If you’ve noticed the growing pressure to understand AI in education—whether it’s your child’s teacher mentioning ChatGPT policies or your own questions about how these tools affect learning—you’re not alone. That instinct to want clarity before diving in is exactly right. Understanding AI’s capabilities and limitations is becoming essential for every parent and educator, and one community college is making that knowledge accessible to everyone.
Free Monthly AI Training Begins in January
Finger Lakes Community College in New York is launching a complimentary monthly webinar series designed to help educators, parents, and community members navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in education. The series kicks off January 13, 2026, with sessions running 30-40 minutes on Zoom, followed by live Q&A. Topics include AI bias awareness, using AI personas for perspective-building, and leveraging NotebookLM for information synthesis and analysis.
Dave Ghidiu, an associate professor at FLCC, will lead the series as part of the FLX AI Hub initiative launched earlier this year. Sessions will be recorded and made available through YouTube and the Finger Lakes TV network for those unable to attend live. Registration is free through the FLCC events calendar.
Free AI webinars for parents and educators starting January. FLCC is teaching what schools should: how AI actually works, including its limitations.
Addressing Real Concerns About AI in Learning
The first session focuses on a critical topic: AI bias. As AI tools become more prevalent in educational settings, understanding how these systems reflect human stereotypes embedded in their training data becomes essential for thoughtful implementation. This kind of practical, grounded education helps parents and teachers ask better questions about the AI tools their children encounter—whether that’s in classroom assignments or homework helpers. For more on using AI thoughtfully with children, see these practical approaches to AI in education.
The February and March sessions build on this foundation, exploring how AI personas can help educators and students build perspective-taking skills, and how synthesis tools can help organize and analyze information more effectively. These aren’t abstract concepts—they’re practical skills parents and teachers can apply immediately.
Dave’s presentation allowed them to have a more informed opinion about how AI works and how to help students see its benefits and its limitations Attribution: Nick Fargnoli, Director of Students at Norman Howard School
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
What This Means for Families
Free, accessible AI education fills a critical gap. Many parents feel caught between two extremes: fearing AI will harm their children’s learning, or being told they must embrace every new tool without question. Neither extreme serves families well. When educators like those at Norman Howard School invited Ghidiu to present, teachers came away with “a more informed opinion about how AI works and how to help students see its benefits and its limitations,” according to school director Nick Fargnoli.
This balanced approach—neither demonizing nor blindly adopting technology—aligns with research showing that parental understanding and involvement remains the strongest factor in helping children navigate digital tools effectively. Research on screen time and digital wellness consistently shows that informed, engaged parents make the biggest difference in how technology affects their children.
Key takeaways
- Free webinars start January 13: Finger Lakes Community College launches complimentary monthly AI literacy series covering bias, personas, and synthesis tools.
- Practical skills for families: Sessions help parents and educators understand AI capabilities and limitations to guide children's technology use effectively.
- Recordings available online: All sessions recorded for YouTube and local TV, making AI education accessible regardless of schedule.
Growing Movement Toward AI Literacy
FLCC’s initiative reflects a broader recognition that AI literacy—understanding what these tools can and cannot do—is becoming as fundamental as traditional computer skills. Organizations like ISTE, AI for Education, and EdTechTeacher are all expanding their offerings to meet demand from educators seeking practical guidance. What makes programs like FLCC’s particularly valuable is their accessibility: free, short sessions designed for busy professionals and parents.
For families considering how to approach AI with their children, starting with your own education is a powerful first step. When parents understand AI’s capabilities and limitations, they can guide conversations rather than simply reacting to what their children bring home from school. The most effective technology use in families happens when parents lead from a place of knowledge, not anxiety.
Every parent deserves access to straightforward, unbiased information about the tools shaping their children’s education—not marketing hype or fear-mongering. When community colleges step up to offer free, practical AI education, they’re giving families something precious: the knowledge to make informed decisions. Too often, parents are left navigating complex technology questions without resources, expected to figure it out alone while systems move forward without them. If you’re ready to take charge of your child’s learning journey with the support you deserve, the Learning Success All Access Program offers a free trial that includes a personalized Action Plan—and you keep that plan even if you decide it’s not the right fit.
See what All Access gives your child
See MTSS for schools
Is your child struggling in school?
Get your free personalized learning roadmap
You describe what you see at home. We turn it into a plan you start this week.
- Answer 5 short questionnaires about what you already notice, 30–45 minutes at your own kitchen table
- Your child sits no test and gets no score: nothing to schedule, nothing for them to dread
- You do the answering, the AI does the writing, and a person reviews it before it reaches you
- Access all 40+ courses instantly: reading, math, focus, processing and more, with new ones added regularly
Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits. We work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. The roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.
Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
Your answers stay yours. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not hand identifiable assessment data to outside AI companies to train their models.
A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
References
- Finger Lakes 1 - FLCC Launches Free AI Webinar Series
