Artificial Intelligence

Can AI Chatbots Address K–12 Staffing Shortages?

The next step for AI agents in education is chatbots that can address a district’s specific needs, freeing teams from time spent repeatedly answering the same questions. Here’s what IT professionals need to know now.

Wendy Jones

Wendy Jones is a K–12 Education Strategist Manager for CDW•G.

Liz Drout

Liz Drout is a project manager for CDW Amplified for Education.

While many schools are testing the waters of existing AI tools — using applications or platforms to boost productivity — few are wielding AI’s full potential and customizing solutions for their school environments.

As budget crunches force schools to make staffing cuts, educators and IT departments are left seeking solutions to lessen the strain of the resulting shortages.

This is where AI agents offer a solution. Employing AI agents can create more efficiency, especially for schools working with under-resourced teams and departments. These solutions can ultimately prevent frustration, saving the sanity of overtaxed IT professionals.

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What Are AI Agents Best Suited for in a School Environment?

Using AI agents, IT teams can set up chatbots for Tier 1 support. For example, such chatbots would allow K–12 staff to ask common questions pertaining to basic IT problems or school policies.

They could also be integrated with K–12 IT ticketing. If the chatbot can answer an individual’s question or solve a problem before an IT ticket is needed, it can cut down on the hours the tech professionals spend answering the same questions every day.

To maximize the efficiency of these agents, K–12 IT leaders should document their knowledge base to ensure the data is accurate and up to date. The accuracy of the responses depends on two factors: How good is the data that goes into creating the chatbot, and how good are the queries?

KEEP READING: Data governance fuels AI success.

Make AI Interactions Productive, Not Frustrating, For School Staff

Because the quality of the output depends so much on how users ask the chatbot questions, it’s important for staff to be familiar with prompt engineering. IT departments don’t need to train all users necessarily, but they should give some instructions for interacting with AI in a way that’s helpful and productive.

For example, users need to reframe their thinking. They’re using to putting one question into a search engine and having an immediate result. Working with an AI chatbot is a bit different. Users may need to ask multiple questions to refine their search and get the information they’re seeking. AI is a thought partner, and interactions with it should be collaborative.

LEARN MORE: Harness the power of generative AI.

Building up staff’s AI literacy can be vital, but IT departments don’t typically have the time or expertise to do that work.

Preparing K–12 Users for AI Through Training and Workshops

CDW is working with Advanced Learning Partnerships to develop a common language and literacy around AI. ALP supports leadership teams in developing frameworks that enhance the learning experience and operational efficiencies that align with the school system’s values and missions.

In working with CDW, schools can also partake in Google Gemini workshops that are happening across the country. With many K–12 users working on Chromebooks and in Google Workspace, the Gemini workshops could help them develop skills to operate more efficiently on daily tasks.

Amplified Support customers now have access to a new AI support agent. This AI is specifically calibrated for IT users, who are not only asking Tier 1 questions, but also inputting slightly more complex queries.

The Amplified Support Agent will help IT professionals efficiently navigate the ever-evolving Google ecosystem, troubleshoot issues and provide swift, effective solutions to technical challenges.

Users can access the support agent by logging in to the CDW Education Help Center. Feedback from users, such as selecting a “thumbs down” on responses, will generate a ticket and help improve the AI agent’s performance.

This article is part of the ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology series.