The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) EdTech and Innovations team spotlighted the future of learning and work during Digital Citizenship Week by leading a series of training workshops on emerging artificial intelligence tools. The sessions gave staff hands-on opportunities to experiment with AI and reflect on how it can support their daily work.

Across the organization, employees are already finding creative ways to apply AI in their roles: 

• Supporting Compliance Research 
  Gerardo Salazar, who works in the Curriculum and Instructional Services team, uses AI to guide his research into education code and related regulations. While he doesn’t rely on AI for final answers, he appreciates how it provides “cookie crumbs” that point toward state, federal, or HIPAA guidelines he might not have considered. “It sparks the process and gives me a starting point,” he explained. “Sometimes getting started is the hardest part—AI helps me get there and then I take it further with my own research.”

• Enhancing Human Resources Workflows  
  Lizbeth Valenzuela, a Human Resources Analysts, finds AI useful in drafting and refining job descriptions. She uses AI to brainstorm job duties description and align them with LACOE’s needs. “It helps me figure out what’s missing in order to complete tasks,” she said. While she notes the challenge of getting AI to match the exact style of LACOE’s existing documents, she values how the tools break down technical information into digestible insights that make sense from her perspective. 

Other staff described AI as a “gamechanger” that sparks creativity and increases efficiency. They are excited to keep experimenting with these tools and discover more ways they can support the organization’s mission. 

The AI training sessions created space for staff to explore, test ideas and share best practices. By blending guidance from LACOE experts with hands-on exploration, participants are learning what AI can—and cannot—do, and how to use it responsibly to enhance their work.