APPLY BY JULY 18! NEW 1-DAY VIRTUAL PD FOR EDUCATORS → AI EXPLORERS’ CLUB 🤖🧭
AI Explorers’ Club 🛶
A Free one-day, virtual ADVENTURE for AI-curious educators
Your AI journey doesn’t have to be a solo trek — it’s an adventure best taken together! Join us on August 6th for a 1-day professional development session to reimagine how AI shows up in your classroom. Thanks to generous grant funding, we’re excited to offer this program free to a pilot group of educators. Apply today to join us!
Wherever you are in your AI journey, we welcome you to come explore how AI can foster creativity, character development, and digital agency. You’ll leave with fresh perspectives, practical skills to tinker with AI, and a clearer path toward a future co-created with students — all with digital thriving as your north star 🌟.
What We’ll Explore
This interactive course will help you bring AI into your practice with intention, imagination, and a clearer path for shaping the future with your students.
ACT I 🧭Where are you? We’ll begin with you — your values, lived experiences, and moral compass — and how they can shape the way you approach AI, whether you’re already using it or just beginning to explore. You’ll also learn how we use participatory design approaches to build trust with students, and how you can too.
ACT II 🗺 Where are we? We’ll map the systems and pressures shaping AI in education. You’ll explore how to make AI thinking visible and destigmatize AI use in your classroom.
Time to forage. 🍄🟫 You’ll apply what we learned with focused time to create your own learning artifact — workshopping your own lesson plan, classroom policy, or activity — using an AI tool of your choice. Instructors will be on hand for 1:1 guidance.
ACT III 🔦Where are we going? We’ll reflect on your learning journey and talk about transparency, prompting as an iterative process, and how your thinking may have shifted (“I used to think / Now I think…”).
Live, virtual session: Wednesday, August 6, from 11:00 AM–6:00 PM ET / 8:00 AM–3:00 PM PT
If selected, you’ll have two-business days to confirm your spot before it’s offered to someone on the waitlist.
FAQs
Who is this course for? 🫵 Any curious educator who wants to better understand AI and its role in education. No technical background needed.
Is the course virtual? 👍 Yes! This course is fully virtual and will be hosted live on Zoom. You’ll receive the link and agenda once accepted.
How long is the course? 🖐️✌️ 7 hours! This is an immersive experience (breaks built in) on Wednesday August 6, 11:00 AM–6:00 PM ET / 8:00 AM–3:00 PM PT.
Will I get a certificate? 👍 Yes. You’ll get a certificate of completion and documentation of 8 hours (day-of + pre-work) that you can use to apply to your district for PD credit.
Do I need prior AI experience? 🤏 No prior experience is required but we recommend trying a free AI tool prior to the course.
Will this course cover technical skills, like how to code with AI or build tools? 👎 No. This course is focused on values-driven use, classroom applications, and how to think about AI with students — not on technical development or deep tool training.
What if I can’t attend the full session? Will a recording be made available to participants? 👎 No. To support full participation and build a community of practice, a recording of this session will not be shared. We ask all participants to join us live for the full day.
With our collaborators at Common Sense Media and HopeLab, we published Teen and Young Adults Perspectives on AI.
This course is part of CDT’s IMAGINE initiative — an exploration of how schools might navigate the character-relevant challenges raised by AI. We’re grateful to the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63220), Pivotal Ventures, and the Susan Crown Exchange for their generous support, which makes the research and development work related to this course possible, and allows us to offer this experience to educators at no cost.
What to Expect
WEDNESDAY, AUG 6, 2025 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET
1-day 🗓️ of live, interactive learning (7 hours)
Small group 🤏 (max 30 educators) for connection and support
Live instruction 🤸 and space to tinker with 1:1 support
Storytelling + frameworks that spark 💥 reflection + discussion
Shift from a binary mindset 🧠 to understanding AI use on a spectrum
Certificate 🏆 you can submit to your district for PD credit
Light pre-work 🏋️♂️ spend 30 minutes exploring a free AI tool before the session
