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SWOT's Next? AI's Potential in K12 Education Explored

An introduction to our analysis of AI and K12 education.

Author

Lewis Poché
August 16, 2023

Welcome to Teacher’s AIed: the newsletter about AI in the K12 Classroom.

How AI will affect K12 Classrooms is complex. Each week, we curate knowledge for educators about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of AI and K12 education.

In this week’s edition, we introduce our SWOT Analysis of AI and K12 series.

What is SWOT Analysis?

According to Investopedia, “SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a framework used to evaluate a company's competitive position and to develop strategic planning. SWOT analysis assesses internal and external factors, as well as current and future potential.” For those who appreciate a visual explanation, SWOT analyses typically follow a 4 quadrant template:

The top row - strengths and weaknesses - summarize the internal factors, while the bottom row - opportunities and threats - addresses the external factors.

I asked ChatGPT, a fantastic example machine, for a bit of help explaining this.

Prompt: Give me a short, funny, and accurate example of a SWOT analysis. Maybe it is an organization from pop culture (TV, movies).

This was its response:

Organization: Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (from the TV show "The Office")

Strength: Dedicated and diverse group of people with unique personalities that bring humor and camaraderie to the workplace.

Weakness: Outdated paper-based business model struggling to adapt to the digital age, leading to declining sales.

Opportunity: Growing trend towards eco-friendly products provides a chance to market recycled paper and sustainable office supplies.

Threat: Increasing competition from online retailers and paperless communication, risking further decline in sales and relevance.

ChatGPT, showing off its prowess as an example machine

From my experience, I’d say that many schools have the same strength as Dunder Mifflin - never a dull moment in a school. I’d also say that K12 schools face a similar threat. There is increased competition for students’ attention and unless our K12 system innovates to meet the times, we risk further declines in relevance.

What to expect from this series.

In the four articles that follow we will explore each quadrant of SWOT analysis. We will provide the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats we have identified. After diving into each quadrant with us, you should have a better understanding of the position K12 education is in and how they will inform how we strategically incorporate AI in our classrooms, schools, and districts.

Contribute to the conversation in the four subsequent blog posts exploring each quadrant.