Educators should be encouraged to use AI tools

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting all the attention it needs in this present day and age. As an educator, this tool (not a replacement) has earned a place in my sacred bookmarks folder. With mental health concerns on the rise, and the never-ending demands from teachers, the risk of burnout is high. These seven recommendations can help ease the burden of teachers.

• Draft 5E-lesson plans: AI tools are user-friendly platforms where you can create and organise your lesson plans. With their intuitive interface, you can easily add objectives, resources, and activities to ensure a well-structured and engaging lesson. It can even plan multiple days or weeks ahead.

• YouTube video summariser: Provided the captions are there, with Magic School you can get the summary of YouTube videos. You can even take it a bit further by using the AI tool to create questions from the YouTube video.

• Vocabulary list generator: Is there a passage, topic, theme, or SDG? AI tools can create a vocabulary word list. These can be printed, and reused, in assessments and create activities testing the correct usage of the desired words.

• Lesson plan reviews: With appraisals coming up, there are tools to give additional feedback. Do you want to use more technology? Link to a social problem? Develop other intelligences? It’s all about asking the right questions to get the right answers.

• Ice-breakers/team-building activities: Stuck on a difficult topic or just running low on the creative juice? You can spice up your classes/meetings with these suggestions. It can also used to provide feedback on how to make it more interesting. The possibilities are endless.

• Practice tests: You can upload the notes you’ve provided onto the platform and create closed- and open-ended questions just for your class. These tests can be summative or formative. You can also upload your previous ones and make minor adjustments as needed.

• Create presentations/worksheets: With tools like Canva, beautiful layout can be created.

Let AI do the heavy lifting, while you do the fine-tuning. It’s important to not to lose your personal flair in these tools. Tools like Magic School AI, Canva and Brisk are all accessible for free. Your school can invest in the paid version that unlocks even more useful components.

KENLOY SMITH

English Language

and Literature teacher

Roger Clarke High School

St Elizabeth