The Tortoise and the Hare Contemplate AI in Education (Part 2)

By Jeremy Roschelle , Kip Glazer , and Judi Fusco

Key Points:

• Educational leaders are experts and can choose the pace that is right in their setting.
• Teachers and others may burn out if the pace is too fast, and a backlash could endanger well-intentioned AI in education initiatives.
• The very metaphor of a “race” is a poor fit to how education integrates technology and a “dinner party” would be a better metaphor.

In the first half of our story, two school edtech leaders—Tortoise and Hare—launched into a race towards responsible use of AI. Hare, of course, wanted to go as fast as possible to keep up with the rapidly evolving capabilities of AI. Tortoise, however, pointed on the advantages of a more deliberative approach. Now we continue to follow our characters into the second half of their race, where they end up at a…. dinner party?!

Losing by Trying to Keep Up

As he continues to move towards the finish line, Tortoise encounters Hare, who is running in circles in a frenzy.

Tortoise: (concerned) Hare, what happened? 

Hare: (losing her breath, huffing and puffing) I can’t do this! I can’t keep up!

Tortoise: Slow down. Take a deep breath! 

Hare: The AI tools are moving so fast, and I can’t keep up the pace. 

Tortoise: Who said we had to? 

Hare: (horrified) What do you mean? We can’t get left behind. It’s not allowed! 

Tortoise: (still calmly) By whose standard? Who said? Who decides who is ahead or behind? 

Hare: All those AI people, of course!

Tortoise: Who are they? Who are these “AI people” you speak of? 

Hare: All those experts on the internet who are telling educators to get on board! We should be teaching AI literacy, like, yesterday! 

Tortoise: Even if they do exist, we are the educators. We know our students, and we should be doing what is best for our students when it’s appropriate, don’t you think?

Hare: Will there be any educators left? I mean someday soon, AI will replace all the teachers! We are doomed!

Tortoise: What? Slow down, and take a deep breath, Hare. 

Hare: I can’t! How do I tell my colleagues that there will be no teachers in the future because of all the tools that I brought to them?

Tortoise: Why would you tell them that? That’s not going to happen. 

Hare: It’s already happening! Our school district is talking about how to replace teachers with AI-enabled devices. Oh my gosh, I brought those to our schools! I am the one who is forcing all of us out! Help! (runs in circles towards the finish line)

Tortoise: Here we go again! Another educator feels panicked about being replaced. Can AI actually care for a student? Orchestrate the social activities of a whole classroom? Heck, AI doesn’t even have a sense of time, or pacing. 

Burning out or caring?

After moving steadily toward the finish line, Tortoise notices Hare sleeping on the side of the road, completely exhausted. Tortoise approaches Hare and attempts to wake her up.

Tortoise: Hey, Hare! Wake up!

Hare: (turns away from Tortoise) Go away! I am tired. I did so much at the start, and now I have done enough to relax for a bit!

Tortoise: (surprised) Done enough? We just barely started! We still need to work on properly evaluating the tools, setting up procurement processes for the right tools, establishing the efficient implementation plan, creating the safeguards and safe use policies, and building effective professional development for our staff! There is just so much!

Hare: (continues sleeping) I am going to have AI do all that. 

Tortoise: (horrified) Are you kidding? AI can’t do any of that! Humans still have to be in the loop of every aspect of this journey. 

Hare: Leave me alone. I am going to offload all of it to an AI assistant and rest. 

Tortoise: (sighs deeply) Oh boy. I hope she is not serious. Maybe she will come to her senses after resting a bit. (turns away and continues his journey) In the meantime, I am going to continue moving forward. 

A Race or a Dinner Party?

After some time has passed, Hare is awakened by the loud cheer of the crowd who was watching the race.

Hare: (jumps up) What was that?

She sees Tortoise with a winner’s trophy. Tortoise begins to thank the crowd.

Tortoise: Thank you so much for allowing me to go slow, to go fast. As you all know, education is one of the most complex and labor-intensive endeavors. It requires so much expertise to support our learners. Most importantly, it requires so much heart and patience. I thank you all for allowing me to lead you through this unfinished journey by bringing good AI tools into the process. We have just finished our first leg of a long race, and I can’t wait to begin our second leg. 

Hare: (devastated) Oh no. I lost! (hangs her head low) 

Tortoise: (rushes over to Hare) No, you didn’t lose. The race hasn’t even truly begun. 

Hare: But you got the winner’s trophy.

Tortoise: Yes, this time, in this format. But bringing AI into the school system should never be considered a race. 

Hare: If not a race, what should it be? 

Tortoise: It should really be more like a dinner party.

Hare: A dinner party? 

Tortoise: Yes. (thinks for a bit) Well, maybe more like a buffet.  

Hare: What do you mean? 

Tortoise: When it comes to AI implementation in education, our goal shouldn’t be to beat someone else. Our collective goal should be more like hosting a buffet where each person brings their best dish to share with the community and no one leaves hungry. It’s about leveraging each other’s talent and skills to ensure that everyone is cared for and no one is replaced. 

Hare: (contemplating what Tortoise said) I have to think about it some more. 

Tortoise: (smiling) Which is also okay, but you know what they say.

Hare: What?

Tortoise: (somewhat smugly) Slow and steady wins the race, and I definitely won today! 

Hare: (defeated and reluctantly) Um… sure…I am happy for you? 

Tortoise: (chuckling) Just kidding. Let’s go have something to eat. I am hungry. My treat! 

Hare: (cheering up a bit) Okay. 

Tortoise: (under his breath while smiling) I did win this round for sure! 

Two friends walk away together.  

The End

Learn more about Digital Promise’s vision for AI in education and our AI literacy framework.

Jeremy Roschelle is co-executive director of Learning Sciences Research at Digital Promise.

Kip Glazer is Principal at Mountain View High School in Mountain View, California.

Judi Fusco is director of Emerging Technologies and Learning Sciences at Digital Promise.