Anyone who has spent any time in schools has no doubt had experience or at least discussions about the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and their use in our classrooms. Often the discussion is around students using them as shortcuts or to cheat through the use of programs such as ChatGPT or PhotoMath, but lately the discussion has shifted to programs that are designed to help lighten teachers workload. As described in a recent Edutopia article, AI tools can “help teachers boost their productivity, personalize learning and create lesson content.” Intrigued, I decided to capitalize on the opportunity to dive deeper into and explore the world of teacher AI for my learning project.
My first exposure to the realm of teacher AI came as I read a syllabus for a class where the professor was encouraging us to use teacher AI programs to assist in our lesson planning for our assignments. Yes, you read that right, a university professor was encouraging students to use AI, with specific guidelines on proper citation and including the AI generated content, the same as we would for any other source. The next day during a discussion at work, a learning resource teacher (LRT) told me about a program she recently discovered that she wished more teachers knew about. So what exactly is teacher AI? What do these programs do? How can it help us and our students?
Many times we fear what we do not know, especially when it comes to new technology such as AI that is often vilified in the media and pop culture movies. Over the next few weeks my goal is to alleviate some of the fear surrounding the use of AI in our classrooms by exploring some of the available teacher programs, learning how to use them and uncovering how they can be used to enhance our students learning and our teaching practices. Follow along as I delve into the controversial world of educational AI.
Programs to be explored:
Hello Cheryl,
This is such a great choice for a learning project! It can be such a good tool to utilize when done correctly. It’s definitely something I have been interested in learning more about, so I cannot wait to hear more about the things you dive further into!
Thank you so much for the comment. I am really excited to explore this as well and learn not only how AI can benefit us as teachers but help us to better meet the needs of our students.
Hey Cheryl,
This is a great topic. In my opinion, AI is the future! When done right, certain sites can save HOURS with lesson/unit planning for teachers.
I follow a teacher from Ontario who swears by using AI while teaching. She actually does workshops for other teachers on the topic. She is amazing! I would strongly encouraged to check out her Instagram page as a resource. Her Instagram tag is “jessicam.reid”
Check her out. The site she mostly uses is “eduaide.ai”
Let me know what you think.
Zach Nenson
Hi Zach,
Thank you so much for your comment and the information. I will definitely follow her on Instagram and check out the site she uses. Perhaps it will make it’s way onto my blog as well!
This was a great article. Check out almanack.ai. It’s a planning workflow for teachers. Canadian and run by a woman. I think it’s one of those teacher tools that maybe doesn’t have the shiny appeal of Magic, but is an incredible and intuitive tool for teacher planning. It’s really hard to describe – you just kind of have to try it. Haha. I find it difficult to explain how I think this one is going to make a deep and lasting effect on education. It’s that amazing.