November 2022 - AI and K-12 education

Welcome to edm8ker’s inaugural newsletter, where we share tips and tricks on how to integrate technology into the classroom. In this issue, we go into how AI can help deepen learning for your students - and ease your overall workload at the same time.

Also in this issue:

• VR in the classroom. And you don’t even need a fancy headset!
• Favourite tech tools. Our staff spill the beans.
• Free lesson plans. Something’s brewing at edm8ker, and we want you to be part of it.

AI in education - more than just a fad?

AI’s role in education has been touted to transform the industry by enabling personalised learning experiences, help students gain work-ready soft skills, and learn new languages authentically.

But some teachers have taken things into their own hands, offering ideas on how AI could help their students write better or create art. One university professor in North Carolina State challenged students to integrate AI-generated text into their own writing, with thought-provoking results.

Teachers can also use AI to ease their administrative workload. For example, AI has been used to grade students' work, even when the answers are open-ended and more challenging to grade.

At the same time, we know AI isn’t foolproof. While there’s little chance of AI going rogue, it could lead to some pretty embarrassing results.

That’s why it’s important to have a human (you!) in the loop, to prevent things like this from happening. Or even better - sign up for an intro-level AI course - free options here and here.

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”

I often think of the opening lines to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody when contemplating the rise of extended reality. Virtual reality (VR) in particular is particularly interesting as it’s easy for teachers (and students!) to come up with their own VR creations. 

We had a recent opportunity to host a PD session about the affordances of VR in the classroom, courtesy of Kognity Engage.

Here’s the slide deck from our session, which should get you started on how to create VR lessons.

Favourite tech tools

At edm8ker, we’re technologists, innovators and changemakers - but above all, we’re educators at heart. We got a couple of the edm8ker team to share about their favourite tech tools to use in the classroom.

“I use Padlet a lot in my classroom. It allows my students and teachers to share notes, ideas, images and files in one place which encourages ideation and collaborative work. I also enjoy using Thinglink, which is an interactive platform, not only for teachers but also students to create accessible and visual content to enhance the learning experiences.” Ruiyin See, STEM Programme Manager, 10+ yrs experience as an educator

“I really enjoy using WeVideo as a tool. It allows students to take their project ideas and create their own video experience to tell their story or share what they have learned. Students learn the basics of video editing and how to take their pictures and videos and create an engaging video to share with the class.” Scott Campbell, Director of US Operations, 20+ yrs experience as an educator

Tech-infused resources for all

You might have heard that we’re developing a free platform to host resources for teachers looking to integrate technology into their lessons.

The idea is that teachers will be able to download tech-infused lesson plans straight off the platform, and use it in their classrooms. It’s that simple.

But we want to develop a product that teachers will actually use. Which means we want to hear from you at each step of the way - starting from the topics we should prioritize when developing our initial slate of content. (We’ll be starting with resources for 1st to 4th Grades.)

We’re really excited to launch our beta in the coming months. More information about how to sign up in our December newsletter - look out for it!

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