AI continues to be our most popular topic, and even if you don't necessarily like it or use it in your classroom or teaching, your students are embracing it as it will be a key tool in their future. To help you help them prepare for their lives ahead, here is a look back at some of the articles from the past year -- all written with natural intelligence! -- that resonated with our readers. You can also check out our AI Starter Kit For Teachers for more tips, resources, best practices, and more!
If you’re looking to build your awareness, knowledge, dispositions, and skills related to AI, these free opportunities from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Canva, can help. These range from shorter sessions to longer courses, and are connected to well-known and -used edtech tools, providing practical training when using.
Like it or not, AI has become part of the classroom and world, and therefore, educators owe it to students to teach them about how to make the best use of AI tools while avoiding the unethical uses. Keeping up with all the developments in this field, however, can be easier said than done, so these six resources may be helpful when it comes to doing so.
The AI field had quite a summer. Over the past few months, OpenAI, Google, and others have been in competition to release new-and-improved models with updated capabilities and education-specific settings designed for tutoring. The growth has been rapid enough that many are having trouble keeping up with it all, so here’s a closer look at some of the most recent significant AI developments that every teacher should know about.
The top 10 most popular AI chatbots accounted for 58.8% of all AI tool-related traffic last year. Tech & Learning writers have spent time testing many of these AI chatbots for potential uses and abuses in classes, so here’s a quick look at each of the top 10 most popular AI chatbots, and what educators should know about each.
Educator and author Erik Ofgang recently asked ChatGPT how he could prevent students from using it and other similar tools to cheat. "ChatGPT responded with a range of suggestions," Ofgang says. "Some were standard but helpful, others were standard and I think ineffective, while there were also a few tips I haven’t considered implementing."
Recent research from MIT scientists compared the brain activity of students who used ChatGPT when writing to those who did not. The team's findings suggest that using ChatGPT resulted in less brain activity and inferior writing for students. However, “We didn't find any brain rot,” says Nataliya Kosmyna, a research scientist at MIT Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces group and lead author of the study.
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Agent Mode, which makes use of AI agents, which many see as the next generation of AI. Unlike a traditional chatbot, AI agents can perform tasks such as check and send emails, create and complete spreadsheets, run code, check hotel reservations, order ingredients, and more. In other words, AI agents are designed to work as a true AI assistants.
Unless you’re a designer or scripting wizard, building a presentation from scratch can be tedious, time-consuming, and uninspired. We deserve better. With AI at our fingertips, “blank slide syndrome” should be a thing of the past. Here's an innovative educator's look at six AI-powered slide platforms, and how these compare.
"Over the last few months, I’ve used ChatGPT’s deep research feature, and while I don’t agree with those who claim it’s as good at research or writing as most graduate students, it's certainly a useful tool for me," writes educator Erik Ofgang. "I believe many educators would find it helpful when looking for research on various educational strategies or for the latest findings in their field of study.
According to Google, its new and improved LearnLM, an AI model specifically designed for teaching, outperforms AI models such as GPT-4o, Claude 3.5., and even Google’s own Gemini 1.5 when it comes to adherence to the principles of learning science.
The Laguna Beach USD has recently launched AI Trust You, a Google Chrome extension designed to bring clarity and accountability to AI usage in classrooms. The tool, developed in-house by the district itself, essentially works as a dropdown menu option in Google Docs that allows teachers to set parameters around AI use for specific assignments, and then lets students document which AI tools they used, and to what extent.
Currently overwhelming social media, AI slop–the low-quality, often fake content, such as text, images, or videos, that is generated by artificial intelligence–now comprises 50% of all internet articles, according to a recent report from Axios. Obviously, trying to determine what is real, which sources can be trusted, and how to find the truth are critical needs in any classroom.
Don't give up on yourself. So you make a mistake here and there; you do too much or you do too little. Just have fun. Smile. And keep putting on lipstick.
Teachers Learning about AI
