Over 450 educators joined co-founder and CEO Jamie MacDonald, Head of Pedagogy Sharon Carlson, and product manager Paul Gray to learn more about Storypark’s first artificial intelligence tools for early education, designed specifically for ECE educators.
Over the last two years, the Storypark team, alongside educators and managers, has been exploring how AI can be used within early childhood education to enhance educators' professional practice.
Jamie, Sharon, and Paul gave attendees an insight into:
- Storypark’s considered approach to AI
- The first AI-powered tools now available in Storypark
- A preview demonstration of the tools in action
- The 4 responsible AI commitments that drive decision-making
- Where Storypark AI is headed next
The story behind Storypark AI
Jamie kicked off the webinar by noting the huge impact of AI on the business landscape. As a business built on innovation, Jamie explained how the Storypark team was excited to explore the potential for using AI tools to unlock new possibilities, empower educators, and tackle some of the challenges facing the sector. There were however some valid concerns surrounding the implementation of this new technology, which is why the Storypark team decided to test out the capabilities and limitations of AI internally before even considering the development of Storypark-specific AI products. As Jamie explained, “The idea was really for us to become experts on what's possible and to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying technology, its constraints, its limitations, and where it could go next.”
Jamie then worked closely with the pedagogical consultancy team, headed by Sharon Carlson, to gain a better understanding of how different AI products were being used within the early childhood sector. Jamie set the team an independent research challenge to try the available tools and assess how they could best be used by educators in an ECE service. The pedagogical consultancy team then came together to debate the pros and cons of implementing AI into an ECE service.
The debate highlighted the exciting possibilities for AI tools, as well as some key concerns around authenticity and security. The Storypark team were left with a question: how could they implement AI into Storypark in a way that was safe, that considered the risks and concerns but also leveraged the opportunities on offer? To answer this question, the four responsible AI commitments were developed.
Storypark’s responsible AI commitments
The result of the aforementioned debate and brainstorming, the Storypark responsible AI commitments underpin all decision-making around AI and AI tools. These commitments ensure that AI works for educators in the most authentic, effective, and secure way possible.
These 4 commitments are:
- A collaborative and community-centric approach that ensures that AI tools are practical, effective, and aligned with the needs of the early childhood sector.
- A commitment to supporting quality practice that ensures that AI solutions are designed thoughtfully in partnership with ECE educators and leaders.
- A commitment to being open, honest, and transparent about where AI is present within Storypark and when and how AI is being used.
- A commitment to protecting privacy and security, ensuring that data is used ethically and securely with proactive compliance with all government regulations. With Storypark AI tools, data is processed securely through 3rd party AI models. It's never stored or used for training or other purposes.
The biggest challenges faced by educators and how AI can help
During their research, the team of Storypark pedagogical consultants began to develop an idea of how and why educators were reaching for AI tools in their professional practice.
They identified several areas where educators faced challenges that AI could assist with. These included:
- Within the planning cycle to help make pedagogical documentation more efficient. AI tools can help educators capture observations quickly through the use of things like voice notes and/or automated transcripts.
- For professional reflection on observations and evidence. AI tools can be useful in summarising evidence, creating and editing learning stories, and finding connections to guide assessment.
- In ‘where to next’ planning, turning evidence and insight into actionable strategies for immediate implementation into teaching practice.
From these challenges, the three key AI pillars were developed. Based on the planning cycle, Paul explained how this framework guides how educators document, reflect, and respond to children’s learning. “[By] integrating AI into the cycle [we] can enhance how educators gather the insights, reflect on learning, and really plan those next steps,” Paul added.
AI in action: Storypark’s story review
Paul and Sharon then walked us through the new AI-powered story review feature. The tool is designed to work alongside educators as a creative thought partner. It helps review an educator's writing and provides feedback, strengthening the learning story. Sharon explained further: “[Storypark have] carefully designed this feature to mentor, coach, and support your developing story skills and your confidence.” It is not designed to replace the unique knowledge and insight educators have into the children they work with. What it does is offer new insights and different perspectives that can help provide a deeper, more engaging, and authentic learning story.
Comprising of two suggestion sections, ‘Reflect on the learning’ and ‘Future opportunities and possibilities’, both suggestions can assist educators in confidently creating quality, insightful documentation. If stuck, educators can start with a little text in the story editor and gain pedagogically backed suggestions on how to extend their documentation. They can also use story review as a final chance to reflect on their work before publishing. Story review can be used as many times as needed, with the option to gain new suggestions by selecting 'review again' at any time.
The second suggestion, 'Future opportunities and possibilities', is designed to assist educators to plan the next steps in each child’s learning journey. This tool suggests connected, relevant ideas that can add complexity to a child's current interests, learning, and developmental skills.
Story review also offers the opportunity for you to give feedback directly about your experience of the tools. This feedback will assist in refining the available prompts and improving the product over time.
AI-powered spelling and grammar
Paul then introduced us to the new ‘spelling and grammar’ feature. When developing this feature, maintaining an authentic student voice was key. “One thing that's really important for us is the preservation of children's voices,” Paul explained. “So we've done our best to preserve anything that's wrapped in quotation marks or is quite clearly a comment from the child.” The ‘fix spelling and grammar’ feature helps edit common mistakes and improve the overall quality of writing while giving educators the confidence to hit publish knowing that their learning story is well-edited and free from spelling and grammatical errors.
Sharon added that many centres use Grammarly for this purpose, an extra step in the publishing process that could now be eliminated.
Multi-language translation
The final tool introduced to us was ‘translation.’ In a sector with rich cultural and linguistic diversity, this feature was designed to help foster inclusivity and break down some of the most common language barriers experienced by educators. Using the ‘translate’ feature, educators can write or dictate a story in any language and have it translated at the click of a button. Starting with six of the most commonly spoken languages, the first addition to Storypark AI will be more languages in the coming weeks.
What can educators expect next from Storypark AI?
Paul gave us a sneak peek of a prototype currently in the works. Utilising the power of learning tags (labels that can be attached to learning stories that relate to elements of curriculum, outcomes, or center philosophy) and learning sets (groups of those tags), this feature will suggest relevant learning tags by analysing the learning that has been documented. Sharon explained that this can “spark fresh insight into how the story actually links to your curriculum and to the main learning that occurred, providing a new approach to your story analysis while you remain firmly in control.”
For the Storypark team, this is only the beginning with further innovations coming in the near future as considered AI tools for early education continue to be developed and refined.
Ready to explore AI as part of your own practice?
Introducing Storypark AI is available to watch on demand – where you can see the tools for yourself, as well as gaining best practice tips for safe, successful implementation.
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March introductory offer: Storypark customers can claim 50% off their first month or year (depending on the term of current subscription), must be claimed before April 1st 2025.
Over 450 educators joined co-founder and CEO Jamie MacDonald, Head of Pedagogy Sharon Carlson, and product manager Paul Gray to learn more about Storypark’s first artificial intelligence tools for early education, designed specifically for ECE educators.
Over the last two years, the Storypark team, alongside educators and managers, has been exploring how AI can be used within early childhood education to enhance educators' professional practice.
Jamie, Sharon, and Paul gave attendees an insight into:
- Storypark’s considered approach to AI
- The first AI-powered tools now available in Storypark
- A preview demonstration of the tools in action
- The 4 responsible AI commitments that drive decision-making
- Where Storypark AI is headed next
The story behind Storypark AI
Jamie kicked off the webinar by noting the huge impact of AI on the business landscape. As a business built on innovation, Jamie explained how the Storypark team was excited to explore the potential for using AI tools to unlock new possibilities, empower educators, and tackle some of the challenges facing the sector. There were however some valid concerns surrounding the implementation of this new technology, which is why the Storypark team decided to test out the capabilities and limitations of AI internally before even considering the development of Storypark-specific AI products. As Jamie explained, “The idea was really for us to become experts on what's possible and to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying technology, its constraints, its limitations, and where it could go next.”
Jamie then worked closely with the pedagogical consultancy team, headed by Sharon Carlson, to gain a better understanding of how different AI products were being used within the early childhood sector. Jamie set the team an independent research challenge to try the available tools and assess how they could best be used by educators in an ECE service. The pedagogical consultancy team then came together to debate the pros and cons of implementing AI into an ECE service.
The debate highlighted the exciting possibilities for AI tools, as well as some key concerns around authenticity and security. The Storypark team were left with a question: how could they implement AI into Storypark in a way that was safe, that considered the risks and concerns but also leveraged the opportunities on offer? To answer this question, the four responsible AI commitments were developed.
Storypark’s responsible AI commitments
The result of the aforementioned debate and brainstorming, the Storypark responsible AI commitments underpin all decision-making around AI and AI tools. These commitments ensure that AI works for educators in the most authentic, effective, and secure way possible.
These 4 commitments are:
- A collaborative and community-centric approach that ensures that AI tools are practical, effective, and aligned with the needs of the early childhood sector.
- A commitment to supporting quality practice that ensures that AI solutions are designed thoughtfully in partnership with ECE educators and leaders.
- A commitment to being open, honest, and transparent about where AI is present within Storypark and when and how AI is being used.
- A commitment to protecting privacy and security, ensuring that data is used ethically and securely with proactive compliance with all government regulations. With Storypark AI tools, data is processed securely through 3rd party AI models. It's never stored or used for training or other purposes.
The biggest challenges faced by educators and how AI can help
During their research, the team of Storypark pedagogical consultants began to develop an idea of how and why educators were reaching for AI tools in their professional practice.
They identified several areas where educators faced challenges that AI could assist with. These included:
- Within the planning cycle to help make pedagogical documentation more efficient. AI tools can help educators capture observations quickly through the use of things like voice notes and/or automated transcripts.
- For professional reflection on observations and evidence. AI tools can be useful in summarising evidence, creating and editing learning stories, and finding connections to guide assessment.
- In ‘where to next’ planning, turning evidence and insight into actionable strategies for immediate implementation into teaching practice.
From these challenges, the three key AI pillars were developed. Based on the planning cycle, Paul explained how this framework guides how educators document, reflect, and respond to children’s learning. “[By] integrating AI into the cycle [we] can enhance how educators gather the insights, reflect on learning, and really plan those next steps,” Paul added.
AI in action: Storypark’s story review
Paul and Sharon then walked us through the new AI-powered story review feature. The tool is designed to work alongside educators as a creative thought partner. It helps review an educator's writing and provides feedback, strengthening the learning story. Sharon explained further: “[Storypark have] carefully designed this feature to mentor, coach, and support your developing story skills and your confidence.” It is not designed to replace the unique knowledge and insight educators have into the children they work with. What it does is offer new insights and different perspectives that can help provide a deeper, more engaging, and authentic learning story.
Comprising of two suggestion sections, ‘Reflect on the learning’ and ‘Future opportunities and possibilities’, both suggestions can assist educators in confidently creating quality, insightful documentation. If stuck, educators can start with a little text in the story editor and gain pedagogically backed suggestions on how to extend their documentation. They can also use story review as a final chance to reflect on their work before publishing. Story review can be used as many times as needed, with the option to gain new suggestions by selecting 'review again' at any time.
The second suggestion, 'Future opportunities and possibilities', is designed to assist educators to plan the next steps in each child’s learning journey. This tool suggests connected, relevant ideas that can add complexity to a child's current interests, learning, and developmental skills.
Story review also offers the opportunity for you to give feedback directly about your experience of the tools. This feedback will assist in refining the available prompts and improving the product over time.
AI-powered spelling and grammar
Paul then introduced us to the new ‘spelling and grammar’ feature. When developing this feature, maintaining an authentic student voice was key. “One thing that's really important for us is the preservation of children's voices,” Paul explained. “So we've done our best to preserve anything that's wrapped in quotation marks or is quite clearly a comment from the child.” The ‘fix spelling and grammar’ feature helps edit common mistakes and improve the overall quality of writing while giving educators the confidence to hit publish knowing that their learning story is well-edited and free from spelling and grammatical errors.
Sharon added that many centres use Grammarly for this purpose, an extra step in the publishing process that could now be eliminated.
Multi-language translation
The final tool introduced to us was ‘translation.’ In a sector with rich cultural and linguistic diversity, this feature was designed to help foster inclusivity and break down some of the most common language barriers experienced by educators. Using the ‘translate’ feature, educators can write or dictate a story in any language and have it translated at the click of a button. Starting with six of the most commonly spoken languages, the first addition to Storypark AI will be more languages in the coming weeks.
What can educators expect next from Storypark AI?
Paul gave us a sneak peek of a prototype currently in the works. Utilising the power of learning tags (labels that can be attached to learning stories that relate to elements of curriculum, outcomes, or center philosophy) and learning sets (groups of those tags), this feature will suggest relevant learning tags by analysing the learning that has been documented. Sharon explained that this can “spark fresh insight into how the story actually links to your curriculum and to the main learning that occurred, providing a new approach to your story analysis while you remain firmly in control.”
For the Storypark team, this is only the beginning with further innovations coming in the near future as considered AI tools for early education continue to be developed and refined.
Ready to explore AI as part of your own practice?
Introducing Storypark AI is available to watch on demand – where you can see the tools for yourself, as well as gaining best practice tips for safe, successful implementation.
March introductory offer: Storypark customers can claim 50% off their first month or year (depending on the term of current subscription), must be claimed before April 1st 2025.