Drilling into open source and royalty-free images is often boring, as it requires a daily exercise for university professors. Advances in artificial intelligence could change that.
Most professors I know are in the classroom or work on impactful projects, but the demands on teachers have increased, creating learning experiences where you have to compete with Roblox games and Tiktok challenges, and eye-catching visuals have become a valuable tool for teaching kits.
Some professors use GIFs to complete lecture presentations and hope that students will be intrigued by looped memes and related images starring famous faces. Others like me are turning to AI tools as an on-demand source for relevant, bespoke visuals, providing additional energy to the lessons.
Here's how university professors can use AI to liven up what classes of subjects they can use, and how to liven up their list of useful tools:
AI tools for education
Below are some tools that can be useful for presentations, lectures, and visually engaging learning materials.
- Midjourney: This text-based image creation tool is sturdy, versatile and frequently updated. I used it to create images, graphics, sample logos and other still visuals in the presentation, creating something dry like a marketing funnel pop.
- Mixio: This AI-powered tool is my fascination for creating websites from text prompts and providing examples of on-the-fly student portfolio.
- Gamma: Gamma generates a complete presentation in seconds with all elements, including text, images, transitions, and effects. I don't use gamma to generate learning material for use in my class, but it helps me build assignment elements, such as setting realistic requirements for presentation lengths on many different themes.
Gamma asks questions before creating a slide deck.
Classroom ai
Here are some specific ways to use AI in your classroom:
If you need to display diversity
Stock images are well known for being homogeneous, and while much has been said and written about AI's unique cultural bias, these tools, when used correctly, are gateways to illustrate diversity.
Designating a variety of characters and using a tailored language to display image diversity opens up opportunities for students to see themselves in a variety of occupations, situations and study materials.
For example, many medical drawings are primarily white and feature the body in which men exist. Specifying different genders and ethnicities via AI prompts gives students a different perspective. Make sure the elements in the image are accurate.
When the concept is complex
Some are visual learners, others pick things up faster through the shape of the story, while others need to take a practical approach to get a full grasp of the concept. AI tools provide a broader set of options to explain more complex concepts than many traditional learning materials, such as textbooks and lectures.
When the topic is simply dry
There have been many times when students can show maps of Eastern Europe without zoning. You can use AI tools to animate, add visual depth, add fresh take to topics, and focus your attention on distractions that students can easily access. More interesting visuals to supplement your study material are a great weapon of attention war.
Mixio creates a website from a text prompt.
However, even if you use these tools, don't forget to disclose your use to students. Citations and attention to using AI in your work will set a great example for students who want to take advantage of new fun technologies and applications, and put those who want to take advantage of teacher naiveness in notifications.
For more information about AI in Education, see below how to use cheats using AI.
