A: Co-Lab began in 2024 when a group of educators from nine different independent schools identified a need for higher-quality professional development and greater interschool dialogue around generative AI topics, especially hands-on PD with a focus on pedagogy rather than on school policy or specific tools. We decided to structure our work into monthly Exploration Cycles, each crafted with a focus on a specific AI use case for a classroom context. We also developed a discussion framework and set of norms to facilitate synchronous conversations that are laser-focused on teaching and learning. In 2024-2025, Co-Lab grew from its original nine members to several hundred active participants.

A: Every member of Co-Lab’s leadership circle is a full-time educator at an independent school. We volunteer our time to organize the professional development that we wanted for ourselves. Co-Lab continues to work because of the enthusiasm and commitment of returning participants who are willing to step-up and assist in designing our Explorations and leading our Collaboration Calls, from acting as a leader during breakout room discussions, to editing and facilitating Co-Lab Explorations. In summer 2025, Co-Lab received an Edward E. Ford Foundation Grant to support its continued work offering free, high-quality AI PD to independent school educators.

Each Co-Lab Exploration is the product of a collaborative design process among Co-Lab leaders, full-time educators from diverse schools and disciplines. By way of example, in 2024-2025, our exploration topics cycles included Explorations like AI for Lesson Design led by Nate Green (Sidwell) and Nick Zufelt (Andover) and AI for Differentiation and Personalization led by Kelly Enright (Vail Mountain School) and Ryan Farrington (Tabor).

• Sept: AI for Lesson Design Nate Green (Sidwell) + Nick Zufelt (Andover)

• Oct: AI as Tutor/AI as Student Nick Zufelt (Andover) + Rachel Sopko (Kent)

• Nov: AI for Metacognition Seth Battis (Groton) + Sarah DuBeau-Farley (Thayer)

• Jan: AI for Differentiation & Personalization Kelly Enright (VMS)  + Ryan Farrington (TVT)

• Feb: Discipline-Specific Explorations (Round 1) led by Maureen Russo Rodríguez (St. Mark’s)

  • History DSE 1 Melissa Poole (St. Paul’s) and Grant Edwards (Peddie)

  • English DSE 1 Diana Curtis (Webb School of Knoxville) + Ron Spalletta (St. Mark’s) 

  • Science DSE 1 Ned Heckman (Loomis Chaffe)

  • CompSci DSE 1 Nick Zufelt (Andover)

  • World Languages DSE 1 Maureen Russo Rodríguez (St. Mark’s)

  • Library DSE 1 Anne Macdonell (St. Andrew’s) + Stephanie Gamble (Sidwell) + Amanda Waugh (St. Andrew’s)

• Mar: AI for Feedback Nick Zufelt (Andover) + Rob Gamble (St. Andrew’s Episcopal School)

• April: AI for Research Nate Green (Sidwell) + Melissa Poole (St. Paul’s School)

• May: AI for Engagement Steve Armandt (Sidwell) + Josh Lake (Pomfret) 

Summer: SAIL, a tailored sampling of 24-25 explorations led by Diana Curtis (Webb) and Melissa Battis (Greenhill)

Co-Lab welcomes members with any level of experience experimenting with AI who are eager to embrace our guiding values. Many Co-Lab participants have AI experience and enjoy the growth opportunities of exploring in a community where they can challenge themselves in good company. Newcomers benefit from the opportunity to learn alongside a supportive community of other teachers with a range of AI experience.

Frontier models are the top generative AI models available to consumers. They are widely considered to be OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude. We recommend using these to develop AI literacy around which models work best, why, and how. This also ensures we work with the same models that our students use.

Yes! Just be sure to give credit to Co-Lab when you share or adapt our materials. And we ask that you stress Co-Lab’s values and mission: our Explorations are meant to stimulate collaborative and open-ended discussions where we weigh the power, potential, and pitfalls of AI use in education.

Email is an ideal way to connect. Participants should always feel free to drop a comment in the chat to indicate interest in sharing resources or ideas around a specific topic and/or to just take the initiative to reach out to another educator they connected with on a call. We also have a LinkedIn page where you can find other members.

Co-Lab aims to create a space where conversations center on AI experimentation in the context of teaching and learning. Our choice to focus solely on pedagogy was driven in large part by our frustration when other topics tended to dominate the conversations at our schools, taking time and attention away from our core work of teaching. Keeping other topics out of the mix during our Collaboration Calls allow us to focus more deeply on that priority. That said, we strongly encourage members to connect outside of our calls to discuss other topics of interest. Opportunities to start/continue conversations about these interrelated topics is a perfect example of how Co-Laborators should leverage our incredible network.

Hard no. Do not use our network for promotional purposes of any kind. It’s not that kind of community.

Please don’t. Sit this cycle out and join us for the next one! If you have not done the Exploration, you will not have anything to contribute to the Collaboration Call.

When there is an especially high interest among Co-Lab participants in discussing the same AI-related topic that falls outside the scope or spirit of our pedagogically-focused explorations, Co-Lab leaders may opt to host a “Sidebar,” an offshoot conversation open to members of Co-Lab who have actively participated in explorations. For example, in August 2025, we held a panel on AI policy in independent schools. Co-Lab Sidebars are only open to members who have actively participated in Co-Lab Explorations. While our mission centers on hands-on experimentation for educators, we believe in leveraging the wisdom of our network in ways that benefit independent schools.