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[Connect] UPskilling
LAB

Back-to-Back Sessions on 
AI Fundamentals

Hands-on workshops designed to build your AI literacy and practical skills, regardless of your current experience level

Who These Sessions Serve:
  • Educators new to AI seeking foundational knowledge
  • Experienced users wanting to deepen specific skills
  • Administrators needing to understand AI capabilities
  • Students looking to boost their understanding of AI
Learning Tracks Include:
  • AI Fundamentals: Understanding how AI works and key terminology
  • Context Engineering: Getting better results from AI tools
  • Practical Applications: Using AI in educational settings
  • AI Ethics & Responsibility: Teaching and modeling ethical AI use
  • Critical Thinking: Evaluating AI outputs and avoiding common pitfalls

[Speakers]

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Asher Scott

New Visions for

Public Schools

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Dan Serig

Northeastern University

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Sabrina Mansur

Mass AI Hub

[UPskilling LAB] PROGRAM

Speaker

Session Title

Session Description

Asher Scott

Critical AI Literacy in Practice: A Case Study from NYC Public Schools

Most AI literacy frameworks stop at "understand the technology." This session argues that's not nearly enough, and presents a case study from New Visions for Public Schools to show what a fuller approach looks like. The framework introduces two missing dimensions: market literacy (who built this tool and how does their business model shape it?) and self-literacy (do you know your values well enough to notice when AI is shifting them?). Participants go through the same structured reflection exercise delivered to staff across New Visions and our school partners.

Rayna Freedman

Entering The Pitt: Equipping Elementary Classrooms with AI That Works

Step into The Pitt—where high-stakes decisions, quick thinking, and heart define every moment. In today’s elementary classrooms, educators face similar pressures: meeting diverse student needs, managing limited time, and staying current with fast-evolving technology. This session explores how AI can become a trusted partner in the chaos, not a complication.
Join Dr. Rayna Freedman as she shares practical, tested strategies for integrating AI tools that truly work in elementary settings. From lesson planning and differentiation to student engagement and formative assessment, you’ll discover how AI can lighten your workload while amplifying student voice and learning.
You’ll leave with classroom-ready tools, examples of student work, and ideas for supporting your staff or grade-level team. Whether you’re an AI beginner or already experimenting, this session will equip you to enter The Pitt with confidence—and maybe even joy.

Kishore Aradhya

From Card Catalogs to AI Agents: Your Librarian Was the Original AI Architect

The AI industry is spending billions solving a problem librarians figured out generations ago: organizing knowledge so people can find what they need and trust what they find. Classification hierarchies, controlled vocabularies, disambiguation — these keep showing up under new names like "context engineering," "semantic modeling," and "knowledge graphs." This session connects those familiar principles to the technical architecture underneath modern AI: how large language models process context, how retrieval systems decide what's relevant, and why structured knowledge representation is the difference between AI you can trust and AI that just sounds right. You may never look at your school's librarian the same way again.

More sessions announcing soon

Format:

  • ​45 minute interactive sessions

  • Hands-on practice with real tools

  • Beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels clearly marked

  • Participants receive session resources and follow-up materials when possible


Full [Connect] UPskill LAB schedule will be published in April 2026. Space is limited.

©2026 AIxED - All rights reserved

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