🚀 Have you seen Utah’s New Portrait of an AI-Infused Learner & Educator?
I love when I find something in the AI-in-education space that makes me stop mid-scroll, refill my coffee, and think "This, I gotta share!". Utah just did that.
They’ve released two beautifully clear, surprisingly grounded documents:
And honestly? They’re good. Not flashy. Not fear-based. Not 90 pages of “don’t do this.” Just thoughtful, practical vision for how students and educators can navigate an AI-infused world with curiosity, ethics, and confidence.
Here are the big themes that stood out — and why I think they’re worth paying attention to.
🤝 AI should support humans, not replace them.
This is the heartbeat of both portraits.
Utah frames AI as a tool that extends human thinking, not one that replaces it. Learners are expected to understand when AI can help them — and when it shouldn’t be part of the process at all. Educators are encouraged to model that same discernment in front of students.
It’s simple, but powerful: AI doesn’t get to be the driver. We do.
📘 AI Literacy belongs right alongside digital literacy.
Utah doesn’t treat AI literacy as an optional add-on. They place it in the same family as media literacy, digital citizenship, communication, and critical thinking.
Students should understand:
what AI is (and isn’t),
where it excels and where it fails,
how to ask the right questions, and
how to verify the information AI gives them.
Educators don’t need to be “AI experts” to teach this — they just need space to help students build healthy habits of mind.
🛡️ Ethical use is front and center.
Utah grounds the entire portrait in four values: fairness, transparency, privacy & security, and accountability.
Expectations are clear:
Students use AI responsibly.
Educators teach and model responsible use.
It’s refreshing to see a state articulate this clearly without getting lost in legalese.
🔍 Critical thinking is the throughline.
AI makes mistakes. AI reflects bias. AI fills in gaps with “confident nonsense.” Utah is one of the few states saying plainly: students need to know this.
Their learner portrait emphasizes:
questioning AI,
verifying information, and
comparing AI outputs to trusted sources.
Educators are encouraged to normalize this reflective stance in the classroom. This holds hands with everything we’ve been saying about AI literacy being inseparable from media literacy.
✨ Creativity gets to be part of the conversation.
Utah doesn’t forget the upside. They highlight the ways AI can help learners:
brainstorm,
iterate,
prototype,
explore multiple paths forward.
It’s not just “guardrails” — it’s also: How can AI help students make new, interesting things?
That balance matters.
💬 Communication and collaboration now include AI.
One of the most forward-thinking bits: Utah recognizes that future workplaces are increasingly AI-mediated.
Students should learn how to:
communicate clearly with AI,
collaborate with peers while using AI tools,
understand how AI affects group dynamics and decision-making.
Educators are encouraged to be transparent about how they use AI themselves — which is such a healthy norm to set.
🌱 Everyone is still learning, and that’s okay.
Utah names what everyone else tiptoes around: none of us are “done” learning AI.
Being an AI-infused educator doesn’t mean being an expert. It means being willing to explore, reflect, revise, and grow. Learners are encouraged to adopt that same mindset.
Honestly? This is the part that made me exhale. It frames AI not as a hurdle to clear, but as a shared learning journey.
🌐 This is what statewide vision can make possible.
One thing that stood out to me wasn’t just what Utah created — it’s that they chose to take this extra step as a state.
Many states, including Oregon, have been working hard to develop AI frameworks, guidance, and policy to help schools navigate this fast-moving space. Utah’s portraits build on that foundation but go one step further by articulating a shared vision for what an AI‑infused learner and an AI‑infused educator look like.
It’s inspiring — not because Utah has all the answers, but because they’re offering a cohesive picture that districts, educators, and communities can grow into together and modeling what it looks like to support the field with vision as well as policy.
🧠 Final thoughts
Utah’s portraits won’t solve every challenge in AI education, but they give us something both rare and valuable: a clear, human-centered model for how to prepare students and educators for an AI-shaped future.