AI and its Uses in the Classroom

AI or artificial intelligence is not just a buzzword anymore. Back in the day, it sounded like something out of a sci-fi story and had very limited applications in real life. But nowadays, AI is almost everywhere. Generative AI, in particular, has made an appearance in many different shapes and forms. It has changed a lot of industries, such as marketing, finance, and education.

In this post, let’s take a look at AI’s uses in the classroom. Let’s explore how it can help students learn better and make the jobs of teachers easier.

An Overview of AI and What It Constitutes

You probably already know what artificial intelligence is and wha  t its broad definition entails. However, there is a possibility that some of our readers are (understandably) not quite caught up with this all.

Before diving into the uses of AI in the classroom, let’s do a quick overview of what it is.

Artificial intelligence is ubiquitously defined as the technology responsible for simulating human-like intelligence in machines and computers.

Nowadays, when we think of AI, we usually just imagine a complicated entity capable of performing millions of calculations at a whim and simulating human emotions, etc. However, in concept, AI can be very simple as well. A program that is able to pick from three choices based on a provided input also exhibits intelligence (albeit a very low level of it) and can be classified as AI.

However, this theoretical and lexicon definition of AI is not very applicable these days. From 2020 onwards, AI refers to a class of tools and applications that are able to perform complicated tasks on their own and execute automated jobs without human intervention. It also refers to the class of tools that are able to understand a nuanced prompt or input provided by a human and create an output according to it.

Uses and Applications of AI in the Classroom

Now that we’re done catching up on what AI is, let’s talk about how it can be used in the classroom.

1. AI can be used by teachers to plan lessons and courses

One of the less conventional ways in which AI can be used by teachers in classrooms is for lesson planning. When manually planning lessons and courses, it is possible for teachers to sometimes skip important concepts in their classes. It is also possible for teachers to repeat a certain program without realizing it. In short, there are many different problems that can arise when lessons are planned by just one person—and those problems can be mitigated with the help of AI.

Teachers can get help from an AI-enabled chatbot/assistant to come up with all the necessary classes and lectures needed for their course. They can ask the assistant to create an entire plan for them, along with the recommended amount of time to be spent on each concept/topic/module.

Another way of approaching this is to create a plan and then show it to an AI assistant. The assistant will be able to look at irregularities in the plan and suggest changes. In the image below, you can see that we’ve asked an AI model to create an 8-week plan for Grammar 101, and it delivered:

2. AI can be used to help students perform better in their assignments

AI tools can also help students perform better in their written work, such as writing essays, research papers, theses, etc.

There are many different phases involved in writing assignments, from planning to the actual writing part and then the editing/optimizing bit.

In all of these different phases, AI can play a helpful role. Online assistant tools, like the one we mentioned in the previous section, can be used for content planning. Grammar-checking tools and readability correctors can be used to improve the quality of the content once it is written.

Instead of delegating tasks to AI, students can use it to improve the quality of their work as well as their writing/editing skills.

3. AI can be used by students to collect and compile their study materials easily

Another use of AI in the classroom is for collecting and compiling study materials. There are two tools in particular that can be very helpful for this purpose: image-to-text converters and summarizers.

With image-to-text converters, students can take study materials provided in different hard forms, such as lecture notes, textbook notes, etc., and convert them to digital text. These tools utilize AI in their functionality to increase the accuracy of the extraction process.

In the image below, you can see a tool that converts images to text:

This is a method for collecting study materials. AI can also help in compiling and compressing them to make them easier to peruse and understand.

For that, AI-based summarizer tools can be used. Lecture notes and textbook extracts, etc., can be shortened and made concise using summarizer tools. By doing this, the main essence of the materials can be retained in fewer words, which can be easier and quicker to read.

4. AI can be used by teachers to automatically grade assignments

AI can also be used by teachers and educators to automatically grade assignments handed in by their students.

Automatic grading can’t be done on theoretical assignments like essays and research papers. Rather, it is done on quizzes and MCQ-based assignments.

The AI software used for this purpose can simply analyze the questions marked by the students. They can compare the answers given by the students to the actual answers (submitted by the teachers). The quiz/test can then be graded accordingly.

5. AI can be used for research and brainstorming

Another helpful use of AI in the classroom is for research and brainstorming.

Online AI assistants, like the ones mentioned in the first heading, can be very handy for this purpose. Students can use these tools to research their topics, although any research done via AI should be confirmed with reliable sources.

These tools can also be used simply to brainstorm—to find out different aspects of the topic that can be explored and discussed in a paper.

Wrapping up

When used in moderation and under ethical limits, AI can be a great help for students and teachers alike. Many teachers and institutes understandably prohibit the use of AI for their students in consideration of all the unethical ways in which it can be used.

However, when utilized in an assistive capacity and as a helping tool, there is usually nothing wrong with it. In the post above, we have looked at various uses of AI in the classroom.