Effective AI Integration for School Principals

*** ISBE Microcredential, 40 PDH ***

This is an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) approved microcredential designed for K–12 educators. Effective AI Integration for School Principals is a job-embedded microcredential built for working K–12 school leaders in Illinois.

Course Details

Across four modules, you will produce four documents your school can use right away:

• An AI integration plan addressing privacy, transparency, and ethical use
• A professional learning design that builds genuine AI literacy among your teaching staff
• A stakeholder communication package for your superintendent, staff, students, and families
• A reflective analysis of your own instructional leadership

All coursework happens asynchronously in Canvas and CyberScholar, the University of Illinois's AI-powered platform, where you create your work and receive formative feedback grounded in Illinois legislation and current research before submitting for instructional evaluation.

Enrollment is rolling, with up to 12 months to complete the work at your own pace. Your 40 Professional Development Hours are reported to ISBE within 14 business days.

Program Information

Instructors: Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, Michele Galla

Department and College: Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, College of Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Delivery Format: Online

Learning Management System: All coursework is completed asynchronously through Canvas, where you engage with readings, videos, reflections, discussions, and applied assignments that receive instructor feedback.

Enrollment & Duration: Enrollment is rolling, with up to 12 months to complete the work at your own pace.

Credential: Upon successful completion of course requirements, Illinois educators receive 40 Professional Development Hours and the microcredential will be attached to the Professional Educator License (PEL). Participants outside Illinois receive a certificate of completion.

Specific Course Topics

1. Articulate AI Literacy and Its Foundational Principles
   Build a working understanding of what AI is, how it already shows up across your school community, and what responsible implementation looks like at the state and national level. You'll develop the course's foundational artifact: a school-level AI integration plan covering definitions, teacher and student guidelines, data privacy, transparency, ethics, and accountability.
2. Design AI Professional Learning for Your Teachers
   Turn AI literacy into teacher development, examining how AI is reshaping learning and where it strengthens rather than replaces existing practice. You'll design a comprehensive professional learning plan that assesses teacher readiness, sequences learning, supports collaboration, and builds in evaluation and adjustment.
3. Address Equity, Access, and Stakeholder Communication
   Move from what you'll do to how you'll bring others along, pairing a clear-eyed look at AI's real strengths and limits with the equity and access questions Illinois is weighing. You'll produce a multimedia stakeholder communication package that introduces your school's AI approach to your superintendent, staff, and community in tailored, audience-appropriate formats.
4. Reflect on Your AI Integration Journey
   In this capstone, you'll step back and make sense of the integration plan, professional learning design, and communication package you built across the course. You'll compose a reflective analysis that connects your AI leadership work to your school's educational values and your growth as an instructional leader.

Questions: onlineprograms@education.illinois.edu

Enroll today to earn your microcredential!