From worksheets to videos: Teachers are using AI tools to teach and upskill students and themselves

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become increasingly popular in the field of education, with teachers across various boards using AI tools to enhance teaching and upskill themselves. Kavitha Ghosh, an English teacher at Delhi Public School in Bengaluru South, believes that AI has made her job easier. She uses AI to create differentiated worksheets for each student, covering various question types like critical analysis, reasoning, and logic-based questions.

These worksheets not only help students prepare for their board exams but also offer unique visual representations for poems like Robert Frost's "Ice and Fire."

Ghosh emphasizes the importance of prompt engineering skills for teachers, as they need to learn how to effectively communicate their requirements to AI tools. While she advises students to limit the use of AI for school projects, she does allow them to use AI for assignments completed at home. However, she discourages students from copying and pasting the same words and sentences from AI-generated content, instead prompting them to rework their projects if caught using such content.

Samran Wiriyaphong, the K-12 Tech Coordinator at Canadian International School, highlights the significance of upskilling teachers in AI. At the high school level, schools are launching a year-long, Professional Learning Community (PLC)-based action research project focused on assessment redesign using AI guardrails. This includes human-in-the-loop checks, no-direct-answer scaffolding, and visible process implementation.

In elementary classrooms, AI primarily serves as a teacher-led demonstration tool. Educators leverage AI to showcase multiple perspectives or contrasting explanations, followed by reflective discussions to evaluate accuracy and maintain human intelligence. At secondary grades, students utilize AI for student-driven exploration, comparing perspectives in humanities or testing strategies in math, while remaining accountable for verifying and preserving the originality of their work.

In Karwar's Chendiya taluk, two government higher primary school teachers, Chandrakanth Gouda and Josphine G. Lima, have developed an AI-enabled education website called 'Shikshakara Shaikshanika Sampanmulagalu.' The website provides audio and visual content on various subjects, including history, English, science, math, and social science, with around 120 videos covering topics from classes 6 to 8.

The teachers created the website a year ago during a school trip, amassing content related to the syllabus for classes 6, 7, and 8. Gouda explains that AI tools were instrumental in generating videos on historical figures and the freedom movement. The website functions as an open-source platform, accessible to both teachers and students, ensuring a more focused and ad-free learning experience compared to other social media platforms.