For this week, we were instructed to choose an AI tool and try it. For me, I chose DALL-E 3; a generative AI that creates images for you based on your prompts. This tool is made by OpenAI so DALL-E 3 is used through Chat GPT on the premium version. Lucky for me, my roommate has the premium version so I could use hers.

DALL-E 3 is a useful tool, I believe if used correctly, it could enhance an educational setting. At first, when I started using DALL-E 3, it was fun, I asked the AI to make an image of a girl studying in the library, a tattoo idea, just fun things like that. Then I started asking it more educational questions. I asked it to make me a printable weekly schedule.

Image of a weekly schedule made by AI

I was given this image, which honestly is not the best, I wouldn’t be able to print it to make a clear weekly schedule. Although it does look aesthetic and cute, so I’ll give it that. But the schedule is not actually usable because it’s blurred in some areas.  Then I asked the AI to make me a calculus cheat sheet of trig functions, which it could barely do, it was very messy and hard to read.

Image of a Calculus cheat sheet for trig functions made by AI

Although my only issue with these prompts/questions is that they are vague, so then I tried a prompt that a student could give.  My prompt was “create an image of a student’s poster board research project on Van Gogh, show me an image on the layout of the poster board” and this is what it gave me.

Van Gogh poster board layout made by AI

Now this image is much more helpful for a student if they are having trouble laying out their project, or they need ideas on how to make their project look.

I think that DALL-E can be used in a classroom, but it would be used as a tool for creativity, not for learning purposes. What I mean is that if a student is having a hard time visualizing their project, assignment, etc., they could use DALL-E to give them ideas for their project. As a teacher, I think DALL-E could also be used this way. Prompts for teachers could be

  • Help me layout this lesson plan with ________ information
  • Make an image of my classroom and give me layout ideas
  • Make an image of a project concept for ____ graders

I thought at first that DALL-E could hinder creativity in the classroom, but after experimenting with DALL-E, I believe it would boost creativity and critical thinking in the classroom. This is because for students to use DALL-E, they need to give it a prompt which requires critical thinking so that their generated image would turn out correctly. DALL-E can even boost problem-solving in the classroom if the first prompt did not give them the desired outcome. This could help many students whom are visual learners, if they need to visualize a certain concept, say in science and photosynthesis, they could generate a  photosynthesis diagram using DALL-E to help. DALL-E is a useful tool if used correctly in an educational setting, if students decide to use DALL-E inappropriately then it could cause more problems than solve them.

In conclusion, I believe that DALL-E could be used in the classroom to boost creativity, critical thinking, and problem- solving. I think DALL-E would be most useful for students in middle school and useful for any teacher in general.