By: Dan (The AI Educator) Fitzpatrick
I am a former school senior leader who gets to try cutting-edge AI tools and support teachers to implement them in their practice.
Earlier this year, I launched the AI Educator Tools platform, a searchable repository for teachers to find impactful AI tools to transform their practice. Since then, I have enjoyed working with teachers on every continent to innovate their teaching using AI.
Unfortunately, many AI tools are out there that lack meaningful functionality for teachers and some that are based on weak pedagogical methods.
So, I have done the hard work for you and compiled a list of meaningful AI tools you can use immediately. To save you time, focus on these 10 tools; I guarantee they will transform your classroom. You will even find some exclusive announcements for some of the tools below.
I have purposely not focussed on the giants of AI generation tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. You can access these very simply by going to their websites. Click here for instant access to my 44-page guide to using these tools well with the PREP model.
Magic School AI
An impressive range of AI tools
Founder Adeel Khan’s personal motto is “An AI assistant for every teacher in the world”. This ambition is starting to be realised through Magic School AI. This impressive range of simple and easy-to-use AI tools for teachers is always a crowd-pleaser in my training sessions.
At my last count, there were 51 AI tools on their site, from a Student Work Feedback Generator to a Teacher Joke Generator. Having just worked with schools in Dubai, I asked it for a joke based on my travels, and this is what I got: Why did the camel take a vacation to Dubai? Because it wanted to experience a hump day in style! Not too bad. They even have their own teaching coach in the form of a chatbot called Raina.
Pricing: Free
Website: Magicschool.ai
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Curipod
Use AI to deliver interactive lessons.
Curipod uses AI to generate lesson plans, activities, and assessments, which can be customised by teachers to meet the needs of their students. Curipod also includes a variety of features to promote student collaboration and discussion, such as polls, quizzes, and word clouds.
One of the things that I like most about Curipod is that it can help teachers save time. The AI-generated lesson plans are a great starting point, and teachers can easily customise them to fit their own style. This can free up teachers’ time to focus on other aspects of their teaching, such as planning engaging activities and providing feedback to students.
Pricing: Free, Premium and School Licences
Website: Curipod.com
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Canva Magic Design
Turn words into presentations.
I love demonstrating this tool to teachers and seeing their reactions. With just a few of your words, Magic Design will design a first draft of a set of presentation slides for your next lesson. Sit back and watch your lesson ideas come to life on your slides, with bespoke images included.
To access Magic Design, you will need a Canva account. You can upgrade this account to an educator account for free.
Pricing: Free with a Canva account
Website: Canva.com
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Canva Text to Image
Turn your imagination into creative images.
Canva’s new Text to Image feature is a powerful tool that can help teachers create stunning visuals for their lessons. Simply enter a description of the image you want to create, and Canvas AI will generate a new image from scratch.
This means that teachers can now create images for their lessons that are truly unique and original. No longer are they limited to using stock images that may not be relevant to their subject or topic. With Text to Image, teachers can create images that perfectly illustrate their lesson plans.
Pricing: Free with a Canva account
Website: Canva.com
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Thinglink
Immersive learning experiences powered by AI
For Thinglink users (if that’s not you, you’re missing out!), the new AI functionality in their editor offers multiple AI tools aimed at streamlining content creation and enhancing user engagement.
The “Tag Suggestions” feature auto-generates tags to help overcome writer’s block, while the “Suggest Branches” tool offers potential pathways in scenarios, and the “Generate Questions” tool creates thought-provoking questions for learners. The AI can also summarise projects with “Write a Recap” and enhance existing text through “Re-write Text Blocks.”
Exclusive announcement: ThingLink has recently hinted at its updated roadmap, which focuses on pushing the boundaries of interactive and immersive AI content creation. One of the standout features will be the platform’s evolved capability to facilitate both 2D and 360-degree AI image generation. This expansion is a game-changer for ThingLink creators, who can now not only upload their own images but also generate entirely new ones right within the platform. This newfound flexibility enables teachers to develop more immersive and engaging visual content, allowing them to better captivate their students.
Pricing: Free 60-day Trial, with the option of a pro-teacher and school licence
Website: Thinglink.com
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5 Minute Lesson Plan
Pedagogical research meets AI.
The famous lesson planner from Teacher Toolkit embraces AI. Artificial Intelligence will complete the lesson plan for you, and then using cognitive science helps you streamline your thought process to quality assure and edit when needed.
Give some key details about the lesson and any additional context to help the AI get to work. It’ll add some clever tags for you, too. This AI tool is a fantastic way for teachers who’ve used the 5MLP to get acquainted with the power of AI. You can also print the lesson plans and share them with colleagues.
Pricing: Free for 2 weeks
Website:5minutelessonplan.co.uk
