Episode Transcript
Kyle James (00:01.386)
Hey, welcome to the ad Chronicles podcast. I'm your host, Kyle James. Today we'll be talking about how an educational company called TeachWise AI is using AI inside of their own business. And we'll share the exact steps that you can take in order to implement AI for yourself. Now, before we dive into that, listen closely. Are you looking to implement AI inside of your own company or maybe just struggling to get your AI to stop hallucinating? Speak to GPT trainer. GPT trainer literally builds out and manages your AI for you, eliminating hallucinations for good.
Go to GPT-trainer.com. I promise you, it'll be the biggest time saving decision that you've made all year. Trying to set up AI on your own is like trying to build a house from scratch. Sure, you could do it, but the time of frustration is going to take you to get it finished. It may not be worth it. It's a thousand times faster and safer to hire professionals. Schedule a consultation today. Once again, that's GPT-trainer.com. Today I have with me Larisa Black, who is a mom.
wife, teacher, and AI trainer for education. Larisa started her consulting business called TeachWise AI after realizing the huge impact generative AI would have on education. Really excited for this conversation today. Hey, Larisa, welcome to show. How are you doing?
Larisa Black (01:18.488)
Hi, Kyle. Thanks so much for having me. I am doing great. We're at the end of summer break, so I'm kind of crying a little bit about in two more weeks, we go back to the official school year. But this time has given me like so much more focus on my business part too, like, you know, sleeping in a little bit, but also being able to focus on my business over the summer. So TeachWise.ai is growing and I would love to talk more about it.
Kyle James (01:45.15)
Yeah, so excited. Yeah. That summer break is just sweet music to the ears. I'm for sure for all the teachers out there. So, okay. So let's talk about teach wise AI, like give us some background, maybe a little bit about yourself and then maybe like how to teach wise AI come to be.
Larisa Black (01:50.402)
Yeah, that's needed.
Larisa Black (01:58.424)
For sure, for sure. So I've been a teacher for about 17 years. I was in the brick and mortar schools up in Syracuse, New York. I now live in Rock Hill, South Carolina. I have been a virtual teacher for nine years now. So before COVID, right? Like we started being innovative here in South Carolina before it was like cool to be, right? And so we, I've been actually teaching online virtually for the last nine years.
And when Chad GPT came out in November of 2022, it just kind of blew my mind. And I thought to myself, okay, one of the biggest things I need to know is how to use my pedagogy through virtual EdTech tools, right? Like, how am I going to get those students excited and get them like really involved in the lesson? So you need to use a lot of EdTech tools to be able to do that, right?
When Chachi Petit came out, I just thought to myself, wow, this is gonna change things. This is gonna change things. So January of the next year, so like just a couple months after Chachi Petit came out, one of my coworkers and I were like deep in it, like figuring out how to use it and like, what is this going to do for just even my own time? Like, is this going to help me and assist me in creating lessons?
creating content, whatever it is. And we did a training in January that year and everyone's minds were blown because most people hadn't even tried Chetch-a-Petit yet and they didn't realize.
Kyle James (03:34.768)
So you training with just yourself or like with teachers or like with students or.
Larisa Black (03:38.57)
with so it was me and a coworker, we were training other teachers within our school. So and again, it was a virtual type of thing. So we had people coming in that had never used it before, obviously, it was brand new. And it just really opened everyone's eyes as to how teachers are burnt out, right? Like teachers are so burnt out. This I felt like was one way to help
Kyle James (03:43.538)
Okay.
Larisa Black (04:06.894)
teachers save time because we can use it as an assistant in so many ways. And even more so now than we could back then, right? Back then I was just doing basics. was doing like, me with lesson planning, help me brainstorm, help me, you know, create, I don't know, a quiz, like questions for the standards and things like that. So I used it in very basic ways at first. And then it's just evolved over time because obviously the hallucinations
I've gotten a little less, although I love the idea of there not being any hallucinations. That sounds excellent to me. But over time, like things have changed and new ed tech tools have come out. So I'm not just talking about chat GPT, I'm talking about Kira pod school AI magic school edu aids, even Canva and Adobe Express have got AI components within them.
Kyle James (05:01.672)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I want to rewind a little bit. So you, you, when you first started off, you know, you've had like the, the Eureka moment, right. With the AI for yourself. And I think there's a lot of teacher out there who are like, I didn't really have that. We're like, okay, that's cool. But the first thought is like, it's, you know, students are going to, you're going to cheat with this or, or, you know, like, what, what are your, I guess, like, what, is your perspective on that? Like you hear a lot about that. You have kind of that divide that happens where people are like, I don't want to take my job. Then you also have where students are using it already.
Larisa Black (05:18.574)
shoot with them.
Kyle James (05:31.338)
Like how do you find that balance and like what's the mindset that, that, know, that you needed to shift that over?
Larisa Black (05:31.522)
Yeah.
Larisa Black (05:37.23)
Yeah, and I love that you use the term balance because that's where we need to be headed, right? If people watch my social media, I'm at TeachWise AI, I'm on all the different ones. I will talk a lot about how I have personally used it, how teammates have used it, giving suggestions on what platforms to use when, but the biggest issue that I see over and over again is
wait, but my students are going back home using ChatGPT, copying and pasting, and we've seen it in our own school. Like, I've seen it with my own students. How do we prevent that from happening, right? And I don't think there's a way to fully prevent it, obviously. However, if we are not teaching them at all how to use it, they're gonna go ahead and use it the way they want to. So I feel like just...
sticking our heads in the sand, which a lot of schools are like, we're banning it. have not, even now, like we're still, how many years later? Still banning it. That is not helping anyone. The students are going to use it the way they want to. And we need to be giving them the instructions on the best ways to use it. Because if they use it with just copying and pasting, then obviously they're getting rid of that cognitive load that they need to be using.
Right? Those critical thinking skills are going to start going out the window and it's going to decrease their voice. So their voice is going to be decreased in the background, right? Chachu PT or whatever AI is going to take over and they're not enhancing their voices. So it can be used in multiple ways. It can be used to enhance your voice, to show like the power behind your voice, or it can be used to take your voice away. And our students have a choice in that. Right? But if we don't
show them and give guide them and mold the way that education is going to work with AI, then we are just kidding ourselves because the students are already creating businesses with it. they're already right. They're not just cheating. They're already creating businesses as well.
Kyle James (07:39.434)
Yeah.
Kyle James (07:43.364)
Yeah, for sure. So, so yeah, I know it's crazy to think like so, so vastly different. So you talk about that for a little bit, like creating your voice, like what does that mean both in a, in a negative connotation and also like on a positive side, like give me something tangible with like, does that mean for the student?
Larisa Black (08:02.286)
So if you're specifically talking about students, we want them to be able to develop their own ideas. And it's great to have chatGBT to be a brainstorming partner. So you go back and forth. And this is how I use it in my own business, where I'm like, I want to make a social media post. I want it to be focused on maybe student use. What are some of the biggest issues that teachers are talking about right now?
I know this already, but like give me a list of 10 and then I will choose from those 10 and then I will expand on those ideas. So I want my students to use it in a similar way where it's not taking away their own ideas. It's just helping them in the process.
Kyle James (08:52.8)
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I loved your posts that you, you made with the, uh, the finding Nemo example, um, with like Marlin and obviously the Nemo in there as well. And I thought that was really good. If you didn't get a chance to go check out, uh, Larissa Black's post on social media. I thought it was really fascinating. So we said, walk me through a little bit here. Like what exactly. Like.
Larisa Black (08:59.875)
Yeah.
Kyle James (09:16.766)
As far as steps go, have you been seeing so far on the AI, both like internal usage and also external usage?
Larisa Black (09:23.67)
Yeah, so when it comes to education, I know there's like this between education and business, I kind of have both going on. So there's a fine line there. It's a lot of overlapping. But one of my biggest things I want within my business and also at my school is to focus on the attitude towards AI, right? Like what I've noticed is that
If you're not deep diving into AI in a lot of ways and you're just hearing what's on the news, then it's all bad, right? I mean, that's what the news is there for, like sensationalized stories, that's what gets more views. So I really, I enjoyed this past year, I was training teachers through something called AI club for the Charter Institute at Erskine. And we started with just,
basic, like, how do you feel about AI? What are the things you've heard about them? And then focusing on those misconceptions, I think helps to curb that attitude of, okay, well, where have I heard this to begin with? And then why do I feel this way about it? And then let's figure out what's actually true, what's not, because yes, we should be questioning this, right? We should be questioning what is AI?
Where is the algorithm coming from? What kind of bias is within it? All of that stuff we need to be focusing on. But there can be so many positive ways that we use AI and show our students how to use AI. And the reality is they will be using AI in their future. It's like every career is probably going to have some AI component. They need to know the limitations and the benefits.
Kyle James (11:13.48)
Yeah, for sure. you like going back to even just like that initial example, like you're teaching some of the teachers, like when you, when you say like with teach wise AI, are you going into schools and like teaching them how to, how do you teach the teachers how to use it or the students? Like what exactly, like if you guys see a new client come in, like what exactly is it from like start to finish when someone says, Hey, I want to, I want to learn a little bit more. want to, I want to work with teach wise AI in this. Like what, does that process look like?
Larisa Black (11:39.51)
Yeah, so I have options where I can do an hour up to a full day of training. It's specifically for teachers kindergarten through 12th grade. I do all of that because that's where I have my experience. And I can come into a school or I can do this virtually. So I have gone to actual schools. I've gone to conferences. I've been a keynote speaker.
And I kind of do a lot of that, but I also actually have helped some AI companies with their training of their AIs because they needed teachers to help guide the AI.
Kyle James (12:19.806)
Yeah, it's almost like a, like a AI expert, like within the school. Cause I think that's a big need is, you know, teachers and even staff principals, they see the value, but they're like, I don't really know. I mean, I've used chat GBT, but I don't know like the, you know, behind the scenes what's happening. And so for having someone that can kind of guide you through that, like that makes a big difference. Cause it does trickle down to the teachers and then obviously to, the students as well, like over the next couple of, you know, semesters that students are coming through. So.
Larisa Black (12:48.046)
Definitely, definitely. And this next year, I'm actually going to be working as the Innovation and Technology Coordinator for South Carolina Connections Academy. So I will be guiding all the teachers at my own school, but also I'll be doing community focused sessions for the parents and the students, because I think the parents need to be involved as well.
Kyle James (13:08.928)
Yeah, that's a really good point to make. So as we step into these next couple of years, where do you feel like, you know, teach why teach wise AI is targeting kind of their AI initiatives and like where you see AI playing maybe some of the biggest role. And, know, in your operations and even in some of the schools of these next couple of years.
Larisa Black (13:27.854)
Yeah, I think one of the biggest initiatives for TeachWise AI right now is specifically teacher training, like getting AI literacy out there because as much as I think it has been something that everyone has experienced, I'm in these circles where everyone does know the AI and understands the algorithms and understands where the information comes from and things like that. But as I expand myself,
out to these schools and start talking with all the teachers, I'm realizing that like, they don't realize that there are some AI powered platforms that can be helpful specifically for education. So even if you're not really great at prompt engineering, let's, and I know I hate that word because like it's not really engineering, it's just communication. this is, prompting is just being a really good communicator. So those English teachers, they already know this. They already know how to do this, right?
But like being able to show them how to prompt in a way where you're going to get good outputs, like your input is going to be equivalent to your output. So if you don't have great input, then you're not going to get great output. And so training teachers on some of those basics, I feel like is so important because then they can take that information and bring it back to their students and integrate AI into all sorts of lessons from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The AI literacy standards just came out this past summer and I think that's where the focus is going to be the next couple years. mean, the government is looking at investing a lot of money into training teachers for AI integration because this is where the future is headed.
Kyle James (15:12.36)
Yeah, for sure. It's a, definitely a race that's happening to like, I've seen it with so many different schools and universities where like you have the few that like, Hey, we had a bad taste initially students are cheating. Right. But then you have those who are like, Hey, we know that happens, but we're actually going to adopt AI and they're taking it and they're running with it because if they don't run with it, like the students, you said, Laura said, it's like, they're already, they're already running with it. They're already building businesses and they're already doing it to like help build some of the workflow for their own days.
How much more like should teachers be able to like, okay, we need to understand how this works for us to be able to make sense to help these students out and make sure they don't go off. Like your post says, I love the post. Again, you haven't seen it go read it with the finding Nemo. Like we don't want Nemo going off to the boat and then disappearing off to, you know, the middle of the ocean. we just said in Australia, we want Nemo here. But again, if you, there's so much restriction, it encourages students to just go and try and figure it out on their own, which can be, which can be kind of dangerous. Right. So.
Larisa Black (15:59.736)
to Sydney.
Yeah.
Larisa Black (16:11.502)
pressure.
Kyle James (16:12.384)
As we start wrapping up the conversation, I definitely appreciate you being on the show, Larisa. Where can people go to learn maybe a little bit more about you that you'd recommend or even about TeachWise AI?
Larisa Black (16:16.962)
Thank you very much.
Larisa Black (16:24.334)
Sure, so I would love to get more followers on LinkedIn. That is one of my places where I love to learn from others and have my ideas out there as well if you were to learn from me. And all of the social media is, what's funny is that this all kind of started on TikTok. Like my business kind of started because I was sharing what I was doing in my classes on TikTok.
and people start following. And now what I do is I'll maybe create a video or something on TikTok and share it to Instagram and X and Facebook and LinkedIn. So if you follow me on any of those, it's at teach wise AI, but on LinkedIn, it's Larisa Black. Like if you look me up, there's not too many Larisa Blacks.
Kyle James (17:11.744)
Nice. Awesome. I love it. Thank you so much. It's great. It's great having you on show today and looking forward to maybe having another conversation in the near future, especially in the education space. Super exciting. don't forget again, for those who are listening in, remember if you're looking to implement AI into your business today or your organization, please don't try and do it yourself. The time and stress that the AI could cause, it may not be worth it. Schedule a call with GPT trainer and let them build out manager AI for you. Once again, that's gpt-trainer.com.
Larisa Black (17:22.338)
Definitely. Thank you so much, Kyle.
Kyle James (17:41.856)
Signing off for now, have a great rest of your day everybody and looking forward to seeing everyone on the next episode of AR Chronicles.
