Watsachol Narongsaksakul, a third-year doctoral student in the School of Teaching and Learning, presented at the 2025 Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) conference in New Orleans. Her session, titled “Transforming Teacher Preparation Programs with AI Literacy,” advocated for responsible and democratic uses of artificial intelligence for teacher candidates.
ATE is dedicated to improving teacher education programs, and its 2025 annual meeting focused on the theme of advocacy.
Narongsaksakul explained that her presentation uplifted ATE’s “Advocate for the Profession” strand by actively engaging with AI policy and its impacts on teacher education to inform stakeholders in curriculum development.
Specifically, Narongsaksakul addressed three significant approaches to AI literacy integration through the AI-Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (AI-TPACK) framework, Bloom’s taxonomy, and interdisciplinary curriculum adjustments. Her session aimed to provide a new way for teacher educators to embrace AI and redesign curriculum in response to new job skill demands.
“My multidisciplinary doctoral research on the ethical use of AI in education impacts society through school connections and bridges the digital divide,” she said. “The revolutionary use of AI-enhanced teaching and learning will assist teachers in creating curriculum alignment, augmenting human intelligence, and providing opportunities for self-paced learning. As a result, teachers are engaged in more meaningful, innovative pedagogical practices and foster student interactions, which could be life-changing for multilingual learners struggling in traditional classrooms.”
She hopes that attendees gained insights into utilizing emerging technologies to enhance their teacher preparation programs.
“AI integration in teacher education programs is urgently required to effectively build competency in learning with and about AI as an adaptive and personalized tool,” Narongsaksakul said.
She wants teacher candidates to feel confident making their future students aware of fairness, transparency, and trustworthiness in AI to ensure it is used responsibly and democratically.
Narongsaksakul aims to set a precedent for AI in education and provide teachers with a radical, new understanding of literacy.
