Transforming Work

Use AI for a Richer K-12 Education

By Sarah Kaka (OWU Associate Professor of Education)

Artificial Intelligence has already begun to shape the education landscape, from student use to teacher use, to teacher preparation. Here are just four ways that we have seen teaching begin to change as a result.

Efficiency

Through automated grading systems powered by AI, we're beginning to see the ways that teachers can streamline the assessment process. This cannot only save time but also has the possibility of offering valuable insights into student performance, allowing educators to focus on providing targeted support and feedback.

For example, a middle school American history teacher may use AI to create a selected response quiz that they can modify to ensure the questions address areas that they covered in class, and then use AI to grade the quiz, saving the teacher time. With the time saved from manual quiz creation and grading, the teacher can engage their students in more interactive and discussionbased sessions, enhancing the overall learning experience for their students.

Curriculum Design and Lesson Planning

Instead of spending hours and hours building lesson plans and designing curriculum, teachers can use AI to provide a skeleton outline of a lesson plan or classroom activities. They can then modify and adapt based on their individual students' needs.

Take a 4th-grade teacher who asks AI to assist her in creating interactive lesson plans for a unit on Ohio history. AI can help craft engaging narratives, develop hands-on activities, and suggest multimedia resources. Bonus here: The teacher can ask it to create those engaging narratives at different Lexile levels, ensuring all of her readers can access the text where they are. This allows the teacher to focus on effective implementation in the classroom, fostering an immersive and captivating learning environment.

Personalized Learning

Teachers can use AI to tailor lesson plans and curricular materials to better meet individual student needs. This includes using AI to modify texts, create individualized lesson plans, and differentiate assessment for each student.

For example, in a high school biology class, the teacher can use AI to create personalized assessments for each student based on their individual learning needs. AI can analyze previous quiz results, identify areas of improvement, and generate targeted questions to reinforce specific concepts. Students receive tailored feedback on the assessment, allowing them to focus on areas where they need additional support.

Assessment

I think AI has made educators more aware of the types of assessment they are using in their classes. Instead of having students write an essay, teachers are using more authentic types of assessment.

In a 10th grade English language arts class, students work to compile a portfolio of their work, reflecting on their strengths and areas for improvement. They can then make an individualized action plan with goals that they want to meet as they move through the year.

And this portfolio and reflection don't have to be written—students can create a digital storytelling project using multimedia elements (images, videos, narration) to convey the takeaways from their reflective process.

The transformative influence of AI on the education landscape is undeniable. The evolving partnership between educators and AI presents an opportunity for a dynamic, adaptive, and inclusive education system that leverages technology to nurture the full potential of every learner while upholding the essential role of teachers in guiding and mentoring students.