AI in education is no longer a future trend. It's already changing how K-12 teachers plan lessons, give feedback and support students, alongside tools schools have used for years. And it's only the latest chapter in a much longer story of edtech.
Classroom technology has come a long way since the first school computer labs appeared in the 1980s. According to a 2025 Gallup and Walton Family Foundation survey, 60% of K-12 teachers used AI tools during the 2024-25 school year. Teachers who use AI weekly say it saves them close to six hours a week, time they can put back into lesson planning, feedback and one-on-one support.
AI use is building on tools that have already become common in classrooms. Learning management systems give students one place to track deadlines, message classmates and pull up course materials from any device. Learning strategies like gamification, the process of turning everyday lessons into engaging, game-like experiences, make harder subjects easier to approach. Coding courses have expanded to more than 60% of American high schools, according to a 2025 Code.org Advocacy Coalition report.
These changes raise the bar for what teachers need to know. A degree that combines instructional design, child development and hands-on classroom experience gives future teachers the foundation to adapt as new tools and new expectations keep arriving.
How is AI changing the classroom for teachers?
Artificial intelligence gives teachers a new window into how students think, not just what answers they give. When a student works through a problem using an AI-enabled tool, their thought process leaves a trace. Teachers can see where a student hesitates, where they take a conceptual leap and where they lean on a memorized step instead of real understanding.
“For the first time in the history of education, we can see learning as it happens,” says Carole Basile, dean of Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation, in an article about AI and learning.
That visibility changes what elementary teachers do each day. Instead of waiting to grade finished work, a teacher can respond to a student's thinking in the moment, adjusting a lesson or stepping in before a misconception takes hold.
Some parents and teachers wonder whether AI will eventually replace the classroom teacher. Basile pushes back on that idea: “AI does not diminish the educator's role. It elevates it. It asks educators to exercise judgment, empathy and ethical reasoning in ways that were not possible when learning was largely invisible.”
“AI can surface patterns, but it cannot determine what those patterns mean for a particular learner in a particular moment,” Basile says. “These decisions remain profoundly human.” A tool can flag a pattern. Only a teacher can decide what that pattern means for the child in front of them and how to respond with care.
Mapping technology in higher education
Higher education went through its own technology shift as learning management systems and online portfolios became standard on college campuses in the mid-to-late 2000s. Many college students now say digital tools save them time and improve how they learn.
That shift continues as more members of Generation Z start college. These students grew up with technology, so they expect campuses to support tools such as AI assistants, augmented reality and virtual reality in instruction.
Online and hybrid learning have also reshaped higher education. In fall 2024, over half of American college students took at least one online course, and more than a quarter were enrolled exclusively online, according to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
That shift toward online and blended learning created new roles across higher education, most notably the instructional designer, a professional who builds courses and digital learning experiences using research on how people learn best.
Preparing future educators to use AI effectively
Arizona State University is already putting these ideas into practice. The Artificial Intelligence in Education collaborative at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation connects faculty, students and community partners to test how AI can support teaching, from AI mentors to workshops for K-12 teachers.
That work shapes how ASU prepares the next generation of teachers. “If teams are essential to the future of learning, then preparation must become team-based as well,” Basile says. Teacher candidates learn to work alongside mentor teachers and each other, not only to use AI tools but to interpret what those tools reveal about how a student is learning.
Earn your online degree in education from Arizona State University
Arizona State University offers more than one path into a career shaping how children learn.
If you're beginning your undergraduate studies, you can earn your Bachelor of Arts in education in elementary education online at ASU. The program builds your foundation in instructional design and child development, then puts it into practice through hands-on classroom internships and a final student teaching placement with a mentor teacher. If you want to explore a related path first, ASU also offers online degrees in educational studies, early childhood studies and instructional design.
If you already hold a bachelor's degree in any field, you can earn your Master of Education in elementary education – teacher certification online at ASU and become certified to teach grades K-8 in as few as 17 courses.
Both programs are part of the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation, ranked No. 1 in the nation for its online master's in educational and instructional media programs by U.S. News & World Report.
AI is already changing what happens in the classroom. ASU prepares you to be the teacher who decides how.