Looking Ahead to Atom Camp Arabia on November 26
This coming Wednesday, November 26, 2025, at 10 AM CST, I will give my first international AI presentation, a session for Atom Camp Arabia titled Using AI to Transform Assessment. I’ve presented on AI in education across the United States, but stepping into a global space feels like a distinct challenge. It feels like a threshold moment, the kind that makes you stop, breathe, and recognize how far you’ve come.
Why This Moment Matters
Assessment is one of the most universal challenges in education. Whether you teach in Iowa or across the world, every educator knows the pressure:
- Too many tests
- Too little time
- Too much data that arrives too late to matter
- Too many students who feel reduced to a number
So the opportunity to speak internationally about rethinking assessment through AI doesn’t feel like just another presentation. It feels like joining a global conversation that is long overdue.
A Free Invitation to Join Me
One of the things I love most about this opportunity is that the webinar is free and open to all participants. If you’d like to join me live, whether you’re curious about AI, or passionate about assessment, I’d love to have you there.
Here is the registration link: https://atomcamparabia.com/webinars#register2
The Vision I’ll Be Sharing
As I finish building my slides, these are the ideas I keep returning to, ideas I know I’ll share with educators from across the globe.
1. Assessment should become formative by default.
Imagine a world where students get immediate, personalized feedback…Where educators know, in real-time, what students are understanding. Where assessment stops being something we “do to kids” and becomes something we “do for learning.”
AI makes this not only possible but profoundly practical.
2. Measurement should be multimodal.
Writing and multiple-choice questions only capture a slice of human thinking. AI allows students to demonstrate understanding through speech, visuals, demonstrations, simulations, and whatever best honors how they learn.
As a special education teacher, this shift feels revolutionary. It makes assessment more accessible, more equitable, and more humane.
3. Growth should replace sorting.
The heart of this presentation, and the heart of my personal mission, is a simple but radical shift:
Assessment should stop ranking students and start guiding them.
AI allows us to map individual learning journeys, but humans decide how to use that information ethically, responsibly, and compassionately.
Preparing to Cross Borders
As I prepare for Wednesday, I’ve been thinking about the educators who will be on the other side of the screen:
- What are their hopes for AI?
- What are their fears?
- How do their systems challenge, or support, innovation?
- What will resonate across cultural and structural differences?
- And the more I think about it, the more I realize something:
- Even across borders, our questions are similar.
- Our aspirations are similar.
- Our desire to do right by students is universal.
A Moment of Personal Reflection
This upcoming presentation feels like the culmination of years of work:
- Advocacy for safe, equitable AI in schools
- Leadership at the state and national levels
- Countless hours supporting teachers in technology integration
- The work I’ve done as an ISTE + ASCD AI Fellow
- My belief that teachers must become leaders in AI literacy
On Wednesday at 10 AM CST, I won’t just be sharing a presentation. I’ll be stepping into the global conversation I’ve been preparing for throughout my entire career.
Looking Ahead With Gratitude
I’m grateful for the opportunity. Grateful for the educators who will show up. Grateful for the chance to connect across continents. And grateful for this moment, a reminder that our work in AI and assessment is not just technical. It’s deeply human.
Next week, I’ll share how it went. But for now, I’m savoring the anticipation, and the responsibility, of what comes next.
Paula Johnson Tech 
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