Teachers and AI: A Collaborative Partnership
AI and Education
After watching Dr. Alec Couros’s presentation, I was amazed by the variety of tools available! It’s mind-blowing to think about. One tool that really surprised me was the Nvidia Eye Contact AI – it keeps your eyes on the screen and makes you appear more engaging. His talk really opened my eyes to the possibilities out there! I also discovered cool AI tools like Gemini, Copilot, Antropic, Poe, Perplexity, and Magic School, which are meant to enhance teaching and learning. But there is a problem: these tools often show a bias. Dr. Alec Couros mentioned that AI learns from the information it gets. So if it mostly learns from Western ideas, it might repeat biases like racism or sexism. This mean AI tools might miss out or even misunderstand different cultural views. Here are the main takeaways from Alec’s presentation:
- AI tools create new ways for students to learn and personalize their education.
- They help teachers manage tasks more efficiently and give them more time to focus on teaching instead of spending their time and energy on planning their lessons.
- Prompt engineering can help students evaluate AI content critically, prepare them to use AI responsibly and develop an understanding of what sets us apart as humans and when to use and not use AI.
- AI makes learning more engaging.
- Teachers need to teach students how to use AI responsibly, instead of banning it.
- It’s important for educators to keep learning about AI as it continues to evolve.
Current Concerns
As technology evolves, we are facing some challenges that come with it. For example, ChatGPT can write essays, solve science and math problems, and even generate computer code. It leads to one of the biggest concerns of using AI in schools which is plagiarism. It’s causing concern as students use it to complete assignments, passing off AI-generated work as their own. Some schools, like New York City public schools, have responded to ChatGPT by blocking access on school computers and networks. It’s understandable why educators feel concerned, but I believe that banning ChatGPT and other AI tools from classrooms is not the right decision. It’s simply not going to work! Even if schools block the ChatGPT website on their networks and devices, students can easily access it using their own phones, laptops, or other methods. I even asked ChatGPT how students might bypass a school ban, and it suggested solutions like using a VPN.
Some teachers are optimistic about tools like GPTZero, created by a Princeton student, which supposedly detects AI-generated writing. However, it’s not consistently reliable and can be easily tricked by making minor changes or using another AI program to rephrase parts of the text. But let’s be real, do teachers really want to spend their free time trying out AI detection tools? Instead of constantly trying to block new AI tools, schools should embrace them as a teaching aid. They can enhance student creativity, provide personalized tutoring, and prepare students students to collaborate with AI in their future lives.
MagicSchool AI
This week I decided to try Magic School to generate lesson plans. I have never used it before so I was very curious to give it a try. The video is a brief intro to Magic School and how to get started. I couldn’t believe how many choices Magic School offers. They have so many tools that can help teachers in different ways like generating lesson/unit plans, rubrics, and it can even generate an engaging science lab! How cool is that?? I searched the Saskatchewan Science 10 curriculum and used the “Explore the properties of chemical reactions, including the role of energy changes, and applications of acids and bases” outcome and its indicators as a prompt in the Magic School’s lesson plan generator. It quickly provided me with a complete lesson plan (bottom left image). I could also translate it, generate questions, adjust the length, and edit the prompt to generate a new plan. The science lab generator feature also quickly produced the science lab plan (bottom right image), which is specific to the outcomes and indicators to the following lesson plan. It included the objective, materials list, steps to follow, and questions for reflecting on what students learned. Just like that – MAGIC!
As teachers, we know how challenging it can be to juggle many tasks to make sure lessons are interesting and fit each student’s needs. But how can you do all this without spending hours of your precious time and energy? The answer is, of course, AI tools! This online resource talks about how to use AI tools to save time, boost engagement, and personalize learning. Imagine having a classroom with students whose first language is not English, and students with learning disabilities. For example, ChatGPT and Copilot can adjust text to fit each student’s learning level or translate it into a different language. This can significantly reduce the workload on teachers and allow them to focus more on teaching rather than spending time tailoring texts and instructions. AI tools can prevent teachers from feeling burnout and overwhelmed, which are common reasons teachers consider leaving their profession.
These educational generative AI tools are very helpful for supporting teacher efficiency in lesson planning. However, meaningful learning for our students goes beyond just copying and pasting. As educators, let’s view generative AI tools as an inspiration to personalize and enhance lessons with our own creativity and experience. Even though AI provides various benefits to enhance learning and teaching, some worry about how the role of the teacher might change in the future. It is important to remember that AI will not replace teachers. Teachers bring empathy, creativity, and personal connections that AI can’t match. AI helps teachers by handling certain tasks, but it’s teachers who bring the human touch that makes learning meaningful and exciting. This could encourage us to embrace new approaches that enhance learning and reduce unnecessary tasks.
I really like this quote from Ditch That Textbook: “Just like we did with the calculator, Wikipedia and Google searches, students and teachers will find productive, meaningful ways to use this new technology for teaching and learning.”
2 thoughts on “Teachers and AI: A Collaborative Partnership”
Hello Mariia!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Magic School! It sounds like an incredible resource with many options, from generating lesson plans to creating rubrics and science labs. It’s impressive how it tailors plans to specific curriculum outcomes. Plus, the flexibility to translate, generate questions, and adjust length adds even more convenience.
Magic School truly saves time and energy, allowing teachers to focus more on engaging with their students. It’s like having a bit of magic in your teaching toolkit! I look forward to the utilizing this tool.
Hi Rowena! Thanks for taking the time to read my post!! I appreciate it 🙂 And yes, Magic School is such a great tool and I can’t wait to use it in the classroom!