NCompass Live: Pretty Sweet Tech: AI and Social Emotional Learning for Early Childhood

NCompass Live - February 26, 2025
https://nlc.nebraska.gov/ncompasslive/

Special monthly episodes of NCompass Live! Join the NLC’s Technology Innovation Librarian, Amanda Sweet, as she guides us through the world of library-related 'Pretty Sweet Tech'.

AI and Social-Emotional Learning for Early Childhood: Empowering Libraries to Engage Youth and Caregivers.

This webinar explores how libraries can use AI to support social-emotional development. With younger learners developing critical emotional and interpersonal skills, libraries are uniquely positioned to foster their growth. AI presents exciting opportunities to personalize engagement, address diverse needs, and create impactful programming.

Guest Presenter: Rex Duval, Co-Founder and CEO, Nookly.

1. Artificial Intelligence & Social-Emotional
Learning for Early Childhood
Empowering Libraries to Engage Youth and
Their Caregivers

2. Education
Experience
Co-Founder & CEO of Nookly, an AI-enabled platform for creating
personalized learning experiences that nurture social-emotional
development & literacy
About me

3. 1Demystifying AI: Unlocking Opportunities for Libraries
Agenda
2The Importance of Social-Emotional Learning
3AI’s Implications on Supporting Families & Youth
4Libraries at the Intersection of Technology
5Closing Remarks & Questions
3

4. Demystifying AI: Unlocking
Opportunities for Libraries

5. What words come
to mind when you
think of AI?

6. AI = Superpower

7. AI for good AI for evil
But... superpowers can be intimidating
Pew Research, Forbes,
Carnegie Learning, Walton Family Foundation
of global respondents
think AI will broadly
benefit to society
54%
the chance that AI
will cause human
extinction
5%

8. What is artificial intelligence?
What about machine learning??
And then sometimes I hear deep learning?!?
Let’s start by breaking down the buzzwords
Advancing Analytics, Columbia University, François Chollet, Oxford English Dictionary
Broad field of computer science focused on creating systems that
behave in ways that mimic or go beyond human intelligence
Subset of AI focused on building systems that learn & improve from
their experiences with data without being explicitly programmed
Deep learning is a subset of ML, inspired by how human brains work,
used to understand complex patters in data (e.g., neural networks)
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Deep Learning

9. Predictive AI
Generative AI
AI isn’t new, but generative AI is
Create novel content, such as images, text,
and music that mimic human-like patters
Use of historical data and machine learning
to forecast forecast future events or
outcomes
IBM,
Sequoia Capital
Example of Distinction
AI that produces a unique bedtime story featuring a
child as the hero, whereas a predictive tool might
simply recommend an existing book.

10. Examples of how generative AI can be used
Drafting a recipe with the
leftovers in your fridge
Writing lyrics to a birthday
song for your cousin
Rewriting an email for more
clarity of for a different tone
than original

11. How can AI
serve as a tool for
engaging with
families & youth?

12. To help with brainstorming, let’s discuss some strengths & weaknesses
WeaknessesStrengths
Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks,
such as writing summaries, coding, or
drafting documents.
Idea Generation: Produce a wide
range of creative solutions for open-
ended problems.
Personalization: Tailor content to
specific audiences.
Context Sensitivity: Sometimes
misses key context, especially in
complex or highly specialized tasks.
Factual Inaccuracies: Can generate
incorrect or outdated information,
especially in fast-evolving fields.
Human Creativity Gap: Struggles
with tasks requiring emotional insight

13. Biases
“With great power comes great responsibility”
- Uncle Ben, Spiderman
Like any superpower, we need to be careful
Confidence Intention

14. SEL & Literacy
How can AI
serve as a tool for
engaging with
families & youth...

15. NCES, Behaviors
-5%
Decrease in average
reading scores of 9-
year olds
National Center for Education Statistics, Reading Scores
87%
Public schools reported pandemic had negative
impact on social-emotional development
Children & families are still dealing with the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic

16. What is
SEL & why it’s
important?

17. How the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) defines SEL
CASEL
Self-awareness Self-management
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Responsible
decision-making
Understanding one’s own emotions,
thoughts, & values
Managing emotions, thoughts, &
behaviors effectively to achieve goals
Establishing & maintaining healthy
& supportive relationships
Understanding others’ perspectives
& empathizing with them
Making caring & constructive choices
about personal behavior

18. of parents say
Social-Emotional
Learning is just as
important as
academic learning 81%
McGraw-Hill, 2018
Perseverance Self-awareness Self-control
Independence Social-awareness Creativity
Patience
Relationship
Skills
and more …

19. Goddard School,
US Surgeon General, Pew Research
Parents are
overburdened
48%
say that most days their stress is
“completely overwhelming”
Parents battle
anxiety
75%
worry about their child's
mental health
Families are struggling, need trustworthy guidance
2024 report from
US Surgeon General

20. Relationship
between literacy
& engagement

21. International Reading Association (2023)
?????? Behavioral engagement (i.e., children's reading behaviors) –
How often and how long children read in their own time, as well as
the variety of materials they explore.
?????? Cognitive engagement – The mental effort children invest while
reading, including decoding unfamiliar words, understanding new
vocabulary, and monitoring comprehension.
❤️ Affective engagement – The emotional connection children
develop with reading, influenced by their interest in stories and
ability to find personally meaningful content.
?????? Social engagement – The role of shared reading experiences,
including discussing books, reading with others, and exchanging
recommendations.
Evolution of “reading engagement” over last 2 decades

22. How AI unlocks
an opportunity

23. With GenAI: We can quickly customize to context
GenAI reduces time constraints around personalization
Historically: Personalization was very costly
$5-$20k 1 minute of custom 3D animation

24. Shaping a message or
experience to align with the
characteristics of an
intended audience
The importance of personalization

25. When we are engaged,
we remember
According to a national survey of
students, >50% of students felt that
personalized learning helped improve
their engagement.
Meta-analysis of 49 studies found
that enhancing reading engagement
leads to significant improvements in
word reading, reading fluency, &
comprehension.
University of Chicago, Rand, International Reading Association (2023), Matsh (2024)
Personalization has a profound impact on children’s literacy & learning
One analysis found about 75% of
students feel engaged and motivated
in a personalized setting, compared to
only 30% in traditional settings

26. Why are stories such a powerful
learning tool?

27. The Critical Role
of Libraries

28. Serve as a safe, non-judgmental space
Provide access to key resources Place for “media mentorship”
Build foundation for lifelong learning
Libraries are a lifeline of support for families and youth

29. Libraries are essential in fostering digital literacy and ensuring equitable
access to technology and information.
47%
Of public libraries in 2023 were lending Wi-Fi hotspots for
home internet use, up from ~1/3 in 2020
95% Of libraries offer e-books and audiobooks for digital checkout
95% Of libraries provide some form of digital literacy training
Library Research Service (2024)
~60%
Of respondents in 2023 Public Library Association survey
mentioned AI when asked which technologies they were
developing or considering for digital literacy training

30. Nookly:
Applied AI for
Learning

31. Bear Read Social Stories
And More Visual
Tools that Engage &
Inspire
Speech Cards

32. How Nookly brings personalized storytelling to life
1
Share learning goal
Provide theme for story (e.g.,
courage, online safety, etc.)
Personalize story
Enter character details (e.g.,
name, ethnicity, age, gender)
2
3
Approve story plot
Edit storyline to ensure
alignment with child’s goals
Create a
Custom Story

33. Closing remarks

34. Learning from the lessons of social media
AI is not
going away
Not something that should be ignored or
trivialized.
Needs to be
embraced, responsibly
By using AI responsibly, we can better
understand it and prepare youth for an
AI-permeated world

35. THANK
YOU
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rexduval/