Reading, writing, arithmetic — and AI. The modern educational toolkit, of both teachers and students, now includes the use of artificial intelligence and is poised to transform Catholic education.

“In the Catholic school space, where we’re at right now is trying to build AI literacy among our teachers, and our students, and our parents,” shared Fr. Nate Wills, a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and director of Higher-Powered Learning, an initiative of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.

Professional development for teachers is a critical first step.

Advertisement

“I think it’s really important for teachers to know what’s out there so that they both empower their students and transform their assessments,” Wills said. 

Higher-Powered Learning has hosted user-friendly seminars focusing on AI in the classroom; teacher training; AI policies and guidelines; and more. The initiative’s website also features a wealth of resources and guidance.

Still, it can all perhaps seem a bit overwhelming. “This feels,” Wills admitted, “like a quantum leap for a lot of people.”

Higher-Powered Learning offers adaptable policy templates, but also helps dioceses tailor them to their own needs and strategy.

“One of the most important things about a document like this is, it’s living,” said Brad Snyder, associate superintendent of Educational Programs for Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Orange, California. “Because AI is doing nothing if not changing constantly. As a diocese, we’ve been meeting for about a year-and-a-half in committees to create a guidance document for our parishes also. So I think we’ve been trying to get ahead of the wave.”

Snyder sees a parallel with another major technological shift — the advent of the world wide web in the early 1990s.

Advertisement

“I think AI is going to propel us forward in a similar manner.”

And rapidly, too.

“It’s just taking off,” Snyder said. “And the next couple years is going to be really transformational in what it can do — and therefore, we have to be informed on how we’re going to use it.”

Educators are keenly aware that AI has the potential to be not just an asset, but a substitute, with students using it to generate an assignment instead of doing it themselves.

“One of the things we really try to work with — with our teachers and our principals — is you need to monitor, but you need to make sure you mentor,” Snyder said. “We want to make sure we’re supporting students using it correctly, and in a way that benefits them.”

AI meant to “replace” anything, Snyder said.

“Catholic education is what? It’s a community, right? It’s relationship building. It’s the whole child,” he emphasized. “Technology can’t replace that — and we don’t want it to. But if it can help make me more effective, reach my students at their level more efficiently, and move them forward in their skill development, that’s the mentorship of using AI.”

So what can AI do, for teachers and students?

Advertisement

“Like Pope Leo said, this is a sea change,” declared Steve Tortorello, director of Partnerships and Special Projects for Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago. 

As to its potential, “I talk about how AI can be both the most supercharged teacher’s assistant you could ever imagine,” explained Tortorello, “and a thought partner, like the teacher across the hall.”