Although using AI can be frowned upon when it comes to the education of students, it can be used as an educational tool when used properly. I have researched an AI app, Claude, and it has proven to be a very useful tool for both students and teachers.
Students
The app is capable of creating quizzes or flashcards to help students study for upcoming tests and quizzes. It can also expand on topics that students may have had a difficult time comprehending while learning in class. It can also be used to proofread possible essays before submitting them, so there are few to no grammar mistakes and more cohesive sentences. Students can also use it as a research tool to help fill in any learning gaps that may have occurred while in a lecture and create better, more constructive notes from previous notes made in class. It can be a great tool for EASL students to comprehend English lessons. They are able to put lectures and worksheets into the search engine to give them a more thorough understanding of the lesson, and ensure they are not falling behind due to a language barrier.
Teachers
For teachers, it can be used as a way to come up with more attentive lesson plans by using research and data from other teachers’ feedback. It will also help teachers who have students with learning disabilities or behavioural issues find alternative ways of teaching to help accommodate their needs, to have a safer and more efficient classroom for both students and teachers. It may also be used to help create prompts for topics of discussion in the classroom to get students to engage and use their critical thinking skills. It can be used as an organizational tool; the app can create weekly or monthly calendars personalized for teachers to schedule meetings, prep times, and add important notes on subjects or test results that may need to be reviewed in their next class. Another way the app can help with organizing is that it can build a semester or a unit overview that can map out the entire curriculum timeline, create a checklist for general teaching tasks such as grading deadlines, preparing materials for upcoming labs or readings, updating grade books and progress tracking for students. Having a better organized workload can increase class efficiency and fluidity, which benefits both teacher and student.
When using AI as an educational tool, the lines can get blurred due to accessibility and the ease of use. Students may take advantage of this by using it to write their essays instead of using it to review them. Plagiarism is so easily accessible already, but with adding AI, it can be made so much easier. Another downside of AI is that students are losing their ability to think for themselves because AI can do that for them, and it only takes a few seconds. Once students realize they can take the “easy way out,” some may start to have an unhealthy codependency using it to cheat instead of as a tool.