Pulse Survey Report
ABOUT THE SURVEY
Because aiEDU works directly with K-12 teachers, we hear a lot about what takes place in the classroom, particularly as it relates to AI and the ethical and pedagogical implications of augmenting it into instruction. But we didn’t want to rely on anecdotal data to reach conclusions about how educators feel about the growing influence of AI in our world and on education. So we set out to quantify the data by asking educators to share their views about this growing — and fast-changing — emerging technology.
As a result, aiEDU surveyed 1,054 K-12 educators, including teachers and administrators, between Nov. 14 and Dec. 31, 2023. Respondents filled out an online survey hosted by Alchemer. In addition to distributing the survey to members of aiEDU’s educator network, we asked other nonprofits to encourage their members to fill it out. The survey reflects the views of a wide range of educators from across the country. Here’s what we know about the respondents:
Three-quarters (75.6%) are female.
69.8% are teachers and 30.2% are administrators.
The overwhelming majority (85.3%) work at public schools.
Nearly one-third (31.9%) have 20 years or more experience in education.
The majority (47%) teach at the primary or elementary school level.
Nearly half (49%) have an advanced degree beyond a bachelor’s.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
K-12 teachers and administrators feel a mix of curiosity and apprehension about integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the classroom. Most respondents haven’t had the opportunity to use this emerging technology at school, and even fewer have received professional development on the subject. But despite their misgivings and lack of AI literacy, most believe that AI is an inevitable part of the future of education. And because of this reality, they believe it should be part of the curriculum and want training on how best to incorporate it into lesson plans.
REPORT CONTENTS:
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The overwhelming majority of K-12 educators believe that
1) professional development should include sessions on the implications of AI, and
2) lesson plans should include materials to help students learn about them as well.
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Most K-12 educators have at least heard of generative AI, but a majority haven’t used these tools. And they’re divided about whether they want to.
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K-12 educators simultaneously downplay the impact of generative AI in the classroom and express concerns about its use. They still think it should be part of the curriculum.
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K-12 educators recognize the potential benefits of using generative AI in the classroom, but feel most passionately about the potential pitfalls.
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K-12 administrators are more hopeful than teachers about the impact generative AI could have on teaching and learning.
INTRODUCTION
In November 2022, life for K-12 educators was just beginning to return to normal — or at least the new post-pandemic normal. Students finally were back in the classroom, their learning enhanced by all the new digital tools that became de rigor during the era of remote instruction.
Though that alone was worth celebrating, teachers and administrators were facing brand new challenges: abysmally low test scores, the result of learning losses. Rampant absenteeism, caused by the fallout from COVID-19. Dissatisfied parents, a symptom of the deep political divisions in the United States, among other factors.
Then along came ChatGPT, a tool that can create text using something called generative artificial intelligence, or generative AI. Within weeks, this emerging technology became the talk of the town, with economists, employers, the media, and techies alike predicting that it not only would revolutionize the workforce, but dramatically change what and how students learn at all levels.
In the months that followed, generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, and others advanced far more rapidly than anyone could have predicted. There was no denying the power and potential of this technology, which was still in its infancy.
K-12 educators, understandably, were caught off guard. As with society writ large, most didn’t understand how to use these tools — and, more importantly, why they’re such an important innovation. Few schools had the time or money to train teachers and administrators in generative AI, which was evolving faster than professional development could keep up with.
These teachers and administrators also had a lot of questions about the ethics of these tools, and good questions at that: will generative AI make students too reliant on technology? Will it enable cheating? And as this technology evolves, will there even be a need for classroom teachers in the future?
Amid this information blackout, generative AI became just another thing for educators to worry about.
With that in mind, aiEDU sought to capture the views of K-12 educators who are just now coming to terms with how this technology will change teaching and learning. Before winter break 2023 in the United States, we surveyed teachers and administrators about their feelings on AI in general and generative AI more specifically. This report documents their comfort and familiarity with this emerging technology, along with their hopes and their fears about how it will impact instruction.
Our findings highlight the need for states and schools to devote more resources to building AI literacy for their teachers and staffs, who can’t be expected to integrate it into their classrooms until they understand it themselves.
KEY TAKEAWAY 1
The overwhelming majority of K-12 educators believe that:
A. Professional development should include sessions on the implications of AI, and
B. Lesson plans should include materials to help students learn about them as well.
As the following pages will show, K-12 educators are equal parts concerned about and intrigued by the potential uses of AI in the classroom, particularly generative AI. Despite their apprehensions, teachers and administrators alike are open not only to training on its potential uses, but on integrating this emerging technology into the curricula.
More than 80% of respondents say they believe professional development should extend to AI, and 75% advocate for curricula that exposes students to information on the topic.
FINDINGS
Seeing the need for AI-oriented professional development:
Should professional development for teachers and school administrators include curriculum specifically designed to help them learn about the implications of AI?
More classroom AI integration: Despite their lack of familiarity with generative AI — and their concerns about the technology in general and in the classroom —75% of respondents agree that school lesson plans should include materials specifically designed to help students learn about the implications of AI. It’s one of the few questions on which teachers (74.3%) and administrators (76.6%) align in their views.
Upper-grades educators most supportive of integration: High school teachers and administrators are most likely to believe that lesson plans should include AI-related curriculum: 81.4% say it “probably” or “definitely” should be integrated into lesson plans, compared to primary/elementary school (71.7%) and middle school (72%) educators.
Familiarity with recent technological advancements in generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Bard, Dall-E, Midjourney, etc., by grade level:
But wait until at least middle school to add it to the curricula: The majority of respondents (64.2%) say students should wait until middle school or later to learn about AI, a view shared by both teachers and administrators. Only 9.1% of all respondents think primary grades are the appropriate time to start instruction, with another 26.7% believing it should begin in elementary school.
KEY TAKEAWAY 2
Most K-12 educators have at least heard of generative AI, but a majority haven’t used these tools. And they’re divided about whether they want to.
Generative AI only entered the mainstream technology marketplace in November 2022, which explains why many people — K-12 educators included — are still struggling to understand what it does and how it works. The learning curve is not unlike what we experienced with personal computers in the 1980s or with the internet in the 1990s: it’s going to take time to learn to use these tools, and even longer to integrate them into our daily lives.
But as the survey reveals, AI in general and generative AI specifically are much more divisive than previous technological revolutions. Most K-12 educators have yet to see the value these tools can provide, with some completely closed to its potential. For example, when asked what generative AI tools she trusts, one primary school teacher said: “I do not trust anyone associated with AI.” That level of fear explains why only 45.3% of respondents say they’ve used a generative AI tool.
Those who have experimented with the technology at school carried out relatively simple tasks, but found the experience generally positive. One early-grade teacher explained he “created a work of art from a written paragraph.” Another early-grade teacher used it to create “a mock lesson plan for my students by inputting where their interests currently sit. It was very interesting and not that far off from what I was teaching, to be honest,” she wrote. And a high school administrator said she used the tool to “write (an) email notifying parents about staff turnover.”
But the survey also revealed skepticism and cynicism, both among those who have used the tool and those who are avoiding it. “It could be a great tool, but I’m afraid of its misuse,” wrote one middle school teacher. An elementary school teacher said that though she hasn’t used the tool herself, she has “gotten a lot of joy out of other people making terrible content from generative AI, like asking it to solve a crossword or making scary burger commercials.”
The results point to the pressing need to increase AI literacy among K-12 educators, something that requires additional time and money.
FINDINGS
Familiarity with generative AI: Given the buzz around ChatGPT, Bard, and other tools, it stands to reason that many respondents report having a basic understanding of generative AI. Slightly more than half (51.7%) say they’re at least somewhat familiar with these tools. Here’s how they rate their knowledge:
Familiarity by grade level: It’s also not surprising that educators’ familiarity with generative AI rises by grade level. Middle (29.2%) and high school (35.9%) educators are more likely to be “moderately familiar” or “extremely familiar” with the technology than those working at primary or elementary schools (22.2%). In fact, K-5 educators made up the largest percentage (28.3%) of respondents who are “not at all familiar” with the technology, as compared to those working at middle (15.1%) or high schools (15.9%).
Avoiding generative AI despite anticipating its significant impact: The survey clearly conveys educators’ conflicting feelings about generative AI: they don’t use these tools even though they recognize their potential. Nearly half of respondents (45.3%) say they’ve never used a generative AI tool before. Among those who have, 16.1% used it for work, 16.2% used it for personal interests, and 22.4% used it for both. ChatGPT was the favorite tool among three in five generative AI users within the last month. Yet these educators overwhelmingly (78.1%) believe the technology will “definitely” or “probably” impact their daily lives.
Deeper impacts on educators’ professional lives than their personal interests: Respondents are more concerned with the impact of generative AI on education than on the quality of their own lives:
Comfort with AI and generative AI: Educators are divided on how they feel about using these emerging technologies. Slightly more respondents (52%) say they feel positively rather than negatively (48%) about AI in general. They’re slightly more skeptical of generative AI: 49.1% report being “extremely fearful” or “somewhat fearful” of these tools, compared to 50.9% who are “extremely hopeful” or “somewhat hopeful.”
Limited impact on job prospects: The majority of respondents (46.5%) don’t think generative AI will affect their employment opportunities, with the rest divided on whether it will positively (28.1%) or negatively (25.3%) impact their careers.
KEY TAKEAWAY 3
K-12 educators simultaneously downplay the impact of generative AI in the classroom and express concerns about its use. They still think it should be part of the curriculum.
K-12 educators may question the impact and value of generative AI, yet they still think students need exposure to the technology — and that’s something most survey respondents agree hasn’t happened yet. When they filled out the survey in late 2023, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools had only been on the market for less than a year, giving K-12 educators little time to integrate them into lesson plans. That explains why the overwhelming majority believe that the technology has had no more than a moderate impact on students to date.
It also explains the conflicting views educators hold about generative AI: despite its potential for misuse, they agree that students still need to understand it and reap its benefits.
FINDINGS
Minimal but mostly positive impact in the classroom: Few educators believe generative AI is leaving a significant mark on K-12 education today, but the majority agree that the impact is generally positive. More than one-third (35.9%) of respondents say generative AI is either “barely noticeable” or “nonexistent” in the classroom, with another 36.3% calling its impact “moderate.” Those numbers dwarf the 20.3% who say the technology has “considerable” influence, and the 7.4% who consider it “highly influential.” But a little more than half (51.9%) characterize the impact as “somewhat positive” or “very positive.”
The lower the grade, the lower the perceived impact: Primary and elementary educators are much more likely (44.3%) than those at middle (30.6%) and high schools (25.9%) to say the impact of generative AI is “nonexistent” or “barely noticeable.” But early-grades educators are also more likely (59.7%) to say that the impact is “very positive” or “somewhat positive” than middle (52.4%) and high school (41.6%) educators.
Concerns about generative AI abound: Respondents worry about a future where generative AI becomes more integrated into the curriculum. But they nonetheless accept that such integration needs to happen. Nearly two-thirds (64.7%) say they are “highly concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the increasing use of these tools in the classroom.
Fears about classroom use across all experience levels: With the exception of some mid-career educators, most are fearful about the role of AI in K-12 education regardless of how much experience they have. Respondents at the earliest stage of their careers — up to three years of experience — are the mostly likely group (64.8%) to call themselves “extremely fearful” or “somewhat fearful.” But they’re not the only group that used those two terms to describe their feelings:
The same is true across most age groups: Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the older the educator, the more fearful they are of an emerging technology such as generative AI. Yet fears about the use of AI in the classroom transcend age. The majority of respondents in all but one age group categorize themselves as “extremely fearful” or “somewhat fearful.” The only exception is educators ages 65 to 74, a demographic that only includes 15 respondents.
KEY TAKEAWAY 4
K-12 educators recognize the potential benefits of using generative AI in the classroom, but feel most passionately about the potential pitfalls.
As with all emerging technologies, successfully integrating generative AI into the classroom is more of an art than a science. It requires K-12 educators to experiment with new uses and, importantly, accept that not all of them will be successful. That requires a leap of faith that, based on the results of the survey, many are not yet comfortable taking.
Yet those who have incorporated AI into the school day express few, if any, regrets — and in some cases view it as a tool for improving student engagement. In the open-ended comments section of the survey, one middle school teacher reported using generative AI to ask “silly, funny questions about making up jokes and it really cracks up my students as a bell ringer warm-up drill.” A high school teacher said they “had it generate a ‘common English’ version of a medieval tale a student was struggling to understand.” And a math teacher “found working examples for trigonometry problems that the students were having problems with. The AI also explained everything there was to know about why it did that to the problem.”
Respondents reserved their most impassioned written responses to share concerns about generative AI. Their fears center around what they see as a decreased role for teachers as technology takes center stage and the potential for increased cheating. For example, one respondent said they fear it will make students so reliant on technology that “they (can) no longer think for themselves and cannot function in the normal world. They won’t be able to analyze a text. The computer could do it for them. They won’t see a need to learn and therefore won’t.” Another wrote that generative AI will lead to a “decrease in fact checking skills and ability to research credible sources.” And when asked to elaborate on potential advantages of generative AI in the classroom, one teacher simply wrote, “It’s terrible.”
Though the potential for a lack of equitable access to generative AI technology didn’t make educators’ top five concerns, more respondents believe this problem will widen the already gaping achievement gaps among students. “All gaps are usually based on socioeconomic status,” wrote a high school teacher. “Based on the current AI programs (charging consumers for the upgraded version), this only reiterates and will probably exacerbate the issue.”
Once again, the educators’ opinions about generative AI, both good and bad, demonstrate their lack of familiarity with the technology. For many, incorporating these tools into the classroom is little more than a hypothetical exercise. It speaks to the need for more training for teachers and administrators — first on basic AI literacy, then on ways these tools can augment instruction.
FINDINGS
Help for educators, benefits to students: As conflicted as they are about incorporating generative AI into their lesson plans, educators recognize the potential value of the technology — both for themselves and for their students. Respondents could select as many of these potential advantages as they wanted. Here are their responses:
Fears about lack of human interaction, cheating: Respondents’ concerns about generative AI mirror the anti-AI narratives published on social media and discussed during staff meetings. For example, the overwhelming majority believe that generative AI will reduce the amount of facetime students get with actual human beings when many experts believe the opposite to be true: educators potentially could use the technology to create lesson plans and grade assignments, giving them more time for actual instruction. Similarly, nearly two-thirds (63.6%) said they worry generative AI will enable cheating, ignoring the parallels to calculators and the internet — tools widely considered to enhance learning. Here’s a look at their biggest concerns, which teachers and administrators ranked in the same order:
Skepticism about generative AI’s ability to narrow equity gaps: More respondents believe that generative AI is more likely to widen existing achievement gaps (56.9%) than narrow them (43.1%) — something on which teachers and administrators were united. Only a handful of respondents took advantage of the opportunity to elaborate, but those who did conveyed a wide-ranging opinions:
“I am not sure what effect AI would have on the achievement gap, honestly,” wrote another middle school teacher. “Even most low-income kids I teach are quite proficient in technology even if they have difficulty with other skills.”
“In general, I think gaps in education proliferate,” according to a middle school teacher with more than two decades of experience. “I imagine adding such a technological tool will only expand the gap.”
“More artificial technology will not help anything,” said a primary school teacher.
“All kids do not have the same access to technology,” wrote a math teacher, “With the limited access, there is a wide gap in ability to use technology successfully. The differences in access and abilities can undercut any progress potentially made with AI assistance.”
KEY TAKEAWAY 5
K-12 administrators are more hopeful than teachers about the impact generative AI could have on teaching and learning.
The survey results show that as a general rule, administrators view generative AI more positively than teachers. Administrators (62.1%) are more likely than teachers (49.9%) to have “slightly positive” or “strongly positive” feelings toward AI in general.
Though it’s impossible to know exactly why this is true, one possible reason is that administrators are afforded a broader view of the work going on in their schools.
For example, a principal might visit a half-dozen classrooms in the course of a day, which increases the likelihood of encountering a teacher using ChatGPT to create lesson plans or a group of students entering prompts to create an image to accompany a story they’ve just read. In other words, the very nature of their jobs boost their AI literacy and increase their chances of seeing the technology’s upside. That idea explains why administrators (38.4%) are more likely to say they’re “moderately familiar” or “extremely familiar” with recent advancements in generative AI technology than classroom teachers (23%).
With that said, administrators still share many of the concerns as teachers, and generally speaking are only somewhat more likely to view generative AI more favorably.
FINDINGS
Greater familiarity: Administrators are more likely than teachers to have used generative AI in both their personal and professional lives:
Different opinions about impact: Most likely because of their broader perspective, administrators (55.5%) are slightly more likely to believe the impact of generative AI on education has been “somewhat positive” or “very positive” compared to teachers (49.8%).
More hopeful, more excited: In another area with differing viewpoints, administrators (52.7%) are more likely to be “somewhat hopeful” or “extremely hopeful” about the potential impact of generative AI on education than teachers (42.4%). And administrators (43.2%) also are more likely than teachers (32%) to be “somewhat excited” or “highly excited” about the use of generative AI in the classroom.
The broader the perspective, the higher the perceived impact: Administrators see more impact from generative AI in education than teachers, mostly likely because their positions provide a wider view of the use and impact of generative AI than the typical classroom teacher.
Different roles, different views on generative AI’s upside: Because teachers and administrators spend their days performing different tasks, it makes sense that the two groups would rank the potential advantages of generative AI differently. Teachers, for instance, are more hopeful than administrators that these tools will make lesson planning easier because the task is so integral to their jobs.
PORTRAIT OF AN EDUCATOR
We created this profile of “Jane,” a typical educator, based on the majority responses to our survey. The profile includes actual quotes from respondents reflecting their views on how AI in general and generative AI in particular will impact teaching and learning.
Jane’s days are nothing if not long. Every week, the older Millennial spends as much as 40 hours in her elementary school classroom. But after 20 years as a public school teacher, she’s used to the frenetic pace, and even carved out time to earn a master’s degree during the school year.
It seems like everyone around her is talking about artificial intelligence, or AI, the term for computers performing jobs that previously required human brain power. She’s familiar with some of these tools — voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, self-driving cars, the chatbot at her favorite online retailer — and thinks it’s probably good that she’ll rely on them more in the future. Jane is a bit concerned about how this technology will shape the world, but it doesn’t keep her up at night.
Jane also recognizes the role AI is increasingly playing in education, and she’s OK with that. Even though she’s a little afraid about the implications for her students, she agrees that they need to learn about it, with middle school the best time to start.
She’s more leary of generative AI tools, which can create text, images, graphics, and other content based on data fed to it by humans. Part of the issue is that Jane has never used the technology before — not in her classroom or even at home. She knows these tools will eventually affect her, and she’s a little worried about what that will mean for her quality of life.
Even so, she still wants to learn more about generative AI, and wants more opportunities for professional development. She imagines that a generative AI tool like ChatGPT could assist with lesson planning; lead to more personalized instruction, particularly for those with disabilities; and enhance her students’ online learning experiences.
But Jane isn’t completely convinced that generative AI will change teaching and learning for the better. For starters, she worries that the tools could reduce human interaction and create “less need for qualified teachers.” It could also make it easier for students to cheat “so they are not actually learning anything and will continue to be passed along” from grade to grade. She’s afraid her students will become so reliant on technology that “they no longer think for themselves and cannot function in the normal world,” she says. “They won’t be able to analyze a text. The computer could do it for them. They won’t see a need to learn and therefore won’t.”
She’s also convinced that generative AI tools will widen existing achievement gaps. “Those without the technology will suffer the most,” she says. “Higher-income school districts will have more access to technology, further widening the gap.”
CONCLUSION & CALL TO ACTION
aiEDU Pulse reveals a complex landscape of perceptions, hopes, and concerns surrounding the integration of generative AI in education. While educators recognize the potential and inevitability of generative AI’s role in the classroom, their apprehensions about its impact on teaching, learning, and the ethical dimensions of technology use are evident. This dichotomy underscores a critical need for a proactive and informed approach to harnessing generative AI’s capabilities while addressing its challenges.
Recommendations for K12 School Systems
Develop Comprehensive AI Literacy Programs: Implement AI literacy programs for educators to deepen their understanding of AI’s capabilities and ethical considerations, ensuring they can effectively integrate AI tools into their teaching practices.
Create Collaborative Platforms for Sharing Best Practices: Establish platforms where educators can share experiences, strategies, and lesson plans that incorporate generative AI, fostering a community of practice that supports peer learning.
Invest in Equitable Access to AI Technologies: Ensure all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, have access to AI tools and resources, addressing the digital divide and preventing the exacerbation of achievement gaps.
Promote Ethical AI Use Through Curriculum Development: Incorporate curriculum components that teach students about the ethical use of AI, including issues of privacy, bias, and digital citizenship, to prepare them as informed users and creators of AI technologies.
Facilitate Professional Development Opportunities: Support ongoing professional development opportunities focused on generative AI, including workshops, seminars, and courses, to keep educators abreast of the latest advancements and pedagogical strategies.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Rapid technological advancements are reshaping the way we live, work, and learn. As such, we can’t overstate the role generative AI will play in the classrooms of the future. By embracing a forward-looking approach that prioritizes sound pedagogy, ethical considerations, and equitable access, we can ensure that generative AI becomes a powerful ally for providing enriching and life-changing learning experiences for all students.
It’s not something educators must do alone. aiEDU stands ready to support schools as they undergo this transformation by bridging the gap between the potential of AI and the apprehension and confusion educators feel about this emerging technology. Our value is demonstrated via the work we do with districts, the resources we design, and the teacher empowerment that we build. Together, we can navigate the complexities of integrating AI into education, fostering environments where technology enhances learning without compromising the human touch that is the heart of K-12 education.
