Future of Teacher Preparation in the Age of AI: CIDDL at TED 2025
Authors: Yerin Seung; info@ciddl.org
This past week, the CIDDL team joined teacher educators from across the country at the Council for Exceptional Children’s Teacher Education Division (CEC TED) conference in Kansas City, MO. Even in the conference’s main keynote by Dr. Mary Brownell, focusing on the history and future of teacher preparation, AI surfaced as a central theme shaping how we prepare tomorrow’s educators. Across sessions, conversations made clear that AI is not a distant horizon but a present reality reshaping instructional design, professional learning, and the broader education landscape. CIDDL contributed to this conversation through three presentations and a keynote panel discussion where CIDDL PI Dr. James Basham served as a panelist on how to prepare special educators in a time of rapid technological change. Here are some key themes that emerged from the CIDDL sessions.
AI as a Transformative Force in Special Education
AI emerged as one of the most powerful cross-cutting themes of the conference. Dr. Basham emphasized in the keynote panel discussion that AI’s impact extends far beyond today’s large language models (LLMs) and includes agentic AI, humanoid robotics, and a wave of technologies that will transform both society and special education. He stressed that the field must proactively prepare for this shift by grounding decisions in what we know about human learning and students with disabilities. Amid uncertainty, there was a shared sense of optimism: educators are ready to engage with the opportunities and challenges AI brings.
Preparing Educators for AI Fluency
A major call to action was the need to move educators from technology literacy to technology fluency. Across the CIDDL sessions and the keynote panel discussion, we highlighted that all personnel must be fluent in AI, assistive technology, and their relationship to human development. Extending this message, we demonstrated CIDDL resources that can build this fluency, including the HLP GPT, the Framework for Responsible AI Integration in PreK-20 Education, and AI Office Hours. Across these efforts, the focus was not simply on using tools, but on preparing educators who can critically evaluate AI, align it with instructional goals, and teach students to do the same.
Ethics and Human-Centered AI for Students with Disabilities
Ethics and human-centered AI were particularly important for students with disabilities. Multiple sessions emphasized that understanding learner variability and diverse learning needs is essential for leveraging AI responsibly. AI’s multimodal capabilities can expand accessibility and independence, but it should be implemented with attention to accuracy, bias, overreliance, and privacy. Presenters also raised concerns about the corporate control of foundational AI models and what that means for equal access. A recent scoping review published by the CIDDL members highlighted an important challenge: students with disabilities remain underrepresented in current K–12 AI research. This matters because designing AI that genuinely supports all learners requires evidence that reflects the range of learning characteristics seen in classrooms. Speakers noted that interdisciplinary, longitudinal, and multimodal research, including sensor-based measures and learning analytics, is needed to better understand AI’s effects on cognition and to guide responsible human–AI collaboration.
Accessibility and Learning Supports for All Learners
Accessibility and learning supports were another recurring theme. CIDDL presenters demonstrated how AI can function as a cognitive offloading tool, offering scaffolds for engagement, comprehension, and expression. Tools like NotebookLM can summarize PDFs or videos, generate podcasts, and support independent learning, which can be especially powerful for students with disabilities. These tools were framed not as stand-alone solutions, but as part of a broader ecosystem of assistive technology and pedagogies such as high-leverage practices (HLPs) in special education. At the same time, CIDDL’s analysis of state AI guidance showed that only 20 of 29 documents explicitly reference students with disabilities, underscoring the need for stronger alignment between AI guidance and existing SPED policies to ensure that accessibility and support are not an afterthought.
Moving Forward Together
The TED conference made clear that AI is becoming deeply intertwined with the future of special education, and educator preparation programs play an important role in shaping how the field moves forward. CIDDL remains committed to advancing research, building community, and developing tools that help teachers navigate this moment with both innovation and responsibility. We look forward to continuing these conversations in future sessions and CEC Quick Takes.
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