Westside Community Schools to introduce AI into their curriculum

"AI frees teachers up to then use their time to do more student engagement, creative thinking and lesson planning." Westside Community Schools integrates AI into its curriculum.

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How Westside Community Schools plans to use AI in curriculum

OMAHA, Neb. —

Hundreds of teachers will report back to school next week in order to get their classrooms ready.

This year, instructors at Westside will focus on using artificial intelligence in their curriculum, which helps productivity and helps students and teachers be more efficient.

“It’s like having a partner by their side that helps them do administrative or procedural tasks,” said Matt Lee, director of technology at Westside Community Schools.

He said more Westside High and middle school teachers are turning to AI to help them teach.

“It frees them up to then use their time to do more student engagement, do creative thinking and lesson planning,” Lee said.

However, Lee said AI is not a way to cut corners, but a way to connect.

“They take the lecture that they give, along with in-class worksheets and handouts and throw them into Notebook LM. It uses AI to synthesize the material and generate a conversational podcast,” Lee said.

Students can watch the podcast to catch up on the course or get a review of what they’re learning.

“I think we’re used to absorbing information like that, so it makes it easier to understand it and lock it in their brain,” said Marley Helvey, a junior at Omaha Westside.

She is also active in cheer and golf, and is one of a group of students that work with school board members.

This year, she helped create a syllabus to outline what AI can and cannot be used for.

“One teacher might say no AI whatsoever and another teacher might say you can use it to brainstorm,” Helvey said.

AI isn’t going away.

Because of this, Westside schools said that it wants to help teachers and students use it in a safe, effective and educational way.

“We hope parents get peace of mind by knowing we have vetted tools we’re recommending to all of our staff and students to use things that have a protection agreement,” Lee said.

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