From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
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Dr. Sarah Thomas, the creator of the EduMatch community, has so many great points in this episode. She might reframe how you think about AI: what if AI isn't the thing that replaces your creativity but frees you up to use it? Sarah calls AI a creativity amplifier and in this show she explains how that mindset shift changes how you and your students work.
As you prepare to listen to this episode, I want to pull in some research to help with the nuance of what some initial research is finding about AI and creativity. And remember, it is just that – initial research. It is going to take time to drill down into what is actually happening with creativity and AI.
For example, a 2024 study published in Science Advances by Anil Doshi and Oliver Hauser found that when online writers used AI to help generate story ideas, their individual stories were rated as more creative and more polished (especially the writers who struggled on their own.) The problem? When EVERYONE leaned on AI, all the stories started looking alike. So basically, individual creativity went up, but collective originality went down.
But, I said it was nuanced, right? The study's convergence happened when AI generated the ideas on its own. I think Sarah's framing is healthier because she uses AI for the busywork – organizing, reformatting speaker notes and such. This frees her up to do more distinctly human creativity so if you read it that way, the study is really an argument for using AI the way Sarah suggests. Remember, when we're talking “creativity” and AI it is nuanced. (Should I say nuance again? Ok. Creativity and AI nuanced. There, I did it.)
In this episode, Sarah and I talk through what she actually automates with AI, the “big rocks” you have to protect first — COPPA, FERPA, and student data — and how to move teachers from fear to confidence. She shares the 80/20 rule for trusting AI output, and the cautionary tale of the lawyer who walked AI hallucinations into a courtroom. Stick around for my favorite classroom game, “find the lie in AI.” It's a great one to try this week — or any time you come across this show.
Sponsored. This episode is sponsored by EF Educational Tours and their Career Readiness Tours. Lead your students on an international EF Career Readiness tour and show them what a career in fields like agriculture, hospitality, or automotive engineering could look like.
Imagine your students connecting with entrepreneurs at the London School of Economics, getting a behind-the-scenes look at Toyota's manufacturing in Japan, or touring a French culinary school to see future chefs in action. If you've been trying to break through to your students and show them how to turn their career dreams into reality, browse EF's collection of Career Readiness tours at eftours.com/ready.
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🐾 Sources & Citations: AI Research in Education
This episode references the following research. I'm posting this on June 4, 2026. I ask that we all remember: this is early, fast-moving research. As a result, we should treat it as a starting point, not the final word. I encourage you to read it yourself.
AI and creativity — the individual vs. collective trade-off
Doshi, A. R., & Hauser, O. P. (2024, July 12). Generative AI enhances individual creativity but reduces the collective diversity of novel content. Science Advances, 10(28), eadn5290. Science Advances
Caveat: the study used online writers in an experiment, not students in classrooms. We really need some research on classroom use! (Hint hint!)
Why “find the lie in AI” matters
I was so excited to see this research that supported what I did in my classroom with this activity. Lee, H.-P., et al. (2025). The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Microsoft Research & Carnegie Mellon University). ACM | Microsoft Research
Caveat: This was a self-reported survey of 319 knowledge workers, not a classroom survey.
Keep a human in the loop — the research behind the 80/20 rule
Parasuraman, R., & Manzey, D. H. (2010). Complacency and bias in human use of automation: An attentional integration. Human Factors, 52(3), 381–410. Human Factors
The lawyer who took AI hallucinations to court
Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023). Court opinion
Key Takeaways for Teachers from Dr. Sarah Thomas
- AI is a creativity amplifier, not a replacement for it. When AI handles the organizing and the busywork, you get your time back for the work only you can do — your zone of genius.
- Protect the big rocks before you press go. Read the privacy policy and the terms of service, and never upload personally identifiable student information. As Sarah puts it, that data shouldn't end up training somebody's model.
- Verify everything — the 80/20 rule. Even when AI does 80% of the work, the 20% of eyeballs and tweaking is yours. We're ultimately responsible for the output, so I teach students to “find the lie in AI.”
- Stay pro-human. A robot is no more going to replace a teacher than it would replace a doctor. You relate to educate — and that's something AI will never do for you.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- EduMatch — Sarah's global network where educators connect and collaborate. Visit edumatch.org and click the “Work With Us” page.
- EduMatch Tweet & Talk — Sarah's podcast. Listen on Spotify.
- ISTE — Sarah spotlighted AI and education at ISTE 2025 and is an ISTE Making IT Happen Award recipient. iste.org.
- Perplexity — the AI research tool Vicki mentions for more source-grounded answers. perplexity.ai.
- COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection) — FTC overview.
- FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) — U.S. Dept. of Education Student Privacy.
- Dale Carnegie's worst-case principle — when you're afraid of something, picture the worst possible outcome, then prepare against it (from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living).
- Closing the Gap: Digital Equity Strategies by Sarah Thomas, Nicol R. Howard & Regina Schaffer (ISTE) — on Amazon (also available direct from ISTE).
About Dr. Sarah Thomas
Sarah Thomas, PhD is the founder of EduMatch, an organization that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest. She has spoken and presented internationally, participated in the Technical Working Group to refresh the 2017 ISTE Standards for Educators, and is a recipient of the ISTE Making IT Happen award.
Sarah is a co-author of the ISTE digital equity series, Closing the Gap, the winner of the 2023 Maryland Society for Educational Technology Outstanding Leader Using Technology award, and the 2023 Leader of the Year as designated by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.
Connect with Sarah:
- Website: EduMatch.org
- LinkedIn: sarah-jane-thomas
- Instagram / Threads / Bluesky / TikTok: @sarahdateechur
- Facebook: EduMatch community group
Other Shows for Teachers Exploring AI
- Cool Cat Teacher Talk: Sarah was also a guest on Cool Cat Teacher Talk Season 3 Episode 4.
- Episode 935 — Jean-Claude Brizard: Technology won't fix education. People will.
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Episode Transcript
This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
Click to read the full transcript
Vicki Davis: Today's show is sponsored by EF Educational Tours and their Career Readiness Tours. To show your students what careers look like up close and in action, go to eftours.com/ready and stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.
Vicki Davis: Our guest today, Dr. Sarah Thomas, is a trailblazer in education. She is the Regional Technology Coordinator for Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland and founder of EduMatch, a global network where educators connect and collaborate. She's also won the ISTE Making It Happen Award. At ISTE 2025, she's spotlighting the intersection of AI and education. Thank you for coming on the show, Sarah.
Sarah Thomas, PhD: Thank you so much for having me, Vicki.
Vicki Davis: You're really passionate about using AI in the right ways, and you believe AI is a creativity amplifier. That's so different from what a lot of people believe. Why do you believe that?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: I've been wrestling with my own use of AI, and I've been thinking about this intently for the last couple of weeks. One thing that someone said on Facebook when I threw it out to the community: that AI, if you use it for productivity, actually frees up your time so that you're able to shine and devote your own space and creativity to your zone of genius. And I really, really love that. It resonated with me because it definitely helps me automate a lot of things and gives me back more time in my day.
Vicki Davis: So what kind of things do you automate with AI?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: A lot of organization. I was giving a keynote — I created the slides and the content myself, but I did a run-through of how I was going to present it. I spoke to the AI and said, if you could just give me this back in bullet-point format so I could plug it into my speaker notes. If I were to do that myself, it probably would have taken me way longer. That's one thing it really helped me with.
Vicki Davis: A lot of people say students can't use AI, we don't want them to use AI, with all the debates going on. As you advise your district, what are some of the good uses of AI you really like to see students have?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: Just as with anything else, AI is nuanced. There are some big rocks you have to make sure are in place — for example, COPPA and FERPA protections. Making sure that PII is not uploaded, and really reading the privacy policies and terms of service to figure out what kind of information they're collecting on students. I speak with a lot of districts about their plans for rolling out AI, and one pivotal point: as educators, we really need to understand how these tools work. If we're not in those spaces, it opens up Pandora's box. We definitely need to model for our students how to use it ethically and how to maximize their output — not just run it through and copy and paste whatever the output is. That reminds me of when I was first teaching and students got a hold of Wikipedia and would just copy the page and paste it. Really teaching them to use AI in a way that helps them brainstorm and maximize their creativity — that's what we need to encourage.
Vicki Davis: Tell me a story. Have you seen a student recently use AI in a really cool way where you thought, yes, that's what I want to talk about?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: The district I work most closely with has been doing a lot of piloting with artificial intelligence, and I've been looking at it with an eagle-eye view — students using it as a writing tutor, to give them feedback, to help poke holes in their work. Teaching our students to use it in a way that makes them better — I think that's where all the magic is lying.
Vicki Davis: I want them to know how to use AI to give them formative feedback before I grade. It's kind of like spell check to me — I won't take it if they haven't spell checked. And now I don't even want to take it unless they've gotten that initial AI feedback. Why should I be the one getting the feedback and sitting there going through it?
Vicki Davis: How do we help educators move from fear to using AI in the classroom? Because there's a lot of fear.
Sarah Thomas, PhD: That's understandable with a lot of new things — that fear. AI has its pros and its cons. When I first started learning about it, I was just like, yes, AI! But the more I use it and learn, there are things we need to keep in mind. The key is making sure everyone is well-informed of the good and the bad. I think it was Carnegie who said, if you're afraid of something, think of the worst possible outcome and then prepare against that.
Vicki Davis: Yeah — Dale Carnegie. I feel like fear is paralyzing kids, adults, so many people, especially as it relates to AI. There are some AI views that I think are over the top — okay, we're going to marry AI and all that. That's not healthy. I'm pro-human, you know? So let me ask you this: is there one piece of advice for teachers just starting to integrate AI, and what would it be?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: We want to keep our students safe. When using AI, be sure not to enter personally identifiable information — keep that secure. Thankfully I don't have a horror story, but I can give you a hypothetical. If that's input into an AI system without safeguards, it could help train the model, and all of a sudden the model knows that little Jimmy goes to such-and-such school. We really don't want to give that information about our students. On the flip side, also evaluate the output. I spoke to the Wikipedia example with our students, and it's so easy to fall into that trap ourselves — we want to verify whatever AI gives us. I heard someone mention the 80/20 rule: even if it does 80% of the work, that 20% — eyeballs on it, tweaking it — that's something we need to do. I have a quick story about that: a lawyer used AI to look up case history and actually tried to use the output in a courtroom, but most of those were hallucinations. You always have to go back and verify.
Vicki Davis: Ugh. Because we're ultimately responsible. Tools like Perplexity — that's why I'm kind of liking it, because it can be more accurate. I like to play “find the lie in AI” with my students. We use different models on something we know. The way they do it is, who's the greatest basketball player who ever lived, or what's the best movie ever — something they know about, so they can see, hey, this might be debatable. Because they think there's just “the answer.” So, as we finish up — we're recording this before ISTE, and this will air after ISTE 2025 — if you could pick one thing you want everybody who goes to your session to understand, what is that one thing?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: What I'd want everyone who comes to my session to understand is the power that we have as educators, the power our students have, and that when we collaborate among ourselves and with each other, we can truly change the world. That would be my one takeaway.
Vicki Davis: What do you say to people who say AI can help with a teacher shortage?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: It can maybe help brainstorm some solutions, but AI is not going to take the place of a teacher. It can help with instructional practice, but there's nothing like a human being. Like you said, you're human first — human-centric. I agree with that. A robot is not going to take the place of a teacher.
Vicki Davis: We would never think a robot could be a doctor. It's insulting to the professionalism of teachers. We've got such a teaching crisis now. Everybody I ask — these questions are about relationship — and I always say you have to relate to educate. So Sarah, Dr. Sarah Thomas, where are the places people can go to connect with you?
Sarah Thomas, PhD: I would love your listeners to connect with me — I love to talk shop. You can find me on the socials, Sarah the teacher: S-A-R-A-H-D-A-T-E-E-C-H-U-R. And you can find my organization, EduMatch, at edumatch.org. Definitely reach out, click on that “Work With Us” page, and see how we can support you.
Vicki Davis: Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate you for coming on the show.
Sarah Thomas, PhD: Thank you so much, Vicki. I appreciate you.
Vicki Davis: Teachers, show your students what a career actually looks like — not in a textbook, but in the real world. On an EF Career Readiness Tour, your students will connect with entrepreneurs at the London School of Economics, go behind the scenes at Toyota's manufacturing plant in Japan, or tour a French culinary school to see future chefs in action. EF Career Readiness Tours can take your students around the world for hands-on industry experience you can't replicate in the classroom. Browse EF Career Readiness Tours at eftours.com/ready. That's eftours.com/ready — and make careers come alive through travel.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored episode and blog post. EF Educational Tours has compensated me to share information about their Career Readiness Tours. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I have personally reviewed these resources and only recommend tools I believe offer genuine value to classroom teachers. My endorsement is limited to the educational products and services discussed in this episode. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book through them I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The sponsor has no impact on the editorial content of this show.
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