Digital Promise sent a short note this autumn about its professional learning series on belonging and inclusive teaching. One line in it is worth more than most training brochures. Sarah Scott, who leads it, wrote: "One educator can leave a professional learning experience with new ideas. A team can change how a school works together."
The enthusiast problem
Every school has one. The teacher who tries the new tool first, figures it out, and shows colleagues at the coffee machine. That teacher is a gift. They are also a single point of failure. When they change schools, go on leave or simply get busy, the tool goes quiet. What looked like adoption was one person.
One enthusiastic teacher is a pilot, not adoption.
Why teams stick
When a group learns something together, the conversation does not end when the session does. It carries on into team meetings, lesson planning and coaching. Someone asks how it went on Tuesday. Someone else has a fix. The practice gets a second, third and fourth owner. That is the difference between an idea and a habit.
Why it matters even more for AI
AI in a classroom raises questions no single teacher should answer alone. What is fine for homework? What counts as cheating? What do we tell parents? If every teacher answers those separately, pupils get a different rule in every room. Learning about AI as a team is how a school ends up with one answer that people actually understand.
What that looks like in practice
Start with a small group, four or five teachers, rather than the whole staff or one volunteer. Pick one concrete use, not "AI in general". Try it for a few weeks, then compare notes. Write down what you agreed, in one page, in plain language. Then invite the next group.
For anyone selling to schools, us included
If a product only works because one teacher loves it, it does not work yet. The real test is whether a team of ordinary, busy teachers can pick it up together and keep using it after the first month.
Take these with you
- 1One enthusiastic teacher is a pilot, not adoption.
- 2Learning together carries over into meetings, planning and coaching.
- 3AI questions need one shared answer per school, not one per classroom.
- 4Start with a small team and one concrete use.
