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EdTech MythBuster Edition

@LisaBerghoff

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! As you begin your classes and get to know your students, you probably do a fair amount of clearing up of information. When we launch the year at such a fast and furious pace, it can feel a bit like a game of telephone. The information starts out pretty solid and then as it gets passed along it turns into something completely wrong. The purpose of this post is to help clear up some misinformation that has been floating around about edtech. I hope it's helpful. If you have further questions or myths you would like busted, please contact me. 

Myth #1: The AI Pilot Cohort Is Over

FALSE! 

• The AI Pilot Cohort began 2nd semester of last year and will continue through this semester. We would like to be able to make a recommendation to our district leaders by mid-January. We ALL have premium access to these 4 tools through the end of the school year: Brisk, MagicSchool, School AI, PowerBuddy. 
• If you would like to be included in the cohort and give your feedback, you can still join. Just send me an email.
• Even if you are not in the cohort, I highly encourage you to check out these tools while we have premium access.

Myth #2: If I enter my grades directly into IC, I don't need to use Schoology at all.

FALSE!

• Infinite Campus is our student records system (SIS) and Schoology is our learning management system (LMS). They do very different things and we need to use both of them. However, they both happen to have a grade book and that's where it gets confusing. It is true that you don't have to use Schoology's grade book but we all need to use Schoology to provide our students access to classroom materials. Even if you are handing out a packet, you should provide a digital copy on the Schoology materials page. 

Myth #3: As a school, we all have access to Google's AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM, even for students.

TRUE!

• Gemini is Google's generative AI tool (like chatgpt) and since it falls under our Google for Education terms of service, it is SOPPA, FERPA, and HIPAA compliant.  This means that our data is protected and that our data will not be used to train Google's AI models. 
• Google also has a new model called LearnLM, which is designed based on teaching and learning frameworks. 
• Gemini and Notebook LM are also now approved for minors so you can use them with students, unlike ChatGPT.

Myth #4: Township HS District 113 has guidance on artificial intelligence use. 

TRUE!

• On the staff portal, under "AI Tools", click on the "AI Hub" and you will find a nicely worded document that outlines guidance for AI use in the classroom for both educators and students. Click here to take a look. 

Myth #5: Students only use AI to cheat.

FALSE!

• Harvard Graduate School of Education Report: A report on how students are using AI found that while some teens admit to cheating, many also use it for positive academic experiences. The most common uses reported by young people ages 14-22 were for getting information (53%) and brainstorming (51%). The study also noted that students, particularly Black and Latinx young people, reported using AI to get answers to questions they might be "too afraid to ask adults."

• Digital Education Council Report: A 2024 Global AI Student Survey by the Digital Education Council, which included 3,839 students from 16 countries, found that the most common uses of AI tools were for:

  • Searching for information (69%).

  • Checking grammar (42%).

  • Summarizing documents (33%).

  • Paraphrasing a document (28%).

  • Creating a first draft (24%).

Are there other myths out there that need busting? Please reach out and let me know. Want some help figuring out how to make sense of all of our edtech tools and how to use them effectively with students? Send me a message!