Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to transform education at every level (CIDDL, 2024). However, this advancement raises a deeper question: “Is AI strengthening education, or is it pulling it away from its core purpose?”
UNESCO’s 2025 report, AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions, addresses this global pivot point head-on. Bringing together scholarly voices, the report examines how AI challenges long-standing assumptions about teaching, learning, and the role of the human teacher. While some chapters point to unprecedented opportunities, others urge caution about the structural, pedagogical, and ethical risks that accompany rapid adoption.
I intentionally highlight three chapters—3, 4, and 5—that speak most directly to classroom practice, instructional design, and the evolving work of educators.
UNESCO’s 2025 report, AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions, addresses this global pivot point head-on. Bringing together scholarly voices, the report examines how AI challenges long-standing assumptions about teaching, learning, and the role of the human teacher. While some chapters point to unprecedented opportunities, others urge caution about the structural, pedagogical, and ethical risks that accompany rapid adoption.
I intentionally highlight three chapters—3, 4, and 5—that speak most directly to classroom practice, instructional design, and the evolving work of educators.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword across education, with its potential for personalized learning, real-time feedback, and data-driven insights. However, as the conversation progresses, one crucial question remains: how are students actually interacting with AI in classrooms, and for whom are these systems truly designed? In our recently published article, Exploring Artificial Intelligence Integration and Student–AI Interaction in K-12 Education: A Scoping Review (published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning), we examined 70 empirical studies conducted over the past decade to map how AI is being integrated across school levels, subjects, and student populations. What we found tells a hopeful yet cautionary story about the future of AI in education.
This year, the Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) will be meeting in Kansas City, right in CIDDL’s backyard! The CIDDL team is excited to share its upcoming sessions, engage with colleagues from across the country, and continue conversations about innovation, accessibility, and the future of educator preparation in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). This CIDDL Office Hours offered a sneak peek into what to expect at TED 2025 and how attendees can make the most of their time at the conference.
AI literacy has rapidly become a cornerstone for preparing learners to thrive in a technology-driven world. As Ng and colleagues (2021) argued, AI literacy consists of four interrelated domains—know and understand, use and apply, evaluate, and ethics—reflecting both conceptual and behavioral dimensions of human–AI interaction. This framework positions AI literacy not as a technical specialization but as a foundational cognitive and ethical competency.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education in many ways. It can provide personalized learning experiences, timely feedback, scaffolding, and enhanced accessibility for all learners. Postsecondary students, in particular, have been among the most active adopters of AI because of the complexity of their academic tasks and their ready access to technology (Nie et al., 2025). At the same time, many faculty members remain cautious. Concerns often center on the risk of overreliance, in which students may bypass opportunities to practice critical thinking and problem-solving (Gerlich, 2025; León-Domínguez, 2024). Questions of academic integrity add further tension, as higher education has long emphasized originality and honesty in student work. In response, universities across the United States and beyond are developing policies and guidelines to promote responsible AI use while protecting student learning.
One emerging resource that brings these efforts together is the Campus AI Exchange. This platform curates institutional strategies, policies, and tools to help campuses navigate the challenges and opportunities of AI.
One emerging resource that brings these efforts together is the Campus AI Exchange. This platform curates institutional strategies, policies, and tools to help campuses navigate the challenges and opportunities of AI.
The latest CIDDL Office Hours featured Dr. Sean Smith and Dr. Samantha Goldman from the University of Kansas, who presented their U.S. Department of Education–funded Stepping Up Project, introducing AI SCORE, an innovative AI-based writing assessment and feedback platform. The session explored how AI can enhance writing instruction by providing real-time, formative feedback that maintains data privacy and supports struggling writers.
AI is not replacing teachers, nor is it a quick fix for all challenges in special education. But it is changing what is possible. Classrooms of the near future may be places where students no longer wait for accommodations—they experience access in real time. Whether through adaptive texts, live translations, or personalized tutoring systems, AI is giving educators new tools to create classrooms where every student can engage meaningfully.
Technology holds enormous promise for enhancing learning opportunities for students with disabilities. In special education, technology often connects through assistive technology (AT) like text-to-speech tools or smart pens with efforts to make learning environments accessible for all learners from the beginning. More recently, the rise of artificial intelligence has accelerated these possibilities by offering personalized support and improving accessibility. Despite this potential, AT and other technologies remain underutilized, especially for students with high-incidence disabilities, who make up the majority of the special education population.
At CIDDL’s most recent AI Office Hours, the conversation focused on one of the most pressing questions in special education today: Can artificial intelligence (AI) meaningfully support the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)? Dr. Olivia Coleman, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, and Danielle Waterfield, doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia, led a thoughtful discussion on both the opportunities and the risks of integrating AI into IEP practices.
Technology holds enormous promise for enhancing learning opportunities for students with disabilities. In special education, technology often connects through assistive technology (AT) like text-to-speech tools or smart pens with efforts to make learning environments accessible for all learners from the beginning. More recently, the rise of artificial intelligence has accelerated these possibilities by offering personalized support and improving accessibility. Despite this potential, AT and other technologies remain underutilized, especially for students with high-incidence disabilities, who make up the majority of the special education population.