Artificial Intelligence

Snackable and Stackable Artificial Intelligence Training for Educators: Google AI Educator Series

This new Google resource, along with CDW’s AI professional development workshops and Gemini Education Services, provides educators with multiple learning opportunities to effectively bring AI into the classroom.

Alexander Slagg

Alexander Slagg is a freelance writer specializing in technology and education. He is an ongoing contributor to the CDW family of magazines.

Engaging in professional development is never simple for educators, who must juggle classroom learning, curriculum planning, grading assignments and administrative responsibilities. Too often, PD takes a backseat to everything else. With artificial intelligence–related classroom training, it’s even more difficult to accommodate the necessary instruction.

“The pace of change with AI is so rapid, it can be daunting for educators to keep pace,” says Jennie Magiera, global head of education impact at Google. “And it’s a second-order change to incorporate AI into classrooms, creating novel ways of learning, assessment and feedback.”

EXPLORE: Google Workspace for Education empowers teachers to navigate classroom challenges.

Google AI Educators Series: AI Skills Focused

Understanding the time and resource challenges that educators face, Google partnered with ISTE+ASCD to develop the Google AI Educator Series, a set of training sessions to support AI innovation in classroom teaching and learning across K–12 and higher education. A few examples of topics covered: using AI to assist with educator communications, building student inquiry skills and generating tailored learning scenarios for students.

“The sessions are aligned with ISTE’s Standards for Educators and Faculty and its profile of an AI-ready graduate,” explains Magiera. “We wanted to make sure that we’re leading with the skills and opportunity, not the technology. ISTE helped us stay focused on the ‘why’ and the educators’ needs as we built the content.”

The programs are modular, or “snackable”; each microsession covers a single AI use case and takes about 15 minutes. The brief time required to complete individual sessions accommodates the kind of asynchronous, intermittent learning that educators can engage in during prep time or over lunch.

The programs are also stackable, allowing teachers and administrators to build custom learning paths for a specific program, grade or school need. If a larger block of time is available, educators may be able to complete a series of related sessions individually or as part of a group learning session.

“Maybe the school has organized a Tech Tuesday training session,” says Magiera. “The grade-level team lead can plan a stackable session, go to our Learning Center and download a Google slide deck and facilitator guide, and they have all the tools they need for an effective group session.”

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Program Design: Agency and Flexibility

Each microsession is a stand-alone resource, requiring no prerequisite training or mandatory sequences to begin. If a teacher is facing a particular immediate AI-related opportunity in the classroom, they can find the right program resource and discover how to effectuate the AI use case right away.

And as classroom AI use innovates and grows, the Google AI Educator Series will evolve and grow with it. After completing a short assessment, teachers earn Google digital badges that highlight their newly acquired skill.

“The goal is for teachers to be 100% in the lead, not just in the loop,” says Magiera. “We don’t want AI to be pushed on them. Our goal is to give teachers agency so they can use AI to learn themselves and then help students explore and learn too.”

CDW’s AI Training Workshops: Building AI Foundations

In addition to the Google AI Educator Series, administrators and instructors can also look to CDW and its ongoing, no-cost AI professional development workshops around the country. These regional workshops — presented in full-day, in-person sessions — provide an introduction on how begin using AI in the classroom.

“Right now, districts are actively seeking guidance on designing clear AI policies, ensuring safe student usage and integrating the technology effectively into their classrooms,” says Tammy Lind, senior strategist for Google education programs at CDW.

“We dig in deeply to questions like, how do you teach using AI as a thought partner? How can you best use Gemini during the brainstorming process?” Lind explains. “During our hands-on sessions, we actively dive into how Gemini can help you easily adapt materials to differentiate and personalize learning experiences for every learner. Our educators walk out with a solid foundation on how to use AI as a brainstorming and thought partner in all aspects of teaching and learning.”

The workshops bring groups of educators and IT administrators from a particular region together to learn about AI from CDW’s experienced instructors and, just as important, to learn from each other.

“Our professional development events are very collaborative,” says Lind. “Nobody knows everything about teaching and learning with AI. We all learn from each other.”

Because of the close partnership between CDW and Google, the workshops complement and enhance the content covered in the Google AI Educator Series.

“We see teachers coming in with that ‘just-in-time’ training piece, something they just learned,” explains Lind. “We can then expand and build on that. I really see the two programs as complementing each other very well.”

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CDW’s Gemini Education Services Offer Tailored AI Guidance

CDW also provides training opportunities for instructional staff with its Gemini Education Services — offered as either virtual sessions or full-day, onsite engagements — to support districts working to bring AI into their classrooms.

These services provide a careful walkthrough of Gemini’s features, covering both educator and IT admin functions, licensing, data privacy and security, and prompt development. They also include a deep dive into additional topics, including Google Meet, Google Sheets and Google Docs.

“Many districts have strategic plans or specific goals that they want to address with both their AI leadership teams and educators,” says Lind. “Our CDW Gemini Education Services can be tailored to the specific needs of the school.”

The Time Is Now to Embrace AI

Learning to incorporate a truly transformative technology like Gemini into their busy and complicated classrooms may feel overwhelming to educators. But they need to recognize that the sooner they embrace the opportunity, the quicker they can start bringing AI’s benefits to bear on perennial challenges like curriculum development and personalized instruction.

“AI is evolving rapidly. We need to support educators, help them get comfortable with it and understand how it can support their goals,” says Magiere. “Given the speed and scale of progress, the ability to scaffold their learning will serve educators well in the long term.”

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