How Durham Academy used Flint to embrace AI for students and teachers

How did the initial conversations around AI begin? What was teacher sentiment like?

Trevor Hoyt:

We started out with an informal AI discussion group that was just through Microsoft Teams. Initially it mostly involved sharing thoughts about different articles on AI. Predictably, some of the articles are about the amazing potential of AI, and some articles were about the dangers of it and what it meant for our kids. 

Very quickly, there were two groups of teachers: those who believed that we needed to really do more with AI and work with our students, and others who saw AI as potentially dangerous to the development of critical thinking and writing skills. But I believe everyone agreed that we couldn’t really know for sure if it was good or bad, especially If we didn’t even try it. 

So, we were looking for something sandboxed and controlled by our IT department. Those were things that we really liked about Flint: that it wasn't us just sending teachers and students out to the Internet or to ChatGPT. Flint is a platform that is specifically designed for students and teachers to use AI in a way that they really can't get into trouble with it. That was what made Julian and I decide to give it a try.

Veracross also played an important role in our adoption of Flint. We've been a Veracross school since 2010, and we really love the company and respect what they do. Veracross held a webinar on AI, and that's how we initially found out about Flint. They mentioned it in the call and Julian and I looked into it. Flint seemed like a platform that could really help us out, especially if Veracross was pitching it as a potential solution.

Julian Cochran:

Trevor got off that Veracross call and within a week, we were ready to roll with the Flint team. Our associate head of school came to us and said, you know, with smartphones in 2007, schools really dropped the ball on educating kids on how to use them as a tool. In our learning community, we’re still struggling with what to do with smartphones, and now the research shows that how kids engage with a smartphone now is unhealthy for them in a lot of ways, especially in regards to emotional well-being and constant comparison via social media. 

Now with AI, we can face the people who want to ban it and are worried about what AI is going to be like in 20 years, and we can say, ‘I don't know, but smartphones came out about 20 years ago and look at where we are now.’ Who's going to teach our students how to effectively lean into AI and where its benefits and where its perils are? If we don't take the lead now, this is going to be smartphones 2.0 and I think that analogy really made a big difference with a couple of those teachers who were absolutely against AI.

Many of our trustees work in the private sector and the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. They're seeing it on their end as a revolutionary thing. They tell us, ‘You guys at this school where my kids go, you can't leave this behind.’ So, kudos to our Associate Head of School Kristin Klein — she's been great about really supporting us and pushing us to move in this direction as well. And she worked with our Board of Trustees to draft a statement of philosophy on Generative AI use for the school. It reads as follows: “To prepare our students for moral, happy, productive lives in an unscripted future, we will engage Generative Artificial Intelligence through strategic and playful experiments to accelerate and enrich learning, teaching, operational efficiency and community life. With appropriate protections for data privacy and an emphasis on ethical decision-making, we will maintain the centrality of individual creativity, authentic relationships, and human thriving.”

How has the parent response to AI use in the classroom been?

Trevor Hoyt:

There's a small group of parents — and we're seeing this more and more at our Lower School and our Middle School — who are reading a lot of articles about the dangers of overuse of smartphones and giving access to that sort of technology too early for a kid developmentally. So, in a similar vein with AI, there is concern with a small but probably growing body of our parents that our students, even at fifth grade, are spending too much time on their devices. That's something we're going to have to balance as a school. But overall, many of our parents work in technology, engineering, medicine, and higher education – fields where Generative AI is already making an impact. So, I think most of our parents are supportive of this direction. Plus, our Board is interested in finding ways that the school can leverage AI. They don't want us to be left behind.

Julian Cochran:

At our Upper School back-to-school night last year, I had the last session of the night, and the parents were tired. Instead of just introducing myself and talking about the class, I asked, ‘Why do you think your kid is taking this class?’ Some parents gave typical answers like interest in coding, and one dad joked that his son thought I was cool because I coach soccer.

Then, to make a point, I pulled up ChatGPT and showed how it could solve the entire AP Computer Science free response questions perfectly in seconds. After that, I asked again, “So, why is your kid taking this class?” It was a moment where the parents really saw how AI could change things, and it sparked a lot of interest.

The next day, our Upper School Director told me a few parents had emailed him, saying they were excited about the class. It was a great moment that highlighted how important it is to teach students to use AI as a tool, not just depend on it. Many of the parents, especially those in tech, have been supportive of using platforms like Flint in the classroom, and that conversation really helped make that clear.