ZART ART Conference – although online – is a fabulous chance for Art Educators and to learn and network together. This year’s Conference was unusual with its AI focus and seemed more about exploring the big changes in our society that on Art making.
I attended Day 2. Rodolfo Ocampo’s keynote challenged me to think differently about technology and creativity. His “Artist as Gardener” metaphor resonated with how I see teaching—by setting up the right scaffolds, I can support students to create authentic and unexpected outcomes. I left with a clearer understanding that AI is not a replacement for human creativity, but a partner that can expand possibilities.
In James Smith’s breakout workshop session, I learned about AI “hallucinations”—where generative AI produces fluent but inaccurate content. At first, I saw this as a flaw, but I came to understand it as both a risk and a source of creative potential. This shifted how I think about teaching students to use AI critically and imaginatively.
Impact on Practice:
This PD helped me see AI as both a challenge and an opportunity. I plan to:
- Teach students explicitly about AI limits, bias, and hallucinations (Standards 2.6, 3.4).
- Reframe AI “errors” as sparks for imagination in creative learning (Standards 2.1, 3.3).
- In my teacher and technology usage position AI as a partner in creativity while keeping the human teacher central (Standards 1.2, 3.2).
- Support students to build resilience, curiosity, and critical thinking through AI literacy (Standards 1.5, 2.5).
- Apply new insights from this PD to strengthen my own digital literacy and teaching practice (Standards 6.2, 6.4).
Overall, this learning reinforced my role in guiding students to become thoughtful, ethical, and imaginative users of technology.