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AI Lab Fieldnotes

AI Lab Fieldnotes are narrative pieces from the field, drawn from conversations with leaders at Michigan school districts and Intermediate School Districts (ISDs), as well as the AI Strategists at Michigan Virtual who work alongside them. Each fieldnote follows one theme that surfaced across those conversations and connects it to Michigan Virtual’s AI Integration Framework.

Read one, a few, or all of them, in any order. Browse by Framework domain below, or keep scrolling to see how the Framework, the AI Lab, and the AI Strategists fit together, and how districts can use the fieldnotes to inform their own work across the state.

The fieldnotes

About the series

AI integration often progresses unevenly across a school district. Meaningful progress in professional learning, for example, might sit alongside open questions about policy, student use, or family communication. These fieldnotes examine what that uneven progress looks like in Michigan schools, drawing on districts’ experiences and highlighting practical lessons to help others navigate their own AI integration efforts.

Each fieldnote is organized around a theme, not around a district, so pieces draw on voices from several places. Leaders from Michigan K-12 public school districts and regional agencies shared their work for this series, and are shown below. Their work looks different from one district to the next, and the series leans into that. The fieldnotes point out where approaches diverge, from a regional agency building shared guidance for its member districts to one district embedding AI in an initiative it already had underway, because the contrast is often where the learning is.

Map of Michigan's counties with the districts and ISDs featured in this series highlighted in orange and numbered: 1 Clare-Gladwin RESD (Clare and Gladwin counties); 2 COOR ISD (Crawford, Oscoda, Ogemaw, and Roscommon counties); 3 Huron ISD, a multi-county collaborative model with Tuscola and Sanilac counties; 4 Lapeer Community Schools (Lapeer County); 5 Livingston ESA (Livingston County); 6 Muskegon Area ISD (Muskegon County); 7 St. Joseph Public Schools (Berrien County).

The Framework connection

Every fieldnote is anchored to Michigan Virtual’s AI Integration Framework for School Districts, a planning tool that helps school leaders assess where their district stands and decide what to do next. The Framework describes eight domains of district work across three stages of maturity. It was built to support planning conversations and is the shared language that lets pieces about very different topics fit together.

Three stages

  1. Investigating Leaders and educators are beginning to understand what AI could do for teaching, learning, and operations. There is curiosity and exploration, but not yet a district-wide plan or endorsement of widespread use.
  2. Implementing Leadership has a plan and an implementation team. Policies and guidelines are taking shape, professional learning is available, and AI is being woven into specific parts of the work.
  3. Innovating AI is part of how the district teaches, learns, and operates, guided by a vision that leaders at every level understand. Policy is Board-approved, educators and students use AI to personalize and rethink learning, and the district has a plan to evaluate AI’s impact, including efforts to narrow equity gaps.

Eight domains

Leadership & Vision
How leaders understand AI, set direction, and plan, aligned to the district’s strategic priorities.
Policy, Ethical, & Legal Considerations
Board policy, ethical guidelines, student privacy, and data protection.
Instructional Framework
How educators explore and use AI in planning, personalization, and teaching practice.
Learning Assessments
How AI changes the way learning is measured, from formative checks to performance-based tasks.
Professional Learning
The training and support educators receive to build understanding and confidence.
Student Use
How students learn about, and with, AI, including responsible and ethical use.
Business & Technology Operations
Using AI to streamline administrative work and building the technology ecosystem to support it.
Outreach
Two-way communication with staff, families, and community about how AI is being used.
The idea behind the series The Framework is a system, not a checklist. A district can be Implementing in one domain while still Investigating in another, and the AI Strategists describe progress as movement across several domains at once rather than perfecting one before starting the next. That is why the series is a collection of themed pieces.

Each fieldnote includes a Framework Connection card in its sidebar. The domains the piece draws on appear in color and the rest in gray, with a brief explanation at the bottom of the card that names the primary connection and, where there is one, a secondary connection.

Using the fieldnotes

These pieces are meant to be used as well as read. Each one is built so a leadership team, a task force, or an individual can pull something out of it and act. Here are six ways districts and ISDs can put them to work.

  1. Start with the problem in front of you

    Use the Browse by Framework domain filter above to find the fieldnote that matches your current question, such as policy, professional learning, or student use.

  2. Place yourself on the Framework

    Look at the eight domains and notice where you sit in each. Stage is domain-by-domain, so read the fieldnote for the domain you most want to move.

  3. Turn a fieldnote into a team conversation

    Read one ahead of a meeting, open with its guiding question, and use the "Questions you should be asking" card as a discussion guide. Close by choosing one takeaway to test. For more prompts by domain, the Planning Guide for AI includes discussion questions for local planning.

  4. Borrow and adapt

    Resource sections link to district-shared artifacts such as guidance documents, usage scales, and policy templates, alongside Michigan Virtual slide decks. Treat them as starting points to fit your own context.

  5. Find a parallel to your own setting

    Each "MI Featured in this fieldnote" card names the type of institution and the lesson it illustrates, so you can quickly find a K-12 district or regional agency whose situation resembles yours.

  6. Take the next step with support

    Every fieldnote points to Framework-aligned microcredentials and AI Lab resources. Districts that want a partner can contact Michigan Virtual about custom training and strategist support.

The AI Lab and the AI Strategists

What the AI Lab is

The AI Lab is part of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute (MVLRI) at Michigan Virtual, a nonprofit organization. It was established in 2023 as a hub for research, best practices, experimentation, policy development, and awareness around the responsible use of AI in Michigan schools. Its work falls into three broad areas:

  • Research: MVLRI studies how AI is showing up in Michigan education, including survey work on how students and staff use AI and how much guidance they have received. This research helps to inform the guidance and training the AI Lab offers.
  • Free resources: The AI Lab hosts guides for administrators, teachers, students, and parents; a planning guide built on the Framework; AI literacy resources; webinars; podcasts; and the AI Safety Pack.
  • Learning and partnership: Educators can earn AI Integration Microcredentials aligned to the Framework’s domains. Districts and ISDs can also work directly with AI Strategists through customized training, workshops, and ongoing support.

What AI Strategists do

AI Strategists are Michigan Virtual’s in-house advisors on AI integration for schools. They work with leadership teams, task forces, coaches, and teachers across Michigan, and they see patterns that a single district may not be able to see from the inside. Several habits show up in how they describe their approach.

  • They start from a district’s own priorities. Instead of arriving with a standard rollout, they look at the goals a district has already set and ask where AI can serve them, so it does not read as one more thing on a full plate.
  • They build a solid footing first. The aim is for a district to be well grounded in Investigating across most domains before pushing ahead: leadership trained and aligned, policy and guidance in place, and open conversation replacing quiet, siloed use.
  • They name the hard parts. Fear, limited time, and uncertainty are addressed directly, with benefits, risks, and limitations discussed in a balanced way.
  • They help districts build structures that last. A task force or advisory group often anchors the move toward Implementing, and the goal is for local leaders and coaches to carry the work forward on their own.
  • They work differently with ISDs. A district can write specific guidance tied to its own policies. An ISD serves many districts, so its role is more often to create templates and capacity that member districts adapt.

AI Strategists also gauge progress by how people feel as well as by how often they use the tools. Exit and sentiment surveys track whether people feel more confident about where they stand and whether a shared language is emerging across staff.

The strategists in this series

The district and ISD conversations are paired with a second set of interviews with the people who work alongside them. Their cross-district view runs through every fieldnote. Aaron Baughman, who served as an AI Strategist for Michigan Virtual (on loan from Northville Public Schools) and is now the Associate Director of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships for MASSP, was interviewed about his work with districts during that time.

  • Karle Delo AI Strategist Director, Michigan Virtual More than 14 years in public education as a science teacher, technology integrationist, and curriculum director. Leads the AI Lab’s AI Ambassadors, a group of educators building classroom exemplars. In the series: culture, professional learning, and the teacher perspective.
  • Mike Maksimchuk, EdD AI Strategist Brings a classroom background and co-authored books on assessing multilingual learners. Offers a domain-by-domain view of where districts stand. In the series: assessment, initiative fatigue, and what the earliest stages really look like.
  • Dr. Alexandra Lee, Ph.D. AI Strategist Joined Michigan Virtual in June 2026 after working at an education technology company. Brings a fresh view of how districts adopt new tools. In the series: how AI differs from past edtech adoption, and the student-voice gap.
  • Aaron Baughman Associate Director of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, MASSP Worked with Michigan districts as an AI Strategist for Michigan Virtual and co-chairs the Michigan Statewide AI Steering Committee. In the series: the Framework as a system, parallel movement across domains, and leadership.

AI Lab Fieldnotes is a series from the AI Lab at Michigan Virtual. Last updated: