Artificial Intelligence and Jewish Education

The world around us is changing rapidly with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As with any technological breakthrough, this disruption poses incredible opportunities as well as potential challenges. There are early adopters who take the approach of learning through trial and others who favor a more cautious approach. What should our approach be as educators?

At JES we are investing time in learning about AI ourselves so that we can guide educators who are turning to us for advice and support. We have partnered with Baltimore’s own Michael Bresler to offer a series of training sessions to our staff and to school leaders. We have attended conferences and workshops about AI in Jewish education. And we are also part of a national network of educational leaders discussing this topic in depth.

There are incredible possibilities that AI presents for schools to discover efficiencies in their systems. While funders and lay leaders are hoping AI can reduce expenses for schools, at the very least these tools offer the potential to free up time to devote to more important tasks. Principals can use software to create class schedules and book orders. Learning specialists can work with teachers to analyze large amounts of student data in order to create individual learning plans for each student. Teachers can create lesson plans, differentiated worksheets and assessments, and student reports in a fraction of the time it would have taken them in the past. This frees up time to develop trusting relationships with students and parents.

But AI also raises many questions for educators. How do we help our students develop skills and work ethic (Ameilut) when they can have AI do the work for them? How do we know if the work they present is their own or AI? How does the democratization of information change the teacher-student dynamic? And, in a world of AI, what does it even mean to be a teacher?

Much has been, and will continue to be, written about this. And the technology continues to develop rapidly. We don’t want our students to fall behind their peers and be unprepared for a workforce that will be reliant on AI. But at the same time, we must be thoughtful and careful in our approach and learn about how this tool can and should be used most effectively.

There are many questions, but what we do know is that AI is a means, not an end. Our goal remains to educate and raise children to be ethical, capable, and responsible adults. Any discussion about AI in education must start and end with the student in mind. What are we trying to accomplish? How might AI help us succeed? The child is always at the center.

At JES we will continue offering training, guidance, and support for educators and parents as we learn more about this new technology. One new project that we are excited to launch is an AI Teen Hackathon. More information on this will follow, but the overall goal of the project is to engage teens from across the Baltimore Jewish community to identify a real-world challenge, anchor it in a Jewish value (middah), build an AI-supported solution, and think through real ethical implications. The project will officially launch in the fall, and the winning team will receive funding for their initiative. For more information on this project, please email me at alevitt@jesbaltimore.org.