Part 2 AI Assistive Tools for Teachers

I could see an AI assistant assessment fitting into my class. It can give students quick feedback while they’re working instead of moving on to the next assignment without proper feedback. If a kid heads in the wrong direction, the AI can catch it early and nudge them back on track, which saves them time and gives me a clearer picture of who actually gets the material.

In an earth science setting, it’d be useful for things like data analysis, graphing, or reviewing concepts like Earth’s motions or weather patterns. The AI could maybe give students follow-up questions or help them break down tougher ideas when I’m working with another group. It’s not replacing labs or real conversation, but it seems more like a support tool.

One of the examples in the video showed AI giving students step-by-step explanations when they get stuck on a question. This could be a very helpful tool for practicing reading and interpreting nutrition labels in health class. When students are stuck on how to calculate certain information, such as the number of calories from carbs in a granola bar,  they could ask the AI to walk them through what information they must find and what operation is required to find the answer. The AI would function almost like a digital tutor, a free one at that, available anytime a student needs immediate help without waiting for me. Yes, this is something I would be interested in using. It would free me to work more closely with small groups or students who need deeper help, rather than always responding to every individual question. However, I’d still want to require students to show their own reasoning or reflect on the AI’s explanation. They need to be able to think critically on their own.

This something that would love to use as a teacher. We spend so much time giving projects, lessons etc, grading and reading handed-in work takes so long.  I was never great at writing and punctuation etc. and I know my students sometimes don't put full complete sentences together.  This is an amazing tool for them to learn the proper way to write and articulate their thoughts on paper and not get discouraged so easily.  That is a huge thing in class, students getting frustrated and giving up.  I could find many uses for this even though I don't give many writing assignments.  This would be amazing especially with the rubric right there to align with grading!  This is pretty great!

I was interested in the Interactive Prototype because of the benefits it would provide for the classroom like the opportunity for dynamic activities, hands-on experience and student-centered learning opportunities that would allow a teacher to better prepare students for the opportunities outside of the classroom, whether it be continued education or moving into the workplace. The fact that the prototype allowed for active learning and experimentation made the exercise more engaging and hands-on for the student.

As a business teacher the concepts I teach directly relate to the real-world as such my classroom offers project-based learning opportunities. Providing traditional assessment for students isn't really telling me what they have learned because I want them to do more than simply memorize the content I want them to demonstrate their learning through application. There are checkpoints however where I look to assess understanding through exit slips or review activities. Business content is directly linked to 21st century skills like creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. My students using a prototype would help ensure that they better apply the content being taught. Case studies and real-world problems ensures that my students are being challenged to come up with solutions. As a teacher I can see the benefit of being able to quickly review and grade student work. It would allow me the ability to provide more detailed feedback earlier in the learning process thereby allowing students to get check-ins throughout the activity to better guide them through the design process. I would be interested in integrating this into my classroom but would need to spend more time investigating how it could best improve the existing set-up I have in place for content. 

One example that stood out to me was the AI-assisted assessment feature in Criterion. It provides instant feedback to students, which can help them improve their writing right away instead of waiting for me to grade every paper. This immediate response can keep students motivated and help them see exactly what to work on next. The AI also collects data on student progress, showing trends that I can use to identify who needs extra help and what skills the whole class might be struggling with.

I’m definitely interested in using this tool. It fits well with how I teach because it allows me to give more personalized support without slowing down the whole class. The data can guide my  small groups, making my teaching more targeted. Plus, the tool keeps me involved in the process, so I’m not replaced by technology but supported by it. This seems like a smart way to help my students grow as writers.

• Explain how one of the examples showcased might work in your class.  

 The Criterion Prototype seems like a great way to help students figure out the writing process (which is not simple). I think the idea of being able to have a game plan, and figure out how to prioritize the main ideas and sort out everything before you actually start your first draft will get students past that first hurdle and increase motivation to create a polished essay. I can’t speak for an ELA teacher, but I think the idea of feedback given would be a huge time saver. I can’t imagine reading 100 essays, at multiple stages and giving feedback on them. Criterion seems like a great help here. I think I could use this in my Financial class. We explain why taxes exist and take stances on tax systems. Having a place for students to organize their claims and which they will include would be a great addition to their toolkit.  

• Is this something that you might be interested in using? Explain.

 I think so. We do not write essays every single class or even every unit but I am all for making students more productive and helping them with a process that many find challenging. I like that I am not out of the loop on the writing here, but they do not have to wait for me, so there is no stop and go on the students part.

Part II. Right now, if I'm honest, ideas on how to use AI in the classroom are really in the incubation stage for me.  I would love to learn how other foreign language teachers might already be using AI and to learn about any pitfalls. For me, the instant translation capabalities are a big hurdle. I can't see any assessment in writing at this juncture. Having students be able to take a critical look at their writing and suss out errors is a tall order for beginner language learner, especially in the first levels in high school. Unfortunately, AI does it all for them albeit not always correctly. But all is not lost if I do not choose to use it as a writing assessment per se. I do believe that the writing process can be of use in that students will be able to start to build a vocabulary that really express their honest opinions and ideas as they can in fact, start to find words, phrases and usage on their own. There is no getting around the fact that they will not know when the expressions or syntax is out of order and the only way to be sure is to run it against some other AI products to see if the correct expressions etc., can be found and checked.  This revision process is the important piece. So, as you can see, I'm just in the early stages to try and find a way for AI to be valuable and to still have actual learning take place. In my opinion, I think that using AI for development with a performance assessment attached such as speaking or listening will be a more likely use of such AI tools in the beginning. I just know how incorrect AI tools can be in translation. But, for a moment, let's say I figure out the instant translating thing, I do like the ability to track their progress and the ability to easily pop into an assignment and add in some feedback.  Make no mistake though, the teacher will still need to find the time for feedback. I also think it is important to trust the learning process. Real learning cannot be rushed. Time on task to develop understanding must happen. Moreover, I think using too many different platforms to find feedback can be confusing for parents and students. Again, something I will need to think about. I how to try it out so that I can see what happens.

1. I was very impressed with the part of the video describing the Criterion Interactive Prototype. It is a web-based, instructor-led automated writing tool that helps students plan, write, and revise their essays. This AI tool is designed to help students with the planning (brainstorming), the instant feedback, and editing of their essays, without replacing the teacher (yours truly) in the process. This is extremely helpful and useful in a social studies classroom where the students are writing several different essays throughout the course of the school year. In regards to US History, students needs to write a Short Essay Question (SEQ Essay), along with a Civic Literacy Essay. Both essays involve students analyzing documents and explaining the relationship between the documents, while citing and using textual evidence from the documents to address the stated task. In the SEQ, students need to include one or two documents (depending on Set #1 or Set #2) and for the Civic Literacy Essay, students need to include four documents in their essay response... So allowing the teacher to use this AI technology to help students brainstorm ideas (historical context- which students struggle on), organize their thoughts/paragraphs, correct their grammar/punctation, and provide instant feedback is super beneficial to both the student and teacher. Again, it doesn't remove the teacher from the equation, but provided the teacher and student with a new "teaching assistant" in the classroom.

• Explain how one of the examples showcased might work in your class.  

The platform that was showcased during this video was incredible.  It can manage classroom data, give instant feedback for timely interventions, create personalize learning paths, give teachers data driven analytics, and promote active dialogue between a teacher and their students. 
The example of student writing using AI is incredible.  I love how the details the student has planned out are on the left side of the screen so they have it right there in front of them.  Later in their editing process, they will see their essay along that left side.  I
t's amazing how AI can grade the writing pieces using the rubric in minutes,  allowing teachers to overrride any scores if they would like.  The feedback students get from AI are a Praise, Question and a suggestion to help students improve their rubric score.  Then students can edit their pieces.  
What I think I like the most is the data analytics.  This platform tracks progress and allows teachers to see common errors their students are making.  This then frees up time to coach their students instead of spending hours grading papers. 
I would definitely use this in a classroom with teachers.  I can see using it for a math project or assessment.

• Is this something that you might be interested in using? Explain.

100% I would definitely be interested in using this in the classroom.  I would love to work with the tech coaches to generate some ways we could incorporate this into a math classroom.