Generative Problem Solving: Design and Computational Thinking in an AI Age

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Strand Leaders

photo of Jeff Bailey

Jeff Bailey

Technology Teacher

Mountain Valley H.S., Rumford, ME

jeffrey.bailey@maine.edu; @JBailey8

photo of Dan Ryder

Dan Ryder

Learning Facilitator

CRCS Overman, Skowhegan, ME

daniel.ryder1@maine.edu; @WickedDecent

Strand Description

All we hear about is the disruptive technology called Artificial Intelligence (AI). Is it the end of human thought and creativity? Is it the robot coming to take over your job? Or is it a technology tool, like many before, that has the capability to enhance our work and actually return to us the most valuable resource: our time. In this session, participants will work with two strand leaders to understand what generative AI tools exist and build a framework for how we might employ those tools in our own impact areas. Using the problem solving tools of Computational Thinking and Design Thinking, participants will leave with a clearer sense of how AI can help address everyday challenges.

  • Participants will better understand the nature of Generative AI tools.
  • Participants will use Design Thinking and Computational Thinking
    methods to identify parameters for AI use in their own work.

Jeff Bailey

Jeff Bailey is a technology teacher at Mountain Valley High School. He teaches Computer Science, CAD, architectural design and engineering, and serves as the co-advisor of the Civil Rights Team. He spent ten years as an English teacher at MVHS before switching to technology. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s of Science in secondary education from the University of Maine at Farmington and a Master’s of Science in Educational Technology from the University of Maine. Jeff is also an adjunct instructor in the UMaine Graduate Education program, focusing on Computer Science and Computational Thinking. He was also the 2014 Oxford County Teacher of the Year and Lawrence O’Toole Award recipient. He lives in Jay Maine with his wife and daughter. He stays busy helping with his daughter’s robotics team, running table top and role playing games and working on matters of equity and anti-racism in his school and community. 

Dan Ryder

Idea wrangler, design thinker and head scratcher, Dan Ryder serves as a learning facilitator at CRCS Overman, a project-based, unapologetically learner-centered public charter school in rural Skowhegan, Maine. His daily work integrates best practices of human-centered design, restorative practices, social emotional learning and makerspaces. He’s the co-author of INTENTION: Critical Creativity in the Classroom (Blend Learning, 2019) and writer of PANELS & PERSPECTIVES: Creating Comics in the EFL Classroom (US Dept of State, 2019). He can be found on social media @WickedDecent and at www.DanRyder207.com

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