BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Christina Cornwell may have felt like a small fish in a big pond, but in reality, everyone in the pond was swimming toward the same goal — how to best educate children.
Cornwell, who is the coordinator of professional development for the Bradford County School District, had the opportunity to visit Santiago, Chile, in July as part of a symposium hosted by Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso. She wrote a proposal on artificial-intelligence use for teachers and students that was accepted.
“I was surrounded by experts,” Cornwell said. “I was probably the least-credentialed individual who was there, but what I got from it was people are willing to talk about all the great things they are doing, but they also are hungry for an opportunity to collaborate, to find solutions for problems they are experiencing and understanding that we’re not alone in these quests for information.”
It was a good reminder that issues a school district is facing are the same issues that a lot of districts are facing, whether they’re in the U.S. or elsewhere.
The symposium offered educators from throughout the world the chance to meet each other and share contact information so that they can work together on addressing their common issues.
“That was really the whole purpose of that symposium — to make those connections, so that we don’t feel alone,” Cornwell said. “We know that other people are trying to solve these problems, too.”
For example, Cornwell said she now has the contact information from someone who is an AI department head at a university in New York. She said she’s already reached out to her to learn more about the professional learning that university is providing for its incoming teachers.
The symposium offered more than the chance to discuss issues and form connections. Cornwell, of course, took opportunities for sightseeing, but she and other symposium attendees got to visit schools in Chile. She said it was a reminder of how fortunate U.S. educators are.
“We often talk about what we don’t have — lack of resources and all that kind of stuff,” Cornwell said. “It humbled me to see just how lucky we really are.”
For example, Cornwell visited schools that had no heating systems, noting that it is now winter in Chile.
Yet the one deficiency those schools aren’t facing is the use of technology. Cornwell said each student had a computer in front of them.
“That stood out to me — that they’re providing the same quality of education because they have the technology that they need,” Cornwell said. “They may not have some other things, but they have that.”
One hurdle Chile is facing is making up ground due to school closures that occurred before the covid pandemic.
“They closed down their schools prior to covid because of civil unrest,” Cornwell said. “It was too dangerous for kids to go to school. Then, they had covid, which closed down the schools.
“We talk about learning loss here in the United States (because of covid). They had double that learning loss because their schools were closed before covid.”
Cornwell said Chilean educators have been seeking help from educators from throughout the world, much like those who attended the symposium.
“They’re doing wonderful things, and they’re doing it by reaching out to other countries and using their teachers,” Cornwell said.
Cornwell met some teachers from Gainesville’s P.K. Yonge at the symposium. That was beneficial because that school is basically a year ahead of Bradford schools in implementing the use of AI, Cornwell said.
She also had the chance to meet Jason Dean Arnold of the University of Florida’s College of Education, who encouraged Cornwell to stay in touch with him so that he can help support the Bradford district in its implementation of AI.
Cornwell said Arnold also views it as an opportunity for UF to produce graduates who are ready to teach in an AI world.
“He wants to know how the implementation is going here so he knows how to better prepare his students of education who are coming out,” Cornwell said.
