Pictured is Athena Stanley of Athena Global Learning. (Photo courtesy of Athena Global Learning)

MARQUETTE — Athena Stanley launched Athena Global Learning earlier this year as a company looking to innovate education using emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

“The COVID pandemic resulted in a lot of gaps in learning,” said Stanley. “I currently work with students who are trying to close that gap in literacy.”

Athena Global Learning also works with small businesses and community members to help them better understand AI, such as in an April workshop on “using AI effectively, ethically and responsibly in business,” or an upcoming workshop on introducing AI to parents. The company also offers one-on-one coaching sessions and consultations.

“Every workshop that we deliver will have some decision-making framework components as well as a discussion on ethics versus integrity,” said Stanley. “That’s where the learning really begins. Athena Global Learning doesn’t promote any particular tool, but we use several and explore several in what we do.”

Stanley’s background is in teaching, with experience teaching at the elementary and college level. She has a PhD in curriculum instruction and the science of learning and has taught in four countries.

One of her recent projects was presenting at the Upper Peninsula Teaching and Learning Conference about using AI to generate teaching materials.

“It’s great for instructor efficiency, and can really help the instructors pocket their time, to go back and spend it on what they love doing best and what they do best, which is helping students,” said Stanley.

The topic of Artificial Intelligence has been a controversial one, but Stanely says that most people who participate in her workshops have been appreciative.

“The reception has, overall, been positive,” said Stanley. “Most people have been curious about what we do and have been very receptive to the content of our workshops.”

“We did get some pushback, and that’s to be expected,” said Stanley. “And that’s one of the great things about living in a democracy is that we have these divergent viewpoints, and that’s important to ensuring that, ultimately, the decisions that are made in any field, including education, or in any systems, including those that AI will inform and continue to change, is that discourse.”

Stanley describes some of that pushback she has received as revolving around environmental impact and machine learning replacing human creativity.

“What it requires is people having the conversations, industry, professionals, and policy makers hearing both sides of every argument, and really working together to create policy that will drive the next stages of the AI revolution,” said Stanley.

Stanley recently received the AbbVie Migraine Career Catalyst Award from AbbVie Pharmaceuticals; an up to $2,500 award for people living with migraine who are looking to further their careers.

“AbbVie is a company that has been very supportive of my endeavors in terms of building Athena Global Learning, and the award came up last summer on LinkedIn,” said Stanley. “It was great timing because I had just quite recently been diagnosed with migraines.”

“I was really honored to have gotten that award, and I don’t know if I would have been able to start my company without it,” said Stanley. “What it did, in addition to giving a little kickstarter for me to do things like pay for the subscription for my website, get a backdrop, and some lights for my living room so that I can start filming videos, buy a printer and some ink; what it did more so than the material things was give me the confidence to take the first step to register the company and start giving workshops.”

Stanley envisions that her company will continue to adapt with changing technologies.

“The mission in that regard will always remain the same, to be global, to be connecting, and to make things available to a wide audience,” said Stanley.

“I do want to keep this broad, because I want young children in grades three and above to have some concept of critical literacy when it comes to AI, and some concept of what it means to be ethical and follow the rules, and what it means to have integrity and hold themselves accountable for telling their parents that they used AI,” said Stanley. “And so when you’re doing that, you have to work with the parents, too. You have to essentially show the parents what the tools are and how they operate, and then help them to come up with some plans for what use will look like in their own household. Coming up with a family agreement is really the foundation for that.”

More information about Athena Global Learning can be found at athenagloballearning.com or by emailing contact@athenagloballearning.com.

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.