Artificial intelligence (AI) tools for teachers can leverage their expertise to improve teaching and learning experiences and outcomes. Here’s what you need to know about AI tools for teachers.
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Educators are increasingly adopting AI. According to one study, 60% of U.S. K-12 public school teachers reported using AI tools during the 2024-2025 school year. [1].
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There are many ways to use AI in education. This includes adapting and differentiating lessons, saving time on administrative tasks, creating quizzes, and more.
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Common AI tools used by educators include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude, as well as education-specific tools.
Below, we discuss educational AI tools in more detail, including their uses, benefits, and ethical considerations. Then, if you want to learn more about using AI tools in education, consider signing up for OpenAI’s ChatGPT Foundations for Teachers.
Many AI tools for teachers are a form of generative AI, typically using large-scale language models (LLMs) to create new content. These types of AI undergo a training process that allows the AI to learn how to analyze language usage and make predictions based on the model’s training data. Common examples of popular generative AI tools include AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthrophic’s Claude.
There are now more and more AI tools designed specifically for teachers, such as Eduade.AI, Quizizz, and Curipod.. These tools offer features such as quiz and lesson plan generation, individualized instruction and progress monitoring, language translation, reading level adjustment, ready-made or teacher-created digital classrooms for collaboration, assignments, idea generation, and more.
AI use by teachers
Teachers’ use of AI falls into four broad categories: enhancing teaching and learning, simplifying differentiation, saving time, and streamlining lesson planning and creation. Within each of these categories, you can find AI tools that meet different needs for you and your students.
1. Enhance the teaching and learning experience
AI tools for teachers have the potential to expand access to high-quality learning experiences. For example, adaptive learning tools such as AI assistive technology and speech recognition software can better support students with disabilities.
AI can also be used to provide interactive and experiential learning opportunities not available through traditional education methods. For example, students can conduct experiments and participate in virtual labs that recreate real-life scenarios. AI could be used for virtual field trips, online events, guest lectures, and more to expose students to unique experiences and experts they might not normally encounter.
AI’s ability to generate simulations, challenges, and virtual worlds, and tailor games and activities to individual learners based on their interactions with the program, can have a positive impact on student engagement and content retention.
2. Personalization
Many of today’s AI-driven learning platforms provide content specific to each learner’s performance and learning style. These tools use AI to analyze how students interact with content and design, allowing them to adapt learning activities in real time to meet students’ unique needs. Some AI programs can also be used to modify the text to suit the desired language or reading level.
Teachers can also use AI to provide personalized tutoring and guidance to students through chatbots and virtual assistants. These specially designed platforms provide feedback to students, answer questions about the topics they are learning in the classroom, and break down complex content into easier-to-understand parts.
3. Creating a teaching tool
Many AI programs for teachers tout the ability to generate quizzes, lesson plans, rubrics, presentations, worksheets, reading materials, and other tools for teachers and students.
For example, you can enter a grade level, subject area, or topic into many existing AI learning platforms and get exit tickets, polls, prompt creation, rubrics, and other standards-compliant content and activities. AI can also help create assessments, from interactive game-based quizzes to scenario-based questions and word problems. The possibilities seem almost endless.
Some platforms allow you to create focused, student-centered classrooms, sometimes called “spaces,” where students can interact with each other and use content and materials of their choice. By designing their own spaces or using ready-made spaces, these rooms can guide students to achieve all kinds of related goals.
4. Save time
A recent Merrimack College study reported that teachers work 54 hours a week, with 25 hours (46 percent) spent on instruction and 17 hours (31 percent) spent on general administrative tasks, grading and feedback, interaction with learners outside of instruction, communication with parents, and a combination of other tasks. [2]. With the right AI tools, many of these administrative tasks can be automated or streamlined, freeing up time for personalized lesson planning and instruction.
AI tools for teachers can create assessments and assess and document student progress. For example, AI systems can be used to grade tests using standard formats, such as multiple-choice questions. Instead of spending hours poring over every inch of an essay, you can also use a grading assistant that looks at your work, generates appropriate feedback, and reviews and makes changes as needed.
AI’s ability to proctor, monitor, and certify online exams frees up teachers’ time to create quality lessons and assessments.
From grades to attendance, tools that analyze patterns in data can quickly provide valuable insights into learner performance. AI could even be used to brainstorm goals and create templates for time-consuming individualized education plans (IEPs). Additionally, AI tools can save you time when planning field trips, integrating standards into lessons, and creating engaging presentations. You’ll also find AI tools to help teachers create emails for parents and create classroom newsletters that can be edited and sent in a timely manner.
read more: 16 AI writing tools for research, drafting, editing, and more
AI offers many benefits to teachers. AI tools designed specifically for teachers save time and help teachers create engaging and accessible learning environments with creative teaching tools and personalized learning experiences. However, it is also important to keep in mind the following considerations:
ethical considerations
AI tools don’t always cite sources. It can also introduce bias depending on the data used during training. Additionally, you need to be aware of how learner data is collected and used. However, steps such as user authentication and data encryption are often managed at the school or district level and can help alleviate privacy concerns. The challenges found through these programs can be used to teach learners how to critically evaluate the information provided by AI for bias or inaccurate “facts.”
human interaction
Even the best AI tools for teachers cannot replace the face-to-face interactions with classmates and teachers that are essential for developing social-emotional skills. While the tools students use may be helpful, consider relying more on AI for administrative tasks, brainstorming, or working with your ideas. Balancing AI-assisted learning with traditional learning methods has the potential to provide a well-rounded learning experience for students.
Dependence on technology
Despite its benefits, over-reliance on technology can have a negative impact on learners’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In addition to those that use digital tools for balance, consider continuing the types of assignments and projects you’ve been doing, the types that don’t use AI or technology.
Understanding how to start using these tools and implementing them in your classroom will help you go smoothly. To ensure that integrating AI tools into your daily routine doesn’t become too overwhelming, consider the following steps:
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embrace change: Your students are likely familiar with (and likely experimenting with) current AI technologies. Because AI is likely to impact learners both inside and outside of the classroom, teachers can help students become tech-savvy by providing opportunities for students to interact with tools responsibly.
Build your AI skills with Coursera
Modern classrooms have many options for technology integration, including AI tools designed specifically for teachers. Continue your AI learning journey with the following resources from Coursera.
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