About the Guest(s):

Dr. Andrea Harkins-Brown is the Program Director for Disability Policy and Systems Change and an Assistant Research Scientist at the Center for Technology and Education within Johns Hopkins University School of Education. With a background as a special educator in public schools in Maryland, Dr. Harkins-Brown has extensive experience serving students with autism and significant cognitive disabilities. Her career transitioned from classroom teaching to higher education and research, focusing on leveraging technology to enhance special education services. Her work at Johns Hopkins includes supporting state and local school districts to improve special education implementation and outcomes through innovative research.

Episode Summary:

In this engaging episode of the Think Inclusive podcast, host Tim Villegas and Dr. Andrea Harkins-Brown of Johns Hopkins University explore how AI can revolutionize individualized education programs (IEPs) by reducing teacher workloads, enhancing procedural compliance, and allowing educators to focus more on teaching. Dr. Harkins-Brown shares insights from her research at the Center for Technology and Education, where her team is exploring how AI can streamline IEP creation, addressing the high attrition rates among special educators due to paperwork burdens. They discuss the potential of AI to analyze data, offer evidence-based recommendations, and generate language for IEPs, while also considering ethical implications, bias mitigation, and the need for rigorous testing before large-scale implementation in education.

Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/h77GRXniZr5pkAyRS_7sYmgOXT0

Key Takeaways:

• AI tools promise to alleviate the heavy paperwork burden on special educators, enabling them to focus more on meaningful classroom instruction and student interaction.
• The effective deployment of AI in IEP development could involve AI making preliminary recommendations or content generation, subject to educator validation and customization.
• AI has the potential to improve procedural compliance and reduce implicit biases in IEPs by providing objective suggestions and ensuring transparent development processes.
• Thorough research and evaluation are crucial to understanding AI’s effectiveness in producing quality IEPs compared to current methods.
• Integrating AI in education necessitates ethical programming, addressing biases, and ensuring tools truly benefit teachers and students rather than exacerbating existing issues.

Resources:

Center for Technology and Education (CTE): https://education.jhu.edu/cte/

Andrea Harkins Brown on X: https://twitter.com/andreahparrish

AI in Education Webinar: https://www.aiforeducation.io/harnessing-ai-in-special-education-a-four-part-series

Thanks to our sponsor, IXL! Learn more: https://ixl.com/inclusive

MCIE: https://mcie.org

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