Guy shares takeaways from AACTE 2026 in New Orleans, where he participated in a learning lab focused on data sovereignty, attended a talk by Punya Mishra on AI, and listened to a panel discussion about digital technology in teacher education. The overarching theme from the conference was that teacher educators must prepare future teachers for an AI-integrated world, regardless of personal opinions about the technology. A notable sidebar discussion centered on AI-powered simulations as a scalable, cost-effective way to expose preservice teachers to rare but important classroom scenarios, like student violence or working with students who have uncommon disabilities.
The second half focuses on Anthropic's AI Fluency Index report (led by Kristen Swanson), which defines AI fluency as engaging with AI in ways that are effective, efficient, ethical, and safe. The report's framework organizes fluency around four core competencies, the "four Ds": delegation, description, discernment, and diligence. Drawing on over 10,000 anonymized Claude conversations from January 2026, key findings include that fluency develops through sustained, iterative interaction; that most users treat AI as a thought partner rather than a task-offloader; and that evaluation of AI outputs remains a significant blind spot. Guy and Azadeh connect these findings to their own classroom observations and call for future qualitative research to deepen understanding.
