How I Used (and Didn't Use) AI in My Classroom

Outline

5 MINUTES: Introduction. Quick description of my return to the classroom after several years away. Identify the challenges of confronting and adapting to new AI classroom technology.

How I did use AI in my classroom

10 MINUTES: #1 Lesson plans and ideas. Share how I prompted AI for creative teaching ideas. Provide prompting tips (i.e. prompts don't have to be perfect right away, use AI responses and a first draft, etc.) Show an example line of prompting about an example unit on the Peloponnesian War.

10 MINUTES: #2: AI image generators. Share how I used image generators to create images my students could describe in my world language class. Share example images. Discuss "AI weirdness," where AI image generators create artifacts that don't reflect reality. Share how that can be an entry point to having quick meaningful discussions with students about what's real and what isn't. I call these "by the way" lessons. Share other examples of "by the way" lessons about AI.

5 MINUTES: #3: Sub plans. Share how I created quick sub plans by prompting large language models like ChatGPT and combining them with teacher AI tools like MagicSchool. Share what can be included (i.e. daily schedule, instructions for sub, instructions for students, instructional materials, etc.)

10 MINUTES: #4: Review games. Share how I used AI tools to help create online review games through platforms like Quizlet, Blooket, Quizizz, and more. Connect to best practices on retrieval practice and spaced repetition. Share how to export practice questions to a spreadsheet for bulk upload to the review game platform. Warn that AI can make us efficient -- but it can also make bad teaching more efficient if we're not careful.

5 MINUTES: #5. Student-facing chatbots. Share how I had students practice conversational Spanish in the context of custom chatbots through SchoolAI. Emphasize the importance of pre-screening chatbot activities and prompting (and re-prompting) to fine tune the activity to get what you need. Show screenshots with examples.

15 MINUTES: How I didn't use AI in class. I chose to discourage students from using online translators in my class to preserve student thinking and skill development. I didn't use AI detectors because research (cited below) shows how damaging and ineffective they are. I didn't use all of the AI tools because of overwhelm for me and my students. I didn't use it to create readings in the target language because I just wasn't happy with the results it created (which shows that teachers should be judicious about what they use it and don't use it for).

Remind participants to use AI for what it's worth, to be careful of accuracy and bias, and that the human teacher is the key ingredient in effective AI integration.

Supporting research

AI detectors: https://edintegrity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s40979-023-00140-5 ... https://edintegrity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s40979-023-00146-z ... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38516933/

AI for Educators by Matt Miller

Images: Dual Coding Theory by Alan Paivio

Retrieval and spaced repetition: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264988491_The_Effect_of_Testing_Versus_Restudy_on_Retention_A_Meta-Analytic_Review_of_the_Testing_Effect ... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8759977/