AI in Catholic Education: What K-12 Schools Owe Their Students

EPISODE DESCRIPTION Schools should give students what the digital world cannot: shared time for learning and trustworthy relationships. Lewis Poché of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education joins Jason Padgett to explain what that means in the age of AI. They examine product versus process, age-appropriate AI literacy, teacher and student double standards, and the risks of sycophancy and anthropomorphism. Lewis also connects Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas to the work of building guardrails with students instead of leaving them alone with the tools. ABOUT THE GUEST Lewis Poché is the Associate Program Director of Higher-Powered Learning at the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education. He taught middle school math and science through the ACE Teaching Fellows program and now helps Catholic school educators connect technology choices to student formation, human dignity, and sound teaching practice. GUEST LINKS LinkedIn:   / lewispoche   Notre Dame ACE profile: https://ace.nd.edu/people/lewis-poche Step Up EdTech: https://www.lewispoche.com/ TIME STAMPS 00:00 - Lewis Poché and the K-12 AI question 06:01 - Teacher time, better feedback, and richer assessment 08:40 - Product versus process in student learning 12:06 - Teaching students to become creators and explorers 18:07 - Magnifica Humanitas, Nehemiah, and the educator’s role 24:00 - Why banning AI for younger students repeats the social media mistake 30:42 - Sycophancy, anthropomorphism, and young learners 40:26 - The three dimensions of AI literacy 48:43 - What schools can offer that the digital world cannot 52:15 - Teachers using AI while students are told they cannot 59:10 - Guardrails and testing school AI tools CONNECT WITH JASON PADGETT AI Solutions Architect 📧 [email protected] LinkedIn:   / jason-grant-padgett   X: https://x.com/NoCodeCAIO Newsletter (No Code CAIO): https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/news... Available for interviews and keynotes on AI in education → https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/events AGI PODCAST NETWORK School's Out Saturdays: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/ Field Notes newsletter: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/fiel... Indiana AI education events: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/events All AGI Podcast shows: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/network TOOLS JASON RECOMMENDS MindStudio → https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdq Riverside.fm → https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBr Wispr Flow → https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgett RESOURCES MENTIONED Higher-Powered Learning: https://ace.nd.edu/programs/hpl AI in Catholic Education: https://ace.nd.edu/programs/higher-po... Magnifica Humanitas: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xi... Common Sense Media research on teen use of AI companions: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/rese... MagicSchool: https://www.magicschool.ai/ SchoolAI: https://schoolai.com/