The State of AI Teaching Assistants: Transforming Education or Just Saving Time?
In recent conversations with teachers, I've noticed a growing trend: schools are formally introducing AI teaching assistants to their faculty. Many teachers, previously unfamiliar with platforms like MagicSchool or Eduaide, are now receiving professional development training on these systems. They're joining the millions of educators who have already subscribed to AI teaching assistants. This widespread adoption of AI teaching assistants, extending beyond individual early adopters, represents one of the most significant developments in AI in education over the last year. It signals a shift from AI tools being the domain of tech-enthusiast teachers to becoming a standard part of the educational toolkit for all teachers.
It begs the question: Are we using them to enhance education, or merely to save time?
The Allure of AI Teaching Assistants
It's easy to see why these platforms are gaining traction. They offer a comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline a teacher's workload, automating many time-consuming tasks and providing a centralized dashboard for various educational activities.
Take MagicSchool, for instance. With over 2.5 million subscribers, it's become the "ChatGPT" of AI teaching assistants. (It’s been the early leader in the field and keeps churning out new features.) This summer alone, they've rolled out an impressive array of new features, including:
Quiz Me!: Generates quizzes on any topic or test type
Student Support Chatbot: Customizable to support specific student needs
Standard(s) Based Chatbot: Creates chatbots based on educational standards
Chat with Docs: AI-powered discussions based on uploaded resources
504 Plan Generator: Drafts support plans for students with disabilities
Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) Creator: Generates plans for gifted students
Social Media Post Generator: Creates engaging posts for various platforms
AI teaching assistants offer educators a wealth of pre-crafted prompts and templates, streamlining the process of generating educational materials. Furthermore, many of these platforms integrate with widely-used Learning Management Systems (LMS), enhancing productivity and workflow.
MagicSchool is hardly alone in this space. Eduaide, led by a practicing teacher, offers over 100 resource types and learning objects. Brisk Teaching has carved out a niche as a Chrome extension that integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace. TeachMateAI caters specifically to educators following the International Baccalaureate program or the UK National Curriculum. And the list goes on.
“Fantastic, complete, current and comprehensive AI resource for K-12 teachers
A refreshing and inspiring take on incorporating AI into teaching and learning. Our school is ordering copies of this book for our teachers. Full of common-sense strategies that are easy to implement, using current and emerging AI tools. The author is a seasoned educator and has done a nice job of organizing the different uses of AI in the classroom by discipline, which our teachers found appealing. Also, the strategies he writes about are not just good teaching with AI, but good teaching in general. We highly recommend this book.” (Amazon review)
My new book AI Tools & Uses: A Practical Guide For Teachers is now available at Amazon! It is the first of its kind to be organized by K-12 subject areas and teaching responsibilities, and it offers unprecedented depth and specificity for teachers. The book provides detailed analyses of AI tools, including both subject-specific tools and versatile platforms that can be leveraged across disciplines.
The Shift to Student-Facing Tools
Perhaps the most intriguing development in this space is the introduction of student-facing tools. MagicSchool's "MagicStudent" platform, launched in May, aims to build student AI literacy. It includes tools like Raina, an AI chatbot with guardrails, and features that allow students to create their own chatbots, engage in creative activities, and receive writing feedback.
SchoolAI has developed a reputation as one of the best student-facing AI teacher assistant services, particularly its customizable "spaces." These spaces allow teachers to set up AI chatbots with specific parameters and guidelines tailored to their classroom needs. Teachers can define the chatbot's knowledge base, set conversation boundaries, and even specify the tone of interactions. This customization ensures that the chatbot's responses align with the curriculum and educational standards.
SchoolAI has recently integrated with Google Classroom, further streamlining its use in many schools. This integration allows teachers to create and manage AI-powered activities directly within their Google Classroom interface, making it easier to incorporate AI into existing workflows.
Mizou offers another approach, providing AI-powered chatbots that can tutor, assess, and grade students in up to 50 languages. These chatbots can be set up in as little as 10 minutes, with teachers able to input specific instructions, resources, and rubrics. The platform can integrate text, images, audio, and video into its tutoring sessions. Students can interact with the chatbots without needing to create an account or log in, ensuring ease of access. After each session, students can self-assess and provide feedback, while teachers receive a transcript of the interaction and can even get AI-generated grades based on the student's participation.
While Eduaide and many other AI teaching assistants stress their teacher-centric features, platforms like SchoolAI and Mizou take a different approach. These newer entrants offer fewer teacher-centric tools and instead focus more directly on active student learning. SchoolAI, for instance, promotes itself as "designed for K12 students," in contrast to Eduaide's pitch to "teach smarter, not harder." Mizou, meanwhile, emphasizes its ability to "Customize AI Chatbots for 1-on-1 student interactions." This shift in focus represents an interesting evolution in the AI teaching assistant landscape, potentially signaling wider acceptance of student-centered AI activities in classrooms.
The Hidden Cost of Convenience
While these tools offer impressive features, there's a critical aspect that often goes unnoticed: the quality of their underlying language models. As I explained in a previous post, most AI in education tools run on less advanced large language models (LLMs) compared to the latest version of ChatGPT, GPT-4o. This disparity can significantly impact the quality and accuracy of the content students encounter.
Many of these platforms don’t reveal information about their LLMs. MagicSchool, SchoolAI, and Mizou, for instance, provide little to no information about the models they use. Eduaide, to its credit, openly admits to using GPT-3.5. The overall lack of transparency is concerning, especially when dealing with subjects that require precision and nuanced understanding.
For example, in advanced mathematics, GPT-3.5 often struggles with complex concepts and multi-step problems, while GPT-4o excels in these areas. Similarly, in language learning, GPT-4o demonstrates a superior understanding of idiomatic expressions and cultural context. Students using AI teaching assistants powered by less advanced models might receive less accurate information or struggle with more complex topics.
Don’t Overlook GPT 4o
Given these limitations, it's worth considering whether ChatGPT 4o might be a more powerful tool for many teacher tasks. While AI teaching assistants offer convenience and education-specific features, ChatGPT 4o provides a level of flexibility and creativity that specialized tools often can't match.
For instance, in lesson planning, GPT-4o allows for a dynamic, back-and-forth dialogue to refine and iterate on plans. A teacher might start by outlining the basic parameters of a lesson, then use follow-up prompts to explore specific aspects, request modifications, or generate supplementary materials. This iterative process allows for a level of customization and tailoring that pre-set templates can't easily achieve.
GPT-4o’s vast knowledge base enables it to draw connections between various subjects and real-world applications, facilitating more engaging learning experiences. For example, when planning a lesson on photosynthesis, ChatGPT might suggest links to climate science, sustainable agriculture, or even local ecosystems, providing a interdisciplinary context for the topic - beyond what a template would likely provide
Moreover, ChatGPT can engage in sustained, verbal interactions, making it ideal for enabling fluid, human-like exchanges that allow students to explore various scenarios. This capability can be leveraged for creating interactive storytelling experiences, simulating historical dialogues, or even mimicking scientific inquiry processes. Students can engage in open-ended conversations with the AI — if permitted by their institution — asking questions, posing hypotheses, and receiving detailed, contextually appropriate responses. This level of interaction can help deepen understanding, encourage critical thinking, and provide a safe space for students to experiment with ideas.
Balancing Convenience and Quality
So, how do we navigate this landscape? As educators, we need to strike a balance between the convenience offered by AI teaching assistants and the quality and flexibility provided by more advanced AI models like ChatGPT 4o.
Here are a few strategies I recommend:
Evaluate your needs: Before adopting an AI teaching assistant, clearly define what you hope to achieve. Are you looking to save time on administrative tasks, or do you want to transform your students' learning experiences?
Investigate the underlying technology: Don't be afraid to ask providers about their LLMs. The quality of the AI's responses can significantly impact your students' learning.
Compare with GPT-4o: For many tasks, especially those requiring nuanced understanding or creativity, ChatGPT 4o might be a better choice. Test it out alongside AI teaching assistants to see which better meets your needs.
Focus on student learning: Remember, the goal of integrating AI should be to enhance student learning, not just to save time. Look for ways to use AI that actively engage students and personalize their learning experiences.
Start small and iterate: Begin by incorporating GPT-4o into one aspect of your teaching. Observe the results, gather feedback, and adjust your approach accordingly.
Take a little time to understand the strengths and limitations of GPT-4o, or a similar advanced LLM, before committing yourself fully to an AI teaching assistant. Remember, the future of education isn't about saving time—it's about reimagining what's possible in the classroom. Let's always keeping our students' learning at the heart of our efforts.
AI Tools & News
Bearly - research summary
Ideogram 2.0 - text-to-image, now freely available to all users on ideogram.ai and new iOS app
Explainpaper - read research papers fast
Eightify - summarize Youtube videos
Julius - analyze your data
TeachAid - “Create & implement hyper-localized, equitable curricula that addresses diverse cultural needs, enhances teacher efficiency & effectiveness, and supports tiered and IEP instruction.”
WritewithLaika - Writer’s room to support creative writing
Google’s upgraded AI image generator is now available - The Verge
Hack Your Learning with Google Gemini - Leon Nicholls
Five Digital AI Tools: Tech Trends Impacting Education - TCEA
5 Ways to Avoid Bad AI Tools - Tech&Learning
Midjourney releases new unified AI image editor on the web - Venture Beat
Gemini in Gmail can now help polish up your drafts - The Verge
New to BrainPOP: Back to School 2024 (AI text leveling) - BrainPop
How to create realistic videos with Flux - YouTube