JACKSONVILLE, AL — As originally reported by Brett Buckner with JSU’s media department, Andrea Taylor, Alabama Technology in Motion specialist at Jacksonville State University’s College of Education and Professional Studies, has been selected as a Google Certified Innovator, joining a group of 3,307 educators chosen across 67 cohorts during the program’s 20-year history.
Taylor was one of 35 educators from around the world invited to Atlanta to participate in Google’s Innovation Academy, an intensive program centered on design thinking and the development of solutions to challenges in education.
Her work through the program focuses on a growing issue facing educators and students: how artificial intelligence can be incorporated into education without replacing students’ own thinking and work.
To address that challenge, Taylor is developing the Multimodal Outline Builder, or MOB, a platform intended to help students organize their ideas and begin the writing process while maintaining ownership of their work.
“Think about a student who can talk your ear off about any topic, but the second they have to organize a topic into a formal essay, anxiety sets in,” Taylor said. “MOB allows students to simply dump their raw handwritten doodles, voice recordings, and notes into the app along with the teacher’s prompt and selected writing style.”
The platform analyzes the material submitted by students and produces two customized outline options that can be used as a starting point for drafting in a Google document. Rather than generating the essay itself, MOB is designed to help students structure the ideas they have already developed.
“It allows students to have ownership of their writing,” Taylor said, “and bypass the urge to let AI write it for them.”
During the Innovation Academy in Atlanta, Taylor worked with Google mentors to code a prototype and further develop the platform. She will continue meeting monthly with a Google for Education mentor through July 2027.
Taylor said the development process could extend beyond that period based on the experiences of previous participants.
“Some previous innovators spoke to our group about how it took anywhere from two to four years,” Taylor said. “But Google is in it for the long haul, helping its innovators through the process and getting the final prototype published and usable.”
Taylor said the Innovation Academy has also influenced how she approaches professional development for educators.
“Participating in this process has given me new ideas for making professional development sessions more engaging, collaborative, and meaningful by incorporating the design thinking process,” she said. “Rather than simply presenting teachers with information or tools, I can guide them through identifying authentic challenges, developing creative solutions, testing their ideas, and reflecting on the results.”
Taylor also sees opportunities to involve students and educators together in solving problems within their schools and communities.
“I envision facilitating design challenges in which educators and students work together to solve real problems within their schools and communities,” Taylor said. “This would allow me to connect technology, curriculum, creativity, and workforce-ready skills in an authentic way.”
Taylor began working toward becoming a Google Certified Innovator approximately two years ago. She applied to the program in March 2026 after gaining additional experience using Google for Education products and providing professional learning opportunities for other educators.
“It took time for me to feel like I had enough experience as an educator using the Google for Education suite of products,” she said, “and providing professional learning for educators with these tools before I felt ready to actually submit my application.”
Her work has also shaped her views about how schools are responding to artificial intelligence.
“In many schools,” Taylor said, “AI is viewed primarily as a threat rather than a tool.”
Concerns about cheating, academic integrity and the rapid pace of technological change have led some schools to ban or significantly restrict the use of AI. Taylor said those concerns are understandable but can also create an environment in which schools are reluctant to engage with the technology.
“Over the past three years in my role, the dominant message has been to limit AI training to adults only,” Taylor said. “Professional development has focused on helping teachers and administrators understand AI tools for their own productivity or planning. As a result, AI has become something that happens behind the scenes rather than within the learning process itself.”
Taylor said students are already regularly encountering artificial intelligence outside the classroom through social media, gaming, search engines and other digital platforms.
“What makes this challenge especially urgent is that students are already encountering AI outside of school,” she said. “They are using AI-powered tools in social media, gaming, search engines, and everyday digital experiences.”
Taylor said schools that do not address the technology risk missing opportunities to teach students how to evaluate and use AI appropriately while developing skills they may need in future careers.
“Personally, I believe that avoiding AI does not protect students,” Taylor said. “It leaves them unprepared. The longer we delay addressing student use of AI, the more difficult it becomes to catch up.”
