Direct AI Updates for School Leaders: 4/24/2024

What data should I avoid sharing with AI tools?

Author

William Grube
April 24, 2024

This newsletter will answer the question: What data should I avoid sharing with AI tools? 

This is timely. I recently gave an AI Training webinar to the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (DPI). They had me give very specific rules and regulations to their staff on sharing data with AI.

Stay to the end for resources to help with AI policy. You will also find a document titled “A Schools Guide to Data Privacy With AI” that you can share with staff. Lastly, you’ll learn how to use ChatGPT to make a custodial cleaning plan.

What data should I avoid sharing with AI tools? 

I would like to preface that, of course, I am not a lawyer. I did research for this newsletter. I will include links to the resources I used near the end. They will be in the “Fantastic Resources” section.

It is safe to assume that everything that you share with AI Tools like ChatGPT is stored somewhere. This is a good rule of thumb to use when doing anything online. Laws like FERPA require us to be very careful in the education space. We must not share any student's Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

The ND State Superintendent had me use this wording to talk about data privacy with the ND DPI staff:

“Only data suitable for public dissemination should be inputted into ChatGPT or similar public AI tools.”

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“Any information that would typically be withheld in an open records request should not be used in AI tools.”

This verbiage may be more applicable directly to the staff at the ND DPI.

Here is the wording that I have been using in my recent training sessions: “Before sharing information with an AI Tool, remove any part that can be linked to a student or their family.” And of course, any confidential school information. That is where the ND DPI wording comes in handy for you as an admin.

Examples:

Before sharing student attendance data with an AI tool such as ChatGPT, make sure to remove all student names and ID numbers from the data.

When special education teachers use ChatGPT or Magic School to create IEP goals, they should not include the student’s name, where they live, their date of birth, or any other PII in the information they share. Also, they should not include family member names or any personal identifiers.

If teachers are creating a reteach plan using student performance data, they must ensure that all names and student ID numbers are removed from the data.

These examples walk you through the process of anonymizing data. You are stripping all PII. You can share any anonymized data, aggregated data, and performance statistics with AI:

  1. Anonymized Data: Information stripped of all personally identifiable details.

  2. Aggregated Data: Data that combines information from many students and is anonymized so that individual students cannot be identified.

  3. Performance Statistics: Generalized performance data that does not connect scores or outcomes to specific students.

Most, if not every, task can still be done with AI; we just have to be aware of what information we are sending. If it identifies our students or their families, simply remove that aspect of your prompt/input.

Here is a list of specific things you can not share with AI (most are common sense):

  1. Names of students and their families (Tip: Replace with names like “John Doe”)

  2. Addresses of students and their families (Tip: Replace with fake made-up addresses.)

  3. Dates of birth of students and their families (Tip: Replace with 00/00/000)

  4. Social security numbers (Tip: Replace with ###-##-####)

  5. Student ID numbers (Tip: Rplace with #####)

  6. Health and medical records

  7. Specific family income information

  8. Non-anonymized disciplinary records

  9. Fingerprints

  10. Parent or guardian contact details

  11. Emergency contact information

  12. Any other data that can be used to uniquely identify an individual

It is always good to err on the side of caution when sharing data with AI tools. If you are not sure, might as well play it safe and simply remove that aspect of your prompt/input.

In the next section, I’ve included a document outlining these points that you can share with your staff.

After the document, you will find a set of great resources for your reference. I highly recommend going through the resources section. You will find resources for writing AI Policy, what Magic Schools Privacy Policy is, and much more. Before we get into that, let’s vote on what you would like in the following newsletter:

What would you like covered in next week's edition?

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Thank you all for suggesting topics for these polls. If you want to add to next week's poll, request a topic by clicking "other" or replying to this email. Don’t forget that at the end of the newsletter, you will learn how to use ChatGPT to create a custodial cleaning plan. (It is a hidden gem.)

A Schools Guide to Data Privacy With AI

Here is a document that you can share with your staff: A Schools Guide to Data Privacy With AI.

Fantastic resources:

1. AI Product Privacy Reviews - Common Sense Media.

2. TeachAI AI Policy Resources

  • TeachAI is a resource created by Code.org, ISTE, and Khan Academy. It offers AI guidance for school leaders.

  • Here is the link to the policy resources they have: TeachAI policy resources.

3. AI Platform Privacy Policies

4. Dr. Curt Rees

  • Dr. Curt Rees spent 18 years as a school principal. He has a graduate certificate in “School Technology Leadership” and his doctorate in Philosophy.

  • He wrote his dissertation on “The Protection of Student Data Privacy in Wisconsin School Board Policies.” You can find it here. (Chapter 5 contains the best information. Page 169.)

  • For ChatGPT-4 users, you can use his custom GPT trained on FERPA and the White House Blueprint AI Bill of Rights: Custom Chatbot Link.

  • Here is a less than 20-minute podcast he was on where he outlines his work: podcast link.

Leveraging ChatGPT To Develop a Custodial Cleaning Plan

When it comes to random tasks, ChatGPT shines. For this example, it might have taken you an hour or two to go from wanting to start a written cleaning plan to sending it to the head custodian. It is often the one-off tasks like this that impress me the most.

You can see how I did this inside of ChatGPT here. This is the prompt I started with:

“Create a list of cleaning duties for a custodian at a high school for a classroom. Give me daily tasks, weekly tasks, monthly tasks, seasonal tasks, and as-needed tasks.”

You can find the prompt document here.

If you look at my example ChatGPT feed, you can see that I had ChatGPT put the tasks in a table. In the table, the custodians have to initial and date when they do each task. Here is the prompt I used:

“Put these into a table format where they can check off what they have done, initial it, and date it. You may need to use multiple tables for the different categories of tasks. However, if you think it would be easiest to use as a custodian, do that.”

I could then copy that output and paste it into Google Docs as you see here. From here, I can print it or send it to anyone.

I am looking forward to hearing any feedback about this newsletter. If you think I missed something, please let me know.

I hope you all have a great rest of your week!

Feel free to reach out at any time.

Kind regards,

William Grube