During the fall of 2024, hundreds of Texas educators participated in a series of seven ‘Gen AI Leadership Summits’ that were a joint effort between Texas Education Technology Leaders and GTS Technology Solutions. Leaders learned the mechanics of generative AI and explored how it differs from “old-fashioned” AI, which has been around since the 1950s. They also learned how to use the most common tools and discussed how the workforce and marketplace are changing the skills students will need upon graduation. Finally, they addressed how to prepare local districts with guidance, policy, training plans and upskilling to meet the new challenges.
These meetings quickly revealed significant interest and substantial need to share AI resources between districts. Through a series of discussions, the TETL Gen AI Consortium was formed with the goal of developing a rich repository of vetted resources for school leaders throughout the state. Volunteers recruited from summit attendees established a framework for resource organization and evaluation criteria.
