🗑 Quizizz new name + innovative AI ideas

✈️ Heading to ISTE 2025? Swing by the Figma for Education booth #2418!

Figma for Education is pulling out all the stops at ISTE 2025, and the team can’t wait to see you there!

Join the FigJam funhouse at booth #2418 all week with 50+ live Teaching Theater sessions (including five sessions by Matt Miller!), a free swag stand to upgrade your Figma Edu collection, live demos with expert learning guides, and a custom hat bar just for our FigJam fam.

Catch Matt’s Sessions at the Figma for Edu ISTE Booth #2418:

1️⃣ Quick collaboration ideas with FigJam

• Monday at 11:30 AM

• Tuesday at 10:00 AM

2️⃣ Fun, digital brain dumps with FigJam

• Monday at 2:00 PM

• Tuesday at 12:00 PM

• Wednesday at 10:30 AM

Stop by to meet the Figma for Edu team, hear more about how teachers are using FigJam, and leave with a custom Figma hat! 🧢

See you there 🫶🏼

Check out everything Figma Edu and see the full session schedule at ISTE 2025 here: https://www.figma.com/education/iste-conference/ 

💻 TECH TIP 💻

🏛️ Responding to the new AI in edu executive order

In April, a new executive order from the White House called for “appropriate integration of AI into education” to “ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution.”

We already have seen that AI is growing by leaps and bounds … and that it’ll impact our students’ future … and that we will need to respond in schools.

Now, with support from the government, the use of AI and education about it will continue to grow in schools around the United States.

How will we respond?

To start, teachers need a level of AI literacy — a basic understanding about AI and its impacts on the classroom, on classwork, and on education.

That’s what the Teacher AI Literacy Level 1 Certification is all about.

It’s hosted by The AI Fluency Lab, a new collaboration between me, Holly Clark and Ken Shelton — all experienced AI in edu trainers and authors.

Are you in charge of professional development for teachers? This is a high-quality opportunity for your teachers to learn from the best — at a very affordable price.

Are you an educator who wants to be prepared? You can join the course and get AI literacy certified before the school year.

About the course:

• Six modules (plus an intro and a conclusion module) with practical strategies and understandings about AI in education

• Discussion boards to interact with other educators taking the course worldwide

• Downloadable resources to equip you for the school year ahead

• On-demand, asynchronous video instruction (no live video)

• Led by experienced educators/authors/speakers with combined 50+ years of classroom experience AND +1 million educators trained

Register now — and get the course materials when they’re released on July 7!

BONUS: Our pre-sale discount is 50% off! Lock it in before July 7!

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🤖 AI Optimism: A powerful way forward

A lot of the AI conversation in education seems to be pretty binary.

Lots of folks can’t get past “all of the cheating” and the threats that AI puts on the way we’ve always done education.

Others see AI through entirely too rose colored glasses, thinking that all of the tools and features will save time and revolutionize education.

The key is balance — a healthy dose of skepticism and optimism, I believe.

Becky Keene has written a book called AI Optimism that, interestingly, strikes that balance very nicely (even though the word “optimism” is in the title).

Here’s how she starts the book …

Talk about hitting the bullseye when identifying where we are in education. 🎯

So, what do we do?

Becky connects the ways we might use AI in education to the SAMR Model, a framework created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura (who wrote the forward to her book!).

• Substitution

• Augmentation

• Modification

• Redefinition

When using AI to teach and learn, it can be used as a techy substitution for what we’ve always done with no functional change …

… or it can redefine what we call education (on a case by case basis).

A little over a year ago, Becky wrote a guest post for us called “The SAMR dozen: 12 AI strategies for educators.” 

In the post, she shares examples of how AI can help us reach the different levels of the SAMR framework … and, in turn, start to slowly (or rapidly) transform how teaching and learning look in our classrooms.

Here are some examples from the post — and you’ll find dozens and dozens more in her book.

PS: More details on all of these in the full post.

Substitution: Replacing traditional work

• Automated data collection: View data about how many students have submitted work, and get alerts for late submissions.  

• Language translation: Students can explore content in their native language, fostering inclusivity and understanding.  

• Dictation and read aloud: Let students speak their thoughts into a word processing tool or text box.

Augmentation: Enhancing the task

• Adaptive learning platforms: AI algorithms analyze student performance and adapt content accordingly.

• Chatbots for student support: AI chatbots provide instant answers to common queries, freeing educators to focus on deeper interactions.

• Cognitive load reduction: Let a tool like Copilot (free, 13+) summarize a long PDF, website, or text sample for your students as they research.

Modification: Redesigning learning experiences

• Personalized Content Creation: AI-generated content — such as informal assessments, practice exercises, and interactive simulations—caters to diverse learning styles.

• Collaborative projects: Students collaborate on AI-empowered projects, from designing chatbots to creating builds using code in Minecraft Education.  

• Automated Feedback Loops: AI provides timely feedback on student work, guiding revisions and growth.

Redefinition: Shifting Paradigms

• Virtual reality classrooms: AI-powered VR environments transport students to historical events or scientific phenomena.

• AI as co-creator: Students collaborate with AI to solve real-world problems. Whether it’s climate modeling, medical research, or artistic expression, AI becomes a creative partner.

• Ethical AI discussions: Engage students in conversations about AI ethics, bias, and privacy. Explore the impact of algorithms on society, empowering critical digital citizens.

Find more cause for AI Optimism

In Becky’s book, AI Optimism, she shares tons of examples and ideas — including more than two dozen ways AI can help us reach the redefinition level and rethink how teaching and learning are done.

And in her post, The SAMR dozen, you’ll find quick examples — and lots of links — to help you explore that idea right away.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!