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Gen AI in Teaching and Learning Overview & Resource Collection (2026-27)

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has become a major discussion point in research, teaching, and learning due in large part to the emergence of tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot and also more education-specific tools such as MagicSchool and Eduaide.ai. In simple terms, GenAI “refers to algorithms and models that can generate new data, be it text, images, music, or even complex designs” (University of British Columbia: Generative AI, 2024).  Over the past few years, many of these tools have evolved to be multimodal and include the ability to produce text, audio, music, images, illustrations, animations, video and code.

Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

AI is not new and has been integrated into software, websites, and social media platforms for many years. The development of tools like ChatGPT, which generate large amounts of content very quickly based on a user’s prompting, and the incorporation of tools into web browsers, has led to a rapid rise is use and has made these tools almost ubiquitous.

In your work as a teacher, you may be thinking of using these tools for planning and assessment tools. You might also be considering how to integrate these into your teaching practice and for use with students (as tutors, to create games, presentations etc). Your students are also likely to be experimenting with AI which leads to additional teaching considerations (especially related to assessment).

With this in mind, it is important to be thoughtful about how and when you might use GenAI. Remember, you are modeling for your students.

If you are considering using any GenAI tools in your teaching context, below are a few recommendations (this is not an exhaustive list):

1. District, School, Ministry Guidance – Start by ensuring that you know about any expectations in your jurisdiction about the use of GenAI. Your school librarian or admin may be a source of information. Your district resource portal likely has information.  In particular, there are special considerations for protecting student data Privacy. 

2. Accuracy – Although you can get often-accurate (or accurate sounding) answers and information from GenAI tools, they are also known to regularly produce hallucinations and provide false information. The way these models are trained can actually encourage them to provide you with ‘any’ answer if it doesn’t find a ‘correct’ answer. Further, the data they are trained on may not be the most currently available information. AI’s can be quite insistent and confident sounding; leading us to potentially accept what they provide without critically evaluating it. It is also important to remember that GenAI is trained on specific sets of data, and that data is not always current to the day you are using the tool. Knowing that GenAI is not always producing real, accurate, or timely content, here are some questions to consider when using these tools (from UBC Education Library Inquiry Research guidance):

  • Is the generated response accurate? Do you have the knowledge of this topic/concept to identify inaccuracies? What steps can you take to ensure the information is true?
  • What information/data is the AI trained on? Is that information accurate? Is there any way to verify this?
  • Is the AI trained on current information? If not, what is the cutoff date for its training data?

For teachers, an additional consideration when using AI to support lesson planning or assessment, is to carefully prompt, review and revise to ensure appropriate pedagogies are employed and that connections to curriculum, local context, inclusion, diverse representation and classroom make up are incorporated. This can take some careful prompting and reprompting. Some recent research and reviews are showing that many AI generated lesson plans using some of the K12 teaching specific tools are quite teacher-directed and lack active learning and inclusive approaches.

While it makes sense to seek out tools to help with efficiency and to support improving our practice, it is important to do so in a way that does not interfere with agency including the personal and creative nature of teaching. 

3. Ethical considerations – Knowing how GenAI tools are built (who builds them) and how they operate is essential in order to make informed decisions about use. These are just some of the questions you can consider when deciding (from UBC Education Library Guidance for Inquiry Research):

  • Who created the AI? Is it profit-generating, and for whom?
  • Does the AI collect personal information? How is this information stored and used? (in particular, ‘free’ use often is far less than free considering the data collected and how your inputs are gathered and help train the machines)
  • From where does the AI retrieve its training data? Does the AI itself, or does your use of it, violate copyright, intellectual property, or fair dealing guidelines?
  • How does your chosen AI tool–or the increase in overall AI use–impact the environment?
  • What biases and limitations affect the content generated by this AI?

It is also essential to consider the information you are inputting into a GenAI tool before using it, especially when it comes to inputting personal information, student information and copywritten, cultural or other sensitive material.

UBC Resources:

AI Litearcy in K12 Context

Means having the knowledge, skills, and judgment to understand how AI works and involves how to:

  • use AI tools responsibly and for effective teaching and to support student learning,
  • recognize risks and limitations,
  • model and students engage with AI critically, creatively, ethically, and safely.

The following are important related elements for teachers:

  • Technical understanding: knowing the basics of what AI and generative AI are, how tools such as chatbots or image generators produce outputs, and why those outputs may be inaccurate, biased, or incomplete.
  • Pedagogical use: understanding when AI can support planning, differentiation, feedback, accessibility, inquiry, creativity, and assessment, while keeping teacher professional judgment at the centre.
  • Critical and ethical awareness: recognizing issues such as bias, misinformation, privacy, data protection, copyright, academic integrity, environmental impact, and unequal access.
  • Student guidance and safety: helping students use AI in age-appropriate ways, ask better questions, verify information, protect personal data, and understand when AI use is helpful or harmful.
  • Human-centred decision-making: using AI to support, not replace, relationships, inclusion, cultural responsiveness, Indigenous perspectives, student agency, and meaningful learning.

Resources

A small selection of curated resources with a focus on more recent and relevant to K12 teaching contexts *I will be adding some additional resources over the next few weeks… stay tuned! Aug 2026

Guidance Documents

Ref: BC Ministry of Education AI in Education

Digital (AI) Literacy

For Teachers & Students:

  • The MET AI Literacy Hub shared by the UBC Master of Educational Technology Program as an open Canvas resource for educators. It includes a wide variety of well-researched and curated resources including ‘What is GenAI’, Policies and Guidelines, Academic Integrity, Ethical and Pedagogical considerations and more.
  • MediaSmarts is a Canadian-based open educational resource that includes research, articles, videos and lesson plans to support digital literacy (including integrated and AI specific literacy) across the curriculum in K12. The website has a powerful search engine that can be filtered by topic, grade level, subject area and more. This What is AI resource may also provide some good basic background for educators.
  • ISTE and ACSD AI in Education hub includes 8 Core Principles for enhancing student learning & self-assessment tools, a profile of an AI ready graduate and a variety of literacy-focused resources.

As we consider literacy and the impact of AI on students, we are reminded of issues including student agency and learning impacts. Having open communication with our learners is essential. When we model and openly share with students about our own AI use, our questions, our successes and concerns, we help them develop their literacy. Below is a video I found to be a powerful example of student inquiry shared with their permission on Youtube by their teacher, Danny Leeming, at Mt Sentinel Secondary in SD8 Kootenays. You may be surprised by the skill level, depth of thought and the conclusions the students came to:

For Parents:

  • It is becoming more and more important for parents to be aware of the impact of AI on education and how their children are being exposed. To help parents develop their own digital literacies, some districts have offered information sessions and are developing parent-facing AI resources. Below are a small selection.

Prompting

*coming soon…

Tool-based

*coming soon…

Research: Open Publications

*coming soon…

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by | August 19, 2026 · 5:46 pm
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Self- and Peer-Assessment in BC: Reflection as Learning

Austin’s Butterfly reminds us of the transformational power of descriptive feedback and how even young learners can provide effective peer-feedback.

In the BC Curriculum, assessment helps students understand where they are, where they are going, and what they might try next. This aligns closely with the Know–Do–Understand model, where assessment is connected to Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies, and Core Competencies rather than treated as an isolated end-point task focused mainly on content.

Self- and peer-assessment invite students to notice, name, and nurture their learning. BC’s K–12 Student Reporting Policy requires student self-reflection on Core Competencies and student goal setting as part of reporting; it also emphasizes descriptive feedback that identifies strengths and areas for growth. In practice, this means reflection should not be a one-time report-card activity. It should be embedded throughout inquiry, play, discussion, design, writing, problem-solving, and performance tasks.

Research supports this formative approach. Dr. Andrade’s review of student self-assessment argues that self-assessment is most useful when it generates feedback students can use to improve work and deepen learning. A 2022 meta-analysis also found that self-assessment and peer-assessment interventions had meaningful positive effects on academic performance across studies. This suggests that students need clear criteria, accessible language, examples of quality work, time to revise, and opportunities to review and select evidence of growth. Performance Assessment and Portfolio Assessment (digital or analogue) are two approaches that align well in BC contexts.

Below are some resources to support an exploration or self- and peer-assessment including links to some videos and examples from teachers.

View

Dr. Heidi Andrade reflects on self- and peer-assessment. Dr. Andrade shares some of the key components of self- and peer assessment and recognizes the need to teach students how to assess themselves and their peers in order to cultivate a culture of critique:

or listen to Dylan Wiliam review the benefits of self assessment and peer assessment as key components of effective learning, and hear about some of the associated strategies.

Peer assessment from the perspective of students and teachers:

Read

Connecting with Core Competencies: The BC Core Competencies are central to K–12 learning, and students are expected to grow in Communication, Thinking, and Personal and Social competencies through meaningful “doing” across subject areas. Self-assessment is a key component of core competency development. See the BC Ministry resource, Developing and Supporting Student Reflection and Self-assessment and the example shared on TeachBC, the BCTF open resource repository: Core Competencies Self-Assessment K-1

The responsiveclassroom.org offers some suggestions for how we might teach students to self-assess (PDF) effectively as well as some detailed prompts and approaches to engaging students in reflection. See their PDF, Self-assessment and Goal Setting go hand-in-hand.

Examples

Classroom examples (generated with assistance from ChatGPT)

  • Primary classrooms (see POPEY for primary related assessment resources)
    • Picture-based Core Competency reflection: “I listened,” “I tried a new idea,” “I helped someone.”
    • Partner share using sentence frames: “I noticed…” and “Next time you could…”
    • Learning story portfolio entry with a photo, teacher scribing, and student voice.
    • Play-based self-assessment after centres: “What did I build, solve, share, or wonder?”
  • Intermediate classrooms
    • Co-created “I can” criteria for an inquiry, writing, or ADST design task.
    • Two stars and a wish peer feedback before final submission.
    • Gallery walk with sticky-note feedback linked to Communication or Thinking competencies.
    • Portfolio reflection: “My evidence shows growth because…”
  • Middle years classrooms
    • Peer feedback protocol for drafts: clarify, value, question, suggest.
    • Group collaboration reflection using roles, evidence, and next-step goals.
    • Student-led conference artifact selection: one strength, one challenge, one goal.
    • Proficiency-scale reflection connected to a curricular competency and a Core Competency.
  • High school classrooms
    • Peer review of essays, labs, performances, or design projects using discipline-specific criteria.
    • Seminar self-assessment on listening, evidence use, questioning, and respectful disagreement.
    • Capstone or portfolio reflection connecting course evidence to student growth and Core Competencies.
    • Post-assessment goal setting: “What feedback will I act on before the next task?”

The key is to make assessment dialogic rather than merely evaluative. Students should not simply rate themselves; they should learn how to interpret criteria, compare evidence, give respectful feedback, revise work, and set purposeful goals. Engaging students in ongoing dialogues about learning offers important modeling in support of creating a classroom culture that is safe and welcomes constructive feedback. Digital portfolios, student-led conferences, performance tasks, and reflective prompts are all strong BC-aligned ways to make learning visible for students, teachers, and families.

References

Andrade HL (2019) A Critical Review of Research on Student Self-Assessment. Front. Educ. 4:87. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00087 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00087/full

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by | May 15, 2026 · 12:13 pm
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Incorporating the First People’s Principles of Learning

The First People’s Principles of Learning (FPPL) “describes a set of learning principles specific to First Peoples. These were articulated by Indigenous Elders, scholars and knowledge keepers to guide the development of the curriculum and teaching of the the English First Peoples course created by the BC Ministry of Education and First Nations Education Steering Committee in 2006/2007.” (FNESC website)

Classroom Posters are available for download

Explore a few opportunities! 

Jo Chrona explains that “an inherent interconnectedness exists between all the principles. While they are described discretely, they operate in concert with each other in a robust and healthy learning environment and education system.” 

Teacher Disposition  

Chrona suggests that incorporating the FPPL has as much to do with an educator’s philosophy and disposition as it has to do with curricular content. It is about much more than hanging up a poster!

Some of us will see our own values already reflected in the FPPL, and others of us will be challenged by them. Look closely at the FPPL and think about where you see them in your own life.  

  • When do you make time for your own elders, grandparents and mentors? How do you use their guidance to understand the world?  
  • How do you develop quality relationships with the people in your life so that you have a strong foundation to withstand conflict and stress? 

Now how do those values help you manage your class culture?   

Connections to Core Competencies  

Poster: https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/cardev/gr9_found/docs/courage_poster.pdf

In order to thrive, all children need the opportunity to be in schools and communities that cultivate belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. We know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but do you know about Martin Brokenleg’s  Circle of Courage? In “The Science of Raising Courageous Kids,” Brokenleg and Van Bockern explain this model that integrates Native American philosophies of child-rearing, the heritage of early pioneers in education and youth work, and contemporary resilience research. The Circle of Courage is based in four universal growth needs of all children: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. 

Instead of a class discussion, consider incorporating a class circle. Talking/sharing/class circles are also a great way to invite relationality into your classroom. Dr. Carolyn Roberts offers an exploration of this in her blogpost: Circle work: Being together as a relation.  

Context and Perspectives

For teachers exploring the FPPL, “It’s not a set of lesson or unit plans” nor “a detailed list of criteria and specific content to match up with grades and/or subject areas.”  

Consider how you can plan your lessons to: 

Resources

The choices you make as a teacher matter. When you use a celebrity as an example, do you look for Indigenous or BIPOC people? Choosing Indigenous authors and poets and musicians to discuss in class gives everyone an opportunity to look for connections to the FPPL. Consider sharing current examples rather than relying solely on historical references so that you highlight Indigenous brilliance (see Carolyn Roberts’ blog post for a few ideas)

A deep understanding of the FPPL reflected in our disposition will guide the decisions we make about what students should learn and how they experience it.

For more subject specific ideas and resources, see these Sandbox Blogposts:

UBC Booklists: 

The UBC Education Library booklists are available for educators and teacher candidates, offering an abundance of resources ranging from picture books to use in the classroom to lesson-planning guides. The library offers multiple booklists regarding Indigenous culture and history. These booklists cover topics such as residential schools, storytelling resources and literature written by Indigenous authors. 

References

Chrona, J. (2024, April 10) Background of FPPL and Current Contexts. https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/background-and-current-context/ 

Brokenleg, M., Van Bockern, S. (2003). The Science of Raising Courageous Kids.  https://martinbrokenleg.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12_1_Brokenleg_Van_Bockern.pdf

adapted from a post by Greta Bartsch, Program Manager (Practicum- Secondary), 2024; editing & contributions by Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager, Teacher Education.

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by | May 13, 2026 · 3:07 pm
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Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry is a powerful tool for teaching and learning.

Through demonstration of the core and curricular competencies, students are bound to form questions that provide teachers with insight into their thinking. Questions generated by both students and teachers are critical to encouraging a sense of wonder and curiosity among students. This dialogue can take place through many question-based approaches, including, but not limited to: Inquiry, Project-based learning, Problem-based learning, Self-assessment, Research skills & Scientific methods (from: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/overview)

Engaging in inquiry can(and should) be scaffolded to support student success and can range from structured to controlled to guided to free inquiry.

with permission: https://www.trevormackenzie.com/sketchnotes success.

In ‘Teacher Inquiry’, small groups of educators connect & inquire into questions of import to solve problems by improving their pedagogical understandings and impact their practice. In the BC Curriculum, inquiry-based learning is recommended as a powerful force to support higher level thinking, deep learning and student autonomy. Examples of lesson plans provided by teachers to the BC Ministry of Education are available in the Instructional Samples of the Curriculum website. 

View:

 

Review:

There are many different models or cycles of inquiry and it is worth looking into one that resonates with you:

Getting started with Inquiry:

  • Trevor McKenzie provides a helpful visual enabling us to see that engaging in inquiry can (and should) be scaffolded to support student success. Not all inquiry needs to be in the ‘deep end’ of the pool!

visit https://www.trevormackenzie.com/sketchnotes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Read Chapter 1: In this PDF, Focus on Inquiry, UBC researcher and education professor, Marlene Asselin collaborates on a more in-depth teacher’s guide to teaching and learning through inquiry including steps for implementing this approach in your classroom.

Additional Reading

Consider & Discuss

  • Select 2 or 3 of the following:
    • How is inquiry the same or different from your school experiences?
    • What are some of the key features of inquiry that stand out to you?
    • What is the role of inquiry in learning?
    • How might you, or how do you, bring inquiry into your classroom?
      • What are some examples of inquiry-based learning from your own practice or your observations?
    • Is there a model you prefer or think you might like to try to implement?

 

 

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by | May 11, 2026 · 10:19 am
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Using Google Earth in the Classroom

Here are a few articles to give you some ideas on how Google Earth might impact your history classroom.

History Today

Teaching History – A Digital Classroom

Using Google Earth in History

https://sites.google.com/site/googclass/

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by | May 25, 2016 · 10:56 am
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Take a Break and Make!

Visit one of our ‘pop up’ mini-makerspaces in the Scarfe Digital Sandbox – Scarfe 155 (Tuesday 12:45 – 2 beginning September 29th & the last Wednesday of each month 12 – 1pm). Explore ways to bring hands-on learning to your clasquishycarssroom through activities that spark imagination through playful exploration and invention. This activity is particularly relevant to Science learning but, I believe (and research agrees with me), that making and tinkering can support cross-curricular learning! Come explore, share and learn.

“Although the practice of planning and carrying out investigations has always been a part of good science instruction, the student focus often has been more on carrying out than on planning, with teacher-structured investigations far outnumbering student opportunities to develop their own research questions. Giving students opportunities to design and plan investigations allows them to truly experience the excitement of science and better understand the nature of scientific inquiry.” (Science Teacher, an NSTA publication)

Sandbox Handout – Making and Tinkering Handout

A terrific Resource for educational applications of making, tinkering and developing a inquiry learning mindset in your students:   Invent to Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, 2013    www.inventtolearn.com

Other links of interest:

http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2014/02/14/planning-and-carrying-out-investigations/

Squishy Circuits Guide – University of St. Thomas

See also MIT’s Soft Circuits Guide – FABRIC circuits!!

A sample lesson plan…

or, be a little more inquiry oriented in your exploration. See Lynda’s blog for some ideas!

Request a planning guide to support creating a MakerSpace in your school (geared to secondary ed)

 

 

 

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by | September 1, 2015 · 1:17 pm
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Citing Research in your Blog

“The term reference is used in many spheres of human knowledge, adopting shades of meaning particular to the contexts in which it is used.”

When citing other sources in your blog or website, it is very important to give ‘credit’ where credit is due (and it is always due!). For online sources, you can simply create a link to the original source and remember to always use quotation marks when directly quoting. You can highlight and link to the entire quote as I have done above.

When sharing information you gleaned from another online space or publication (that is not a direct quote), such as a blog or website, you should link out to the site as I have done below. For academic sources, I would suggest using Chicago in text citations (which footnotes your reference) as they are ‘cleaner’ looking with numbers rather than bracketed names and dates, but you can use any style with which you are comfortable. Again, though, I would recommend citing on each page or post of your blog rather than a reference list as a separate page. Unfortunately, I am unaware of a specific style guide to advise on this. You can create the footnotes in Word and just copy and paste the paragraph into your blog. The footnotes automatically become links and the citations from your document will appear on the bottom of the page.

books-462579_1280

CC image pixabay.com

With images, it’s also important to reference (and use creative commons images citing appropriately where needed). I often use a caption with a link to the image source but always ensure you check individual copyright needs. NB: Pixabay has creative commons images with not attribution needed (although link-backs as I’ve done here are always appreciated!)

NB: to add the caption below the image, click on the image you’ve inserted into the page or post, select the ‘pencil’ edit tool and type the caption. You can also set alignment here so that your images has text ‘wrapping’ or not. (I used text wrapping above but not in the image below)

imageedit

Below the following paragraphs, I’ve added a horizontal line (from the visual editor menu bar) for a more organized appearance:

Interactive WhiteBoards, like the SmartBoard, have become commonplace in many schools over the past decade. IWB’s afford access to a variety of learning styles and can support inclusion according to Universal Design for Learning theory.[1] They promise the ability to increase student engagement by providing a focal point for instruction, interactivity, gaming and animations. This increased focus and engagement can improve student learning.[2]

Still, barriers to this potentially valuable technology include the price tag (a system must include a dedicated computer, projector and the IWB), and time. Teachers report that initial planning and preparation time are increased when using IWB’s. Further, time spent on troubleshooting, including ‘orienting’ the board, is seen as a disadvantage to implementation.[3]

[1] Pellerin, M. (2013). E-inclusion in early french immersion classrooms: using digital technologies to support inclusive practices that meet the needs of all learners. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(1), 44+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA323659495&v=2.1&u=ubcolumbia&it=r&p=CPI&sw=w

[2] Troff, B. & Tirotta, R. (2009). Interactive whiteboards produce small gains in elementary students’ self-reported motivation in mathematics. Computers & Education ,54, 379-383.

[3] Krug, D, (2004). Leadership and Research: Reimagining electronic technologies for supporting learning through visual arts. Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research. 46(1), 3-5.

CC images courtesy of Pixabay.com

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by | January 14, 2015 · 3:50 pm