Education Week discusses with educators how they are—or are not—using artificial intelligence in their practice.
Donna L. Shrum is an educator, researcher and freelance author in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
My school system has totally blocked AI for student use, so we’re only dealing with cheating when they use it from home. I asked permission to unblock an AI tool to provide immediate writing feedback during workshop time. I first vetted the tool and ascertained students couldn’t use it to cheat. I was refused for a similar reason we’d refuse a student: “The reason why AI writing feedback is blocked is because we have encountered situations where student writing was not read by a teacher, and the AI was providing feedback that the teacher was not able to see. We value the teacher’s role in the feedback cycle so students can have discussions with the teacher about their writing and for the teacher to have an understanding of students’ writing needs in order to plan next steps in instruction.”
AI comes with so many negative connotations and preconceived ideas like those above that AI has become synonymous with cheating, whether by student or teacher. I was fortunate to have enthusiastic AI users in my professional learning network who pushed me to try it.
My go-to is Magic School. Just as I’ve learned to recognize student voice in writing, I quickly discerned the bland voice of AI. I tested its ability to create lesson plans, and each one was similar. AI does not have the ability to be creative. Each tool I tried showed me its limitations but also the potential to get rid of hours of grunt work.
AI can summarize text, adjust reading levels, create stories or nonfiction text from a prompt or information you feed it, and create discussion and multiple-choice questions. What it spews out in a matter of seconds is not a finished product to my standards, but a rough draft I finish crafting.
When I’m mentally exhausted, I can use this tool to create my starting point, not my finished product. AI prepares the rough draft of an assignment so I can focus my energy on the real work of crafting and creating. Using my AI “plow” to break ground has increased the quality of my lessons because I no longer waste mental acuity cobbling together the rough draft.
Bonnie Nieves is an educator and consultant who specializes in next generation science teaching, culturally responsive methods and artificial intelligence to provide authentic learning experiences:
As a high school science teacher, I want my students to engage with scientific research. But the dense language and complex concepts of peer-reviewed journals often challenge students. So I have integrated AI tools into my teaching practice, making research more accessible and fostering a deeper understanding of scientific research papers.
I introduced PerplexityAI into my classroom. This AI-driven platform helps break down complex research articles, making them more approachable for students.
I introduce Perplexity to my students as a resource for accessing peer-reviewed research. This AI tool summarizes and simplifies complex content while maintaining the meaning of the article.
Initially I use a hybrid approach. Students use Perplexity to “ask questions” to the peer-reviewed articles they found in Gale Databases. I provide students with guided prompts to use with Perplexity, helping them understand how to extract information from research articles. This allows students to see how AI could assist in breaking down complicated information into manageable pieces.
Once students become comfortable with the tool, I encourage them to generate their own prompts. This empowers them to take ownership of their learning, tailoring their research approach based on their interests and curiosities.
Students document their interactions with the AI tool, reflecting on how it influenced their understanding and approach to the research. This develops critical-thinking skills and encourages them to evaluate the validity and reliability of the AI-generated information.
Integrating AI research tools like Perplexity into the classroom has transformed how my students access and engage with peer-reviewed research. By removing barriers, AI empowers students to explore scientific articles with confidence and curiosity. I was impressed with how it not only improved students’ understanding of scientific concepts but also equipped them with essential critical-thinking skills.
Kayla Towner is a product manager and technology instructor for Utah Education Network (UEN) and a Hope Street Fellow in Salt Lake City.
One of my areas of focus in supporting adult educators is demonstrating how artificial intelligence can alleviate stress. Here are five ways I have used AI to reduce my stress, and these strategies can benefit other educators and students.
1) Educators and administrators often find themselves flooded with emails. Generative AI platforms like Chat GPT, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot can streamline the responding process. You can leverage these tools in numerous ways. Use AI to draft behavior-notice templates for informing parents about incidents. Templates can be customized and personalized while maintaining a professional tone. If you need to communicate with parents who speak different languages, AI can accurately translate your messages into dozens of languages. You can create weekly newsletters for classroom updates. AI can help you generate content quickly.
2) Planning consumes a significant amount of time for teachers and administrators. Streamline this process by using AI generators to create engaging lesson plans. By inputting specific criteria—such as subject, learning objectives, engagement strategies, age-appropriateness, lesson duration, and pacing—into a generative AI platform, teachers can receive customized lesson plans. You could use this AI prompt: “Create a one-week lesson plan for 5th grade science that focuses on the human body and its major organ systems. Make sure the activities are engaging and age-appropriate and incorporate hands-on experiments where possible.”
3) Customize and personalize learning experiences to individual learning styles and needs. Adaptive-learning platforms use AI to adjust the curriculum based on student understanding, pacing, and mastery.
Instead of manually creating specialized prompts or quizzes, AI tools can “read” PDFs and generate differentiated questions. AI can read an article on westward expansion (for 5th graders) and create a quiz with 2nd-grade-level multiple-choice questions. Another example prompt: “Write a prompt about Minecraft for 7th graders. Make sure to follow this writing standard: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Ensure that the prompt is at a 5th grade level.”
4) Today, anyone to explore their creative side. AI-powered tools like Adobe Express, Canva Magic Studio, Microsoft Designer, and Google’s AI Test Kitchen foster creative thinking. Using Canva Magic Studio, you can create custom images. If your students are researching different countries and need to design a poster, they can use these tools to bring their project to life. Prompt example: “Create a poster of a young Korean girl traveling to Greece.” See what kind of images can be created to bring this project to life.
5) AI-powered tools provide real-time information and up-to-date answers to speed up information searches. Search engines like Google or Bing have integrated generative AI into their platforms that provide conversational answers based on up-to-date information found throughout the internet. Go to Google or Bing and ask a question like “How would you use an addendum to a contract?” At the top of the search engine, you’ll find a heading that says ‘AI Overview’ with a short summary, links, and guidelines to follow.
It’s essential to be aware that some of the information may carry biases or discrimination. As best practices, always verify the credibility of the resources you find.
I encourage you to explore AI tools and resources to help alleviate your daily life stresses. Remember: “Work smarter, not harder.”
Education Week
