Lessons from the Field

“AI has opened up exciting new avenues for learning applications! By incorporating AI into the learning process, students are able to receive prompt feedback, which significantly enhances their writing quality. Engaging with AI encourages critical thinking, as learners carefully analyze each output. AI fosters a sense of achievement among all students through positive interactions and constructive feedback. When engaging in AI-driven tasks, learners are motivated to explore further, as these activities meet their individual needs while still presenting a challenge."

“I have used AI in a variety of ways that have had positive impacts on student achievement. One exciting recent example is that I had students use ChatGPT song creator to create a song/rap for Social Engineering (the tactic of manipulating, influencing, or deceiving a victim in order to gain control over a computer system, or to steal personal and financial information. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information). There are some main points in social engineering that students always forget. 

I had students decide on a type of genre they want to use. Then use that as a prompt into ChatGPT song creator to create song lyrics for this. Once they had lyrics, I had them prompt GPT to create the instrumental to match. After the instrumental was created, they had this converted to a Midi file. This file will allow them to use a Midi player to hear the instrumentals.  The next step will be to use a voice AI to convert the lyrics to audio. Once this has been completed, I am then going to have the students partner with Mr. Miller in Music Production class and bring their songs to life. 

The hope is that by the end of this, students will have a unique created song to add to their digital portfolio that will help them remember all of the aspects of Social Engineering.”

"My focus has been on the 4 Cs—creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication—and how effectively AI can support students in developing these skills. For instance, it's exciting to see students engage in AI-generated conversations with historical figures and present their insights through AI-created visuals. I also enjoy embracing AI alongside both students and teachers, exploring and learning together. This collaborative approach helps ensure that AI is seen and used in a positive light, rather than a negative one."

“One of our English teachers wanted to do a unit where her students read a historical fiction novel and then did research on the particular historical era.  By using AI, I was quickly able to input our library’s list of historical fiction novels and get the setting time period for each of the books.  This quickly helped me organize the books visually so the students could select the books we had in the library based on their time period. I was also able to generate a list for the teacher with these book titles and historical time periods but I also included reading level and date published for her knowledge.”

"AI is here to stay. Students need to embrace it, it will become part of their work life - it already has. Image generation may reduce the amount of work available for graphic designers. How can students and all types of designers use it to enhance their work and make it more efficient and when is it important to create it yourself? It could be a resource to generate ideas and communicate with clients for fashion and interior designers. The design discussion sparked by an AI image may help designers get a better idea of the needs and wants of their client before investing money and time in renderings and product. 

My students loved the gamification of bringing their ideas and drawings to life in a way that they did not have time or skill to do on their own"

"Implementing the use of AI instructional strategies in my classroom has allowed me to replicate myself in a sense and provide individual feedback for every learner simultaneously. This has made our learning personal, more relevant, and more instantaneous."

"Using AI allowed me to create scaffolds and supports for students at different stages of their English language development. The AI tool I used allowed all students an access point into narrative writing, while providing opportunities to expand and develop their writing. In addition, using AI strategically in the classroom gives me the opportunity to teach students the benefits and pitfalls of using AI and teach them when and how to use it appropriately."