IMPACT Conference 2026

One Lesson, Three Paths: Practical AI Integration for Every Classroom: Joanne Mumley – English Department Head/ELA Curriculum Coordinator at Wolcott Public Schools

This workshop helps educators connect AI literacy to the standards and skills they already teach.

Participants will start with a lesson or idea connected to their current classes. Together, we will look at the content standards and skills already at the center of that work and identify where AI literacy skills can naturally align. We'll work together to look at the current content standards and must-have skills, and then find the natural ways to weave in AI literacy. From there, participants will design lesson pathways that keep the original content goal in place while building students’ AI literacy through no-tech instruction, traditional classroom technology, or hands-on work with an AI platform.

The goal is to help teachers build AI literacy into the curriculum they already teach, even in classrooms where students are not using AI tools directly. Students should experience these skills as part of their regular learning rather than as a separate one-day activity. Participants will leave with lesson ideas and a process they can use again over the course of the school year.

---

AI in Safety and Security: Alexandra Oakley – Sales Representative at Verkada

During this session we will show our platforms and all of it's features, how it relates to school safety/security, and how it is helping other schools. Cameras, access control, alarms, sensors, guest management, reunification, all on one platform.

---

Your Next Teaching Tool Can Talk: Multimodal AI in Action: Len Harmon – Associate Professor of Marketing at Nichols College

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving beyond text-based chatbots into tools that can listen, speak, see, and appear on screen as realistic avatars. In this session, participants will explore the emerging world of multimodal AI and consider how text, audio, video, and AI-generated avatars can be used to support teaching, learning, communication, and student engagement.

The session will begin with a brief overview of how AI tools have evolved from text prompts to voice-based interaction and video generation. Participants will then see practical demonstrations of AI audio tools, including examples of how voice-based AI can be used for tutoring, feedback, language practice, brainstorming, and student support. The session will also include a demonstration of AI-based video avatars and discussion of how they might be used to create instructional content, simulations, announcements, or personalized learning experiences.

Throughout the session, participants will be encouraged to think critically about both the opportunities and the risks of these tools, including issues of authenticity, accessibility, privacy, bias, and appropriate classroom use. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of what multimodal AI is, how it can be applied in educational settings, and what questions educators should ask before adopting these tools in their own classrooms.

---

Apple Intelligence for Educators: A New Era of Innovation : Matt Brooks – Education Leadership Executive at Apple Inc. and Larry Shaps – Account Executive at Apple Inc.

Learn how a new era of innovation in education is here, transforming what leaders, educators, and students can do with Apple products — and what Apple products can do for them. This session is designed to help school leaders and educators navigate how Apple Intelligence fits into their school and learning environments privately and securely. Explore how Apple Intelligence seamlessly integrates into system experiences and apps used every day, and how new tools such as Writing Tools, Image Playground, and Transcripts use personal context to deliver intelligence that’s useful and relevant, enhancing productivity and creativity. Apple and Common Sense Media have partnered to release new resources to help educators deepen their understanding of AI in education. Utilizing the Stanford d.school Design Thinking Framework we will workshop out some of these critical activities to support your creative work in the classroom as well as connect with the values of your community. You will have access to the activities after the session to bring back to your districts. 

Leveraging AI Writing Feedback in the Classroom: Laura Maher – English Curriculum Leader at The Woodstock Academy and Mike Harbough – Founding Team Member of EnlightenAI

EnlightenAI will provide a detailed overview of the AI tool’s capabilities and customizable features. Laura will provide examples of using the tool with students during the writing process and discuss “wins” and “tradeoffs” to consider when using this teaching tool ethically. Participants will be able to set up accounts, create an assignment and upload examples of their own students’ work to see the quality of feedback it has the ability to generate. 

---

From AI Use to AI Judgment: Best Practices for Ethical AI Integration: Julio Elias – Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Nichols College

Generative AI is rapidly changing how students write, research, study, create, and solve problems. For K–12 educators, the challenge is not simply whether to allow or prohibit AI, but how to design learning experiences where AI supports student thinking rather than replacing it. This workshop provides a practical framework for ethical AI integration built around five classroom-ready principles: purpose, transparency, verification, ethics, and assessment redesign. 

Participants will explore how AI can be used responsibly to support learning, feedback, creativity, and critical thinking while also addressing concerns about academic integrity, privacy, equity, bias, and over reliance. The session will move beyond AI detection and focus instead on AI literacy: helping students understand when AI is useful, when it is risky, and how to evaluate its output.

Educators will leave with adaptable strategies for setting AI-use expectations, creating student disclosure statements, redesigning assignments, and teaching students to question AI-generated responses. The goal is to help teachers build classrooms where students use AI thoughtfully, ethically, and critically.

---

From Classroom to Real-World Impact: How a Student Used AI to Solve a Healthcare Problem: Scott McDonald – Assistant Professor of Management at Nicholas College

In this engaging co-presentation, a college instructor and student share the development journey of (name of company still being created), an AI-powered medication scheduling and safety application created in an AI in Business course (MGMT 370).

Attendees will explore how the student identified a meaningful healthcare pain point, used AI tools to develop a functional solution, and evolved the concept through research, feedback, and iterative design. The presentation will also discuss classroom structure, responsible AI use, entrepreneurship, risk/governance considerations, and how educators can create similar project-based AI learning experiences in their own classrooms.

The session highlights how AI can move students from passive consumers of technology to active creators and problem-solvers. 

---

The AI Lab Partner: Transforming Science into Hubs for Authentic Student-Driven Inquiry: Melany Gronski – Science Curriculum Leader at The Woodstock Academy

How do we move students from passive consumers of AI to active, critical innovators? While the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenge us to prioritize student-led inquiry, managing dozens of distinct, authentic investigations can be pedagogically overwhelming.

This interactive session explores how to leverage AI as a personalized co-researcher to scaffold student inquiry without sacrificing cognitive heavy lifting. Attendees will discover how to use AI to help students refine broad curiosities into testable hypotheses, co-design rigorous experimental procedures, and analyze complex data. By positioning AI as a sounding board, educators can lower barriers to complex science practices while cultivating deep scientific skepticism and digital literacy.

---

Keynote Speaker Q&A: Sarah Newman – Director of Art and Education at Harvard University’s metaLAB

This session will allow for individualized questions with the keynote speaker, Sarah Newman on her presentation Creative and Critical Approaches to AI in Education, where she will explore where we are now, the biggest points of confusion around AI in education, and practical ways to engage with, or thoughtfully push back on, AI in your own context.

AI Beyond the Classroom: Transforming Family Engagement, Communication, and School Operations: Meghan Travinski – VP of Marketing Enrollment Andre Customer Care at Inspire Early Education

As AI rapidly reshapes education, many conversations focus solely on lesson planning and classroom tools — but some of the greatest opportunities for impact exist outside the classroom. This session explores how education leaders can responsibly use AI to improve family communication, customer care, operational efficiency, enrollment experience, and staff support while still protecting the human relationships that make schools successful.

Drawing from real-world experience leading marketing, enrollment, and customer care strategy for multi-state early childhood education organizations, Meghan Travinski will share practical examples of how AI can reduce administrative burden, improve responsiveness to families, support staff communication, and create more personalized experiences for parents and students alike.

Participants will explore both the opportunities and ethical considerations surrounding AI adoption in educational settings, including trust, transparency, tone, data usage, and maintaining authentic human connection. The session will include live examples, collaborative discussion, and interactive exercises designed to help leaders identify realistic, responsible ways to integrate AI into their own organizations.

---

Authentic or Artificial? Examining the Use of Generative AI Role Play in Pre-Service Science Teacher Education: Mark Wursthon – Director of School Counseling at Wolcott High School

Dr. Sherwood and Mark Wursthon completed a mixed method study with pre-service science teachers at SCSU. The study used GenAI as a role play: 

Week 6 role-play assignment: PSTs practiced eliciting and responding to student ideas while introducing a phenomenon (“How does a seed become a tree?”). AI played a 4th-grade student. All PSTs used voice conversation feature of ChatGPT.

Week 12 role-play assignment: PSTs practiced eliciting and responding to student ideas during and after an investigation; PSTs incorporated their own lesson plans. AI played elementary student. Followed a peer teaching rehearsal of the same lesson (and asked to compare experiences). 

Results will be discussed during this session.

---

Linguistic Architecture: Driving Literacy Growth Through AI-Supported Humanities Task: Glenn Ames – Assistant Head of School/Director of MS at Rectory School

In the post-generative AI landscape, independent schools face a critical challenge: ensuring technology amplifies rather than replaces student cognition. This session presents "Linguistic Architecture," a data-validated framework designed to move students from AI-dependency to original, high-rigor analysis. Participants will examine a year-long study from the Fall 2025–Spring 2026 cycle, where a specific sequence of AI-supported tasks led to 85% of students exceeding growth targets in NWEA MAP Language Usage.

The session is structured as an "Implementation Lab," walking participants through a proven five-stage curricular sequence:

• Text Structures & Main Ideas: Decoding the logical DNA of primary sources.
• Paragraph Analysis: Moving from facts to cohesive historical units.
• Cause and Effect: Using AI to bridge logical gaps in argumentation.
• Summary Sentences: Refining synthesis through linguistic constraints.
• Thesis Defense: Leveraging AI as a Socratic sparring partner to stress-test student claims.

Attendees will engage in a "Data Audit," reviewing anonymized student work samples and quadrant reports to see exactly how these scaffolds drove measurable literacy gains. We will demonstrate how to design "Deferred Validation" prompts that force students back into the driver’s seat of their own writing.

By the end of the session, participants will walk away with a Digital Implementation Toolkit, including the exact assignment templates and prompt sequences used to achieve these results. This workshop offers a turn-key pedagogical blueprint for humanities educators and leaders who want to leverage AI to raise the floor of student achievement while maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity.

Breakout Session – Educators

Join fellow educators for an engaging and collaborative discussion about the evolving role of artificial intelligence in education. This breakout session will provide an open forum to share experiences, successes, challenges, concerns, and questions surrounding AI in schools. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss classroom and professional applications, explore responsible and ethical use, and learn from one another’s perspectives. 

---

Breakout Session – Administrators

Join fellow school and district leaders for a collaborative conversation about the opportunities and challenges artificial intelligence brings to education. This breakout session will provide an open forum for administrators to share experiences, ask questions, and discuss topics such as AI policies and guidelines, ethical and responsible use, academic integrity, staff support and professional learning, and the role of AI in school operations.