750 – A Season of SAMR

The WELSTech co-hosts for all things edtech are driving this episode as we wrap up our SAMR focus with how it assists education leaders. We also introduce the AI Assessment Scale, a tool for clearly stating acceptable levels of AI use. Rachel has new headphones for “weird” ears that don’t like earbuds, and Jason shares a tool that uses AI to create individual student feedback. Bonus: It’s also a time-saver for teachers.

The discussion

SAMR and Leadership – We close out our season-long look at the SAMR framework for education technology integration with our favorite edtech gurus, Dr. Rachel Renno, Director of Academic Computing for Martin Luther College, and Jason Schmidt, Director of Technology for Oshkosh (WI) Area School District. School leaders may find policy creation and maintenance challenging, but policies are definitely worth the effort as they provide needed structure to make decision making easier. And while a dedicated AI policy may not be needed, incorporating AI guidelines into standard policies – Acceptable Use, Academic Integrity, Data Privacy, etc. – is wise.

• Advancing AI Education for American Youth Executive Orders – April 23, 2025
• Jason’s Google Deep research results on AI in WELS Schools
• AI Assessment Scale – Build transparency around the use of AI

Ministry resource

• Free AI Assessment Scale eBook by Leon Fruze – Over 50 assessment ideas

Picks of the week

• Shokz – Bone conduction open-ear headphones
• Snorkl – AI student feedback

Next time

• Pastor Nate Seiltz from WELS Multi-Language Productions shares stories of AI music creation.

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