20 for the Next 20: Jon Pennington, Mid-Pacific Institute

This educational technologist and AI enthusiast says the technology is especially helpful for struggling students and English language learners.

Jon Pennington is a “strong believer” that AI and its rapidly evolving landscape can ignite, fuel and empower learning.

“It’s the most transformative technology available today. AI can help students, teachers and those in the business community accomplish things that they would never otherwise have been able to do,” he says.

Pennington taught Spanish in New Jersey, then earned a doctorate at UH Mānoa in 2020. Shortly after that, he joined Mid-Pacific Institute, where he mentors students and faculty. At Mid-Pacific, he found that AI could help students with deficiency disorders, creativity blocks or cognitive issues, and he demonstrated that speech recognition technology can be a game-changer for struggling young writers, especially those with dyslexia and ADHD.

Pennington’s “aha” moment came while monitoring a class that was taking an exam. Not long into the exam, he heard a student call out to the teacher, “I’m done.” When the skeptical teacher replied that “there is no way you typed the whole thing,” the student said, “I didn’t type. I used my voice.”

Through research with UH’s College of Education Research institute, Pennington has demonstrated how English language learners can improve their spoken presentations using ChatGPT.

“AI provides deeper learning experiences and is the gateway to personalize authentic learning opportunities for students to get what they want out of classes … to make it relevant, deeper for the learner and the things they care about in our society,” he says.

Pennington is aware of the controversy and concerns about the rapid evolution of AI technology, but says, “I believe that this is a good thing that ultimately will help humanity. The way you can interact with AI, it’s much more than just a tool. It’s an entity. It’s an information gatherer, it can help conceptualize concepts, it can also analyze different images.”

Paul Turnbull, president of Mid-Pacific Institute, says that “as technology transforms our society, Pennington’s work will play a crucial role in shaping education statewide and championing AI integration within our local business and nonprofit communities.”

Pennington has a 4-year-old son, and together they have created a persona through ChatGPT, which his son calls “amigo.” Amigo assists with various activities like identifying different plants and insects, and helps him learn Spanish. 

“Some are suggesting that we anthropomorphize AI, to look at it as a being, a mentor, an advisor, a coach that can be summoned to aid with a task,” he says. “I encourage teachers and educators to look at it in that light.”