AI for Better Basics: Enhancing Fundamental Educational Practices

22 Apr

There is a tragic misconception that prevents many teachers and their classes from benefiting from Artificial Intelligence.

The misconception is this: they believe they must use new technologies to do new things.

They may attend a conference and hear of a tech-savvy teacher who uses AI to simulate a real-time conversation with Plato or Shakespeare. They may hear of teachers using AI to create elaborate escape rooms for their students or construct a text-based role-playing game where the students have to start the Renaissance.

While all of those learning experiences sound fantastic, that’s not my vision for AI in education—at least, it’s not a big part of it. It’s all icing and no cake, if you will.

My vision for AI in education isn’t pushing pedagogical boundaries but doing the basics better.

I’ve had the privilege of spreading this vision among thousands of educators over the last year: AI for better basics.

We need to clear up the misconception that new technology requires new practices. In reality, we can use new technology to perform the same evidence-backed, highly valuable tasks that we know benefit our students.

I’m talking about things like:

Differentiating text
Retrieval practice
Creating rubrics

Is there evidence for getting your class to talk with AI Plato? Maybe. There are, however, a list of studies as long as my arm showing the educational benefits of adjusting texts so students can actually decode them.

Today I’m going to give you a free resource. I’ve spent the past month writing an eBook called “AI for Better Basics”. In it, I’ll show you how to use AI to do the basics of education to a standard and volume that was previously impossible.

My goal is that, after you finish the book, you’ll have all the tools you need to use AI to benefit every learner in your classroom.

I’ve split the book into two parts. First, we’ll go over the basics of AI use. These principles will allow you to use AI well. Second, we’ll look at the basic use cases: differentiating text, retrieval practice, and creating rubrics.

Don’t get put off by the word ‘basic’. The word itself comes from the word ‘base’, meaning starting point or foundation. The basics are nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, they are exactly exactly what our students need.