AI, Purpose, and Education: Thayer Academy Hosts National OESIS Conference

Thayer Academy hosted a two-day national conference this fall focusing on artificial intelligence and how educators can prepare themselves for the challenges and opportunities the technology presents to a school’s curriculum. 

The OESIS Network — a faculty-focused innovation network of more than 600 schools covering all areas of student-centered learning — held its OESIS Boston Conference at Thayer Oct. 25-26. Across campus, OESIS member schools discussed the topic of “Purpose & Engagement in the Age of AI.” The event saw 35 presenters, several discussion panels, and numerous workshops over the two-day period. 

“It was great to welcome a broad range of educators from around the country and the world to the Thayer campus and engage in relevant dialogue around how our schools are navigating the evolving AI space in education,” said Assistant Head of School Peter Brooks P ‘32, who spearheaded organization efforts for the conference. “Over the course of the two-day conference, the OESIS planning team curated an incredible menu of workshops that allowed teachers to examine this theme from a variety of perspectives.” 

Sanje Ratnavale, president of the OESIS Network, welcomed conference attendees that Friday morning from the Middle School’s Thompson Hall. The mission of the network’s conferences, he explained, is nothing less than to transform and align the learning models of schools. 

“Schools are at an inflection point where their curriculum models need greater clarity of purpose and from there a path to evolution acceptable to all faculty,” Ratnavale said. 

An educator and author who founded OESIS in 2012, Ratnavale said he received great feedback about the recent conference at Thayer. He also said the conference topic — finding real engagement in the age of AI — is a timely one. 

Head of School Chris Fortunato P ‘26, ‘28 offered the conference’s opening keynote address entitled “Engagement is Everything: Why Schools Must Prioritize Purpose, Meaning, and Joy.” He discussed student engagement, Thayer’s recent decision to prohibit cell phone use during the academic day, ChatGPT and other forms of AI, and the sometimes conflicting messages academic institutions can send students. In the end, he said, students thrive in environments where they are known, connected, and prepared. 

“Engagement is central to our work,” he told colleagues. 

Other presenters offered insight into a number of areas, including: curriculum redesign in the age of AI, strategies for identifying and mitigating bias in technology, AI’s role in exploring the great outdoors, motivating and engaging neurodivergent students, and how to reduce perfectionism and increase purpose. 

One speaker, Stefan Bauschard, an AI literacy and policy expert who has written several books on the subject, made a strong case for schools to prioritize debate teams. Debate, he argued, fulfills key academic needs by teaching metacognitive, critical thinking, and collaborative skills that will still be in demand in a world increasingly impacted by artificial intelligence. 

“It’s an intellectual team, and that’s what the future is,” said Bauschard regarding debate’s role in developing 21st century skill sets. 

In another workshop, “Building a School Culture of Connection Through Community Time,” two Thayer teachers, Upper School English Department Head Kate Hayman and Digital Media Coordinator Emmett Knox ‘04, provided a comprehensive overview of Thayer’s TA Talks program. The initiative sees the Upper School meet Wednesday mornings in the CFA to hear a student, faculty member, or staff member deliver a 10- to 15-minute talk on a topic of personal significance. Hayman and Knox walked workshop attendees through the process and emphasized that every aspect of the talk — from the images selected to the person tasked with introducing the speaker — is designed with community building in mind. Two students, one who gave a TA Talks address and one who introduced a TA Talks speaker, also attended the workshop and offered their insights. 

“I was really pleased with the workshop,” said Knox, who added that, as a frequent attendee of similar conferences, he’s always more engaged when a presentation has an activity and a tangible takeaway. “For Kate and me, it was really important to make our presentation interactive. I received a lot of positive feedback from attendees who enjoyed the inside look into TA Talks.” 

Knox also said that he’s grateful that he stepped out of his own comfort zone to co-present a workshop. 

“I’m often shy about sharing the work I’m doing because I have the sense that it’s not particularly novel or remarkable,” he said. “We often encourage our students to take risks, and I’m glad I took my own advice for this conference. I think sharing about this program is important because what we are doing is replicable in other communities and has a lot of value in bringing people together.” 

Another concern, Knox said, was that the conference focused on AI but he and Hayman were decidedly not talking about that. The fear proved unwarranted. 

“It was important to remember that even at a conference dedicated to the advances of technology, human connection is so important,” Knox said. 

Mysha Kuhlmann, Thayer’s director of counseling, said approximately 30 people attended her Saturday workshop, which was entitled “Forging Student Connections in the Age of AI.” 

“I think it went well,” said Kuhlmann, adding that she’s received really positive feedback from her Thayer colleagues as well as other educators who attended. 

“I continue to hear how much people — parents, guardians, and educators — want to know more about adolescent mental health — what’s going well, what’s hard for this age group, and what we can do to best support them during this stage of their lives,” she said. “My hope is that I can continue to offer insight and strategies for families and educators.” 

Brooks also served as a co-presenter at the conference with Kiley Gilbert ‘25. The two shared takeaways from Minor Notes, an extracurricular research project in which students travel to area libraries to learn about curated artifacts and then develop multimedia artistic projects in response to those artifacts. 

“Kiley was able to share about her own project in last year’s Minor Notes program,” said Brooks. For that, he said, Gilbert took a deep dive into the writing of two diarists, June Jordan and Angela Davis, before developing her own video exploring the power of diaries. 

Brooks and Gilbert made the conscious decision to discuss the Minor Notes program, one in which students are encouraged to slow down and interact with artifacts, at a conference devoted to the disruptor that is AI. 

“There are places for students and schools to leverage AI, and we want to do that, and Thayer is investing time and resources to do that,” said Brooks. “At the same time, Thayer is investing in the exact opposite of that. You need to both embrace tech/AI without losing sight of the older technologies and quieter moments of engagement with the world. Schools and educators need to have a balance.” 

The next OESIS conference is scheduled for February 2025 at Stevenson School in California.