to add additional information. For instance, my elementary principal has what we call a year at a glance. It鈥檚 basically, 鈥淥K, the first nine weeks you鈥檙e gonna cover all of these Texas [state standards], and the second nine weeks, you鈥檙e covering these [standards].鈥� It鈥檚 how we keep you on track for testing.
So she wants her specific 鈥測ear at glance鈥� schedule to be ingested by Agnes, and that way, her teachers can go in and say, 鈥淥K, what am I supposed to be covering? Oh, that鈥檚 week one, week two, week three.鈥� It keeps them on task for their lesson planning.
Jim: We actually called [Agnes] an onboarding tool, originally. Teacher turnover is what it is now in public schools. Our future daughter-in-law came and worked at the district, and we saw the challenge because she was freshly out of college, freshly getting into teaching. And she started two weeks late, so she missed all that beginning-of-the-year training. That was another thing we were trying to address with Agnes.
Maurie: 鈥淲here鈥檚 the copy machine?鈥�
What was teachers鈥� feedback after they piloted the chatbot?
Jim: I have a group of teachers that I kind of focus on with new technology. They tend to be the seasoned teachers, and when you put something new in [front of them], there鈥檚 somewhat of a learning curve. But there鈥檚 also, 鈥淒o I even want to mess with it right now? Because I鈥檓 busy.鈥�
We actually sat down with some of those teachers. The feedback has been good. What鈥檚 been interesting is not whether or not they like it, it鈥檚, 鈥淐an you add this to it?鈥� Most of the documentation that Maurie was discussing earlier is created to be thumbtacked on a board. But when you give it to me, and it鈥檚 just an image, or it鈥檚 part of a PDF, sometimes the AI doesn鈥檛 do well with that. You have to massage it a little bit. It鈥檚 been challenging for us, but we鈥檙e getting past it now and figuring out the optimal way to take that data and get it in there.
We don鈥檛 want them to have to ask the question a particular way. We want it to be a completely natural language, because everybody asks questions differently.
Maurie: When I go into the different classrooms that we鈥檙e piloting it into, we pull up Agnes and I鈥檒l say, 鈥淥K, ask.鈥� And then I sit there, and I write down how they鈥檙e asking the question.
If I ask an AI, 鈥淲ho is the payroll clerk?,鈥� the AI might not know the word clerk. It鈥檚 going to look for payroll, and it should give you a correct answer. But how else are they going to ask? 鈥淲ho do I talk to about my paycheck?鈥� A totally different way to ask the question. So we come back and test it to make sure that the AI is giving the correct answers, in multiple ways.
Were there any concerns from the district about privacy or security?
Jim: Both. We created it from day one where you have to authenticate to your Google account before you can see it. I have no intention of making it publicly available even though I鈥檓 not putting student information in it. [All the documentation] really is publicly available. But I have this thing about hackers鈥攖hey always seem to be a little smarter than I am. I figure, I鈥檓 just going to put it behind security, and that way I don鈥檛 have to think about all that right now.
Maurie: So you have to be an employee of Llano ISD [to access it]. Eventually, we might make portions of it available on our website, where a parent can ask questions. All Agnes is going to be able to have access to are things that are already posted on our website. It鈥檚 just a natural language interface.
Beyond onboarding and information-sharing, how else can AI make teachers鈥� jobs easier?
Maurie: Accommodations. [Say] I have a 3rd grade reading class. Some of those kids are already reading on a 3rd grade level, but some of those kids are still down at the 2nd grade level. I need to teach these kids comprehension. So I am trying to find leveled readers鈥攂asically the same story, but one鈥檚 at a little higher vocabulary versus the other one. Well, I have to go find that resource. ... Or I can go to an AI.
And we did this [with a teacher]. She was mind-blown. We asked the AI to write a story about a little girl and her dog on a 3rd grade reading level with specific guidance toward teaching comprehension. It wrote a little four- or five-paragraph story. The teacher took that and read it. She edited a couple of things. Then she put it back in an AI and said, 鈥淧lease rewrite this story on a 2nd grade level.鈥�
It rewrote the same story on a 2nd grade level, and then on a 1st grade level. She was able to literally, within 10 minutes, have a whole lesson with the materials, including a quiz attached to each one of the stories about comprehension covering this very specific Texas [standard].
Another thing that teachers really like about it is that it can take information and translate it. Now I know Google can do that, but for instance, if I have a student in my classroom that has made below a 70 [percent] three times in the last three weeks, and I need to compose an email to a parent about it, I can basically say, [without giving a student鈥檚 name], 鈥淐an you please do an email about a student who made below a 70 in my math class? I need it to be upbeat, and I need it to [say that] my office hours or my conference period is at this time.鈥�
And it鈥檚 going to write a couple of paragraphs. We鈥檙e always telling teachers, underneath your signature, put 鈥渆mail assistance by ChatGPT.鈥� Just let the parent know that you鈥檙e getting assistance with your email. But then I could say, please do this in Spanish. It鈥檚 enabling [teachers] to communicate better with language barriers.
Also, just lesson planning, brainstorming ideas. When I was [teaching] 4th grade, we covered verbs the same basic way every single year. There are so many different ways you can cover verbs. So it鈥檚 a really great brainstorming tool for [thinking about], how can I cover verbs with small groups? How can I cover verbs in centers?
[Teachers have said] they tried [AI] for lesson-planning, and it wasn鈥檛 that detailed. It鈥檚 because they鈥檙e not asking it the right way. They said, 鈥淐an I have a lesson plan on photosynthesis?鈥� Well, it鈥檚 gonna give you a basic lesson plan.
But if I say, 鈥淚 am a 5th grade teacher. May I have a lesson plan on photosynthesis using the Texas [standards] in the 5E model [engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate],鈥� then it鈥檚 going to tell you the [standards], it鈥檚 gonna give you all the five Es. Teachers really like the fact that, then in the same chat, they can say for the explorer section, 鈥淢ay I have 10 more ideas?鈥� Because maybe you don鈥檛 like all the ideas it gave you. We鈥檙e teaching them how to just keep querying it to get exactly what you want out of it.
The last thing that I think that teachers are really excited about is that [AI] creates rubrics for you. I can go in and say, 鈥淚 need a rubric that鈥檒l assess this on a 100-point scale,鈥� and it鈥檒l give me all the information.
Then I can take the paper from the kid and [without the student鈥檚 name] put it into ChatGPT or an AI and have it grade the paper based on the rubric that I had created. Even if I don鈥檛 stick with that grade, it still gives really constructive feedback鈥攊t gives me a way to help my student with specific areas of their writing.
