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Practical AI for Instructors and Students Part 4: AI for Teachers

Education


Introduction

In this article, we’ll explore how educators can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) as a teaching assistant to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency in the classroom. As educational research highlights impactful pedagogical strategies, many instructors often find themselves overwhelmed and lacking the time to implement these strategies. By integrating AI into teaching practices, educators can reduce busy work and redirect their focus toward meaningful student engagement.

Utilizing AI for Explanations, Examples, and Analogies

One of the key ways that AI can assist teachers is by generating explanations, examples, and analogies for complex concepts. These elements are critical in helping students grasp challenging material. However, creating relevant examples and analogies on the fly can be daunting for educators.

Prompt Development: Teachers can create prompts that inform AI about the subject matter and the audience for whom the content is intended. For instance, if an educator wants to explain "scaffolding" in education to college freshmen, they can use a tailored prompt. The AI generates a comprehensive explanation along with practical examples and relatable analogies.

For example, the AI could illustrate scaffolding by comparing it to a chef mentoring an apprentice, emphasizing how tasks are gradually introduced to build confidence and skill.

Implementing Low-Stakes Testing with AI

Another effective strategy for teachers is the creation of low-stakes tests that gauge student understanding and facilitate retrieval practice. These assessments help instructors tailor their teaching methods based on student performance.

Using the integrated AI feature of tools like Microsoft Edge's Bing, teachers can create quizzes based on online resources such as articles or syllabi. By simply prompting the AI to analyze a specific text, it can generate multiple choice questions along with an answer key. This saves instructors time while ensuring assessments are aligned with the material being taught.

Building a Syllabus with AI Support

Teachers can also use AI to assist in syllabus development by incorporating evidence-based pedagogical strategies such as formative assessment and active learning. By prompting the AI with specific details about the course—such as the subject matter, learning level, and class frequency—educators can receive structured suggestions on how to create an engaging course outline.

The AI can help outline clear learning objectives and methodologies, providing a robust starting point for instructors as they customize their curriculum.

Conclusion

AI is emerging as a significant ally for educators, enabling them to streamline their workflow and apply pedagogical strategies that foster learning. As AI tools evolve, their potential to enhance the educational experience for both instructors and students continues to grow. In the next installment of this series, we will address how educators can craft prompts for student homework assignments.