As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly common in schools and workplaces, educators face a new challenge: helping students understand and use the technology responsibly. At American University's Baker School of Education (Baker), a new AI-focused module is helping future teachers do exactly that.

Rather than introducing AI through a standalone technology course, the Baker School integrated material within EDU 630: Historical, Social, and Political Foundations of US Educational Systems, a course required for most Master of Arts in Teaching students that examines the history, ethics, and equity dimensions of education.

"AI's not going away," said Carolyn Parker, director of graduate teacher education and academic programs. "It's going to be with us forever. Our disposition was really problematizing AI. How can it be used? Can it be time-saving? Is it an equity issue? Is it an environmental issue? We start with a very critical perspective. I think it is incumbent on us as a teacher education program to educate our teachers and educators around the use of AI."

That perspective resonated with many students, who entered the course with significant reservations about the technology. Dia Jones, who taught EDU 630 this summer, said many students initially viewed AI as something best kept out of the classroom.

About 80 percent of the class said, 'We are absolutely not going to adopt AI in our classroom.

Instead of dismissing those concerns, the course invited students to grapple with them. Through discussions of educational history, ethics, and emerging technology, students explored how educators can balance caution with preparation for a rapidly changing world.

Jones challenged future teachers to consider a principle from her social work background: "Do no harm. … If we do not know the careers students are going to have five or 10 years from now, how can we do no harm by refusing to teach them about a tool that's becoming part of the world they'll inherit?" she said.

By the end of the module, many students had shifted their thinking. The question was no longer whether AI belonged in education, but how teachers could use it ethically and effectively.

The course emphasizes that AI should enhance teaching, not replace teachers. "We will always need human teachers," Parker said. "AI is not going to replace teachers." Jones agreed, noting that employers continue to seek skills that technology cannot replicate. "That humanness is needed more so than anything," she said, noting that employers need graduates with social and emotional skills as much as technical knowledge.

Students also explore practical applications of AI in K–12 settings. One example is differentiated instruction, where teachers can adapt reading materials to match students' varying reading levels while preserving the same academic content - something that would have been more difficult and time-consuming without the help of AI.

For Jones, however, the most important conversations center on equity. She worries that unequal access to AI tools and instruction could widen existing educational disparities. "What keeps me up at night is the equity piece," Jones said. "Will Black, Brown, and poor children be left behind again with new technology?"

The module reflects a broader goal at Baker: preparing educators who can think critically about emerging technologies rather than simply adopting or rejecting them.

Success, Jones said, is not measured by how often graduates use AI in their classrooms. “Five years from now, if we were all to use AI as the great equalizer, then I would hope that there will be no more conversations about gaps. Because the gap is closed.” As for more immediate outcomes, she said, “It's the same thing I look for every semester: curiosity. Continue to be curious enough to do your own study and research."

For Parker, the goal is equally straightforward: preparing educators who can make informed decisions about AI while keeping students' needs at the center. "The disposition to think critically and in a well-informed manner around using AI," she said, "is what we're trying to build."