Tech We Can Guest Blog - Ways to Save Time With AI In Education

In my last teaching job, I was really starting to see the potential of technology in lessons. And I don’t just mean smart boards, or I-Pads. Augmented reality meant you could show pupils the surface of Mars. Online parent evenings became a possibility with the help of Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Meet. But AI took everything to another level. 

I still remember the first time I’d seen ChatGPT do its thing. Among some of the prompts, I asked the AI to write 10 school mottos, a list of classroom rules, and a haiku about winter.

It did all three within seconds. Are they perfect? You can be the judge of that.

10 School Mottos



10 Classroom Rules



Winter Haiku



How to use AI

You’d expect the AI software to be complicated. But you can quickly sign up with a Google account and get it working at the click of a button. All you need is a prompt and you’re ready.

For example, if you want to create an article on the health benefits of chocolate, or write a script for a year 6 school play, all you need to do is type in the request. And the AI will make something in seconds.

Disclaimer: It’s not always perfect. But it’s a brilliant shortcut if you need something for a lesson, and you don’t have time to search the Internet.

What AI Tools Can You Use?

There have been a myriad of different AI tools cropping up ever since, which claim to be all-singing and all-dancing. And some tools are really specific, from background removers to QR code generators. 

Most people use the free version of ChatGPT. It’s a decent one size fits all. For those working in a school, educational companies, like Twinkl have come up with their own version called Twinkl Ari in their AI Hub. 

Why Should You Try AI?

What AI can and should do is still up for debate. But one thing we can all agree on is that it can save people a lot of time when it comes to more intensive and repetitive tasks. 

What might take an hour for a person can be completed in half the time with AI. It’s fast. Very fast. And it’s a fantastic tool for teacher admin.

Ways AI Can Save Time In Education

As an educator, I don’t believe AI can do everything. But like me, if you’re wondering how you can make the most of it, here are some ways AI can save you time:

1. Creating Templates - Emails / Letters

For reporting pupil progress, preparing consent forms and beyond, communicating with pupil’s families is a massive part of working in a school. But writing those emails or letters takes up precious time, which usually means a longer day at work.

AI can make short work of this, writing templates for your emails and letters. 

2. Writing Example Texts For Activities

If you’ve struggled to find examples of articles online without all the heavy advertisements and awkward formatting, or nothing in the textbooks quite fits around your lesson plan, this is a wonderful teacher hack.

You can even ask the AI to intentionally make spelling errors in the text for a quick proofreading activity.

3. Produce Summaries and Reports

AI can also be used to speed up your reading and reporting process. If you have a large chunk of text, you can feed it to the AI and ask it for a summary. You can also reverse the process, asking for a report or longer comment based on a single sentence - useful for pupil report writing.

4. Search and Find

Like a search engine, AI can scour the web for you and search out answers to your questions. If you need a list of sources on a topic, it can find them in a heartbeat. No more hours spent going through the search results yourself.

Is AI Worth It?

Overall, AI software should be taken with a pinch of salt. For content creators, media and SEO, it’s rocked the boat substantially. Having blurred the lines of copyright, originality and in some cases, even accuracy, many users proceed with caution when using it to create anything original.

On the other hand, with the right building blocks, it can take the biggest tasks and automate them without any hassle. Signing up is easy, and at the moment, a lot of it is free to use. 

So why not, right? 

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About the author

This blog post was written by Adam Morris who works as a Content Executive for the KS1 team at Twinkl. Adam has a keen interest in edtech, gamification and using digital resources to improve engagement in literacy.

Want to know more about technology in education? Discover the marvels of technology with Tech We Can.