Closing the AI Divide in Education
Exploring access, fairness, and inclusion in classrooms around the world
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Welcome
AI is being introduced in classrooms across the globe, but not every school has the same resources, training, or infrastructure. From India’s rollout of a national AI curriculum to African schools experimenting with open-source models, equity is one of the biggest questions we face.
This week, we’ll explore how librarians and educators can advocate for fair access to AI tools—and how to teach students to think critically about inclusion in a digital world.
AI Tool of the Week: Snorkl
Most AI tools measure answers. Snorkl measures thinking.
What It Is
Snorkl is a multimodal classroom tool that allows students to explain their reasoning in multiple ways—by speaking, drawing, or writing on a digital whiteboard. Instead of just typing an answer, students record their process, and AI provides instant feedback on how they approached the problem.
Key Features
🎤 Student Explanations: Students talk through their answers or sketch them out, making their reasoning visible.
⚡ Instant AI Feedback: AI points out strengths and misconceptions in real time, giving learners a chance to adjust.
📊 Teacher Dashboard: Educators get class-wide insights into where students are struggling or excelling.
📚 Ready-Made Activities: Standards-aligned tasks in math, science, and literacy, or the option to build your own.
🌐 Accessibility: Multiple modes (audio, text, drawing) make it especially powerful for multilingual learners, younger students, or students with learning differences.
Why It Matters for Equity
Snorkl helps level the playing field by providing every student with multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge. In a global context:
In multilingual classrooms, students can speak their explanation instead of writing it.
In schools where students struggle with writing, they can draw their reasoning and still get meaningful feedback.
Teachers can quickly identify gaps across groups, ensuring that no student is left behind.
Lesson Plans
Elementary (Grades 3–6): “Explain Your Thinking”
Give students a math problem (e.g., 12 ÷ 3 = ?) or a science question (Why do plants need sunlight?).
Have students use Snorkl to draw their process on the whiteboard while explaining it out loud.
AI provides feedback, but the class also listens to a few examples and discusses: What made this explanation clear? Where could we add more detail?
👉 Outcome: Students practice explaining their reasoning, not just giving answers.
Middle/High (Grades 7–12): “Making Thinking Visible”
Assign a more complex task (e.g., Compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources or Solve a multi-step algebra problem).
Students use Snorkl to record both a written or drawn outline and a verbal explanation.
Review the AI feedback as a group and compare it with peer feedback—Do humans and AI notice the same strengths and weaknesses?
👉 Outcome: Students build meta-skills by reflecting on how well they communicate their reasoning, not just whether their final answer is correct.
AI Ethics Corner: The Global Divide
UNESCO warns that unequal access to AI could deepen educational gaps worldwide.
In wealthier nations, AI may enhance learning; in under-resourced regions, lack of access could widen divides.
Ethical question: Should AI tools be treated as an educational right, like access to books or the internet?
AI Reading List
Conclusion
AI in education has the potential to close divides—or widen them. As library media specialists and educators, we can advocate for tools and practices that make learning more accessible for all students.
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Until next week,
Elissa
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