Best Free AI Slide Tools for Teachers

The explosion of ai generating tools has not yet proven to be a great boon for education. Questions about accuracy and bias are secondary to the main question: Do generative ai tools help teachers teach and students learn? The jury is still out on this question. However, I embarked on a journey to explore the free ai slide generation platforms available, hoping to strike gold, or at least bitcoin.

What I actually discovered is more like lead than gold. While each of the free platforms includes some useful features, none combine substantial utility with the possibility of a free download. Still, some come close enough to be worth a try.

Educators may also consider using a free, standalone ai image generator instead of accepting the uneven selection provided by ai slide generators.

HOW WE TEST

Each ai-assisted slide generator was tested with the message “Causes of the American Revolution.” The platforms were evaluated based on the educational quality of the text and images in the presentations, ease of use, and features. We tested only the free version of each platform.

(Image credit: Curipod)

ADVANTAGES:
Curipod’s intuitive workflow makes it easy to start creating an ai-generated slideshow, while the option to select grades and standards allows teachers to tailor slideshows to student needs. Interactive features like surveys and brain breaks keep kids paying attention. Free templates are available to generate ideas or save time.

CONS:
No download with free account. Presentations can be more like assessments than learning lessons. Differentiating lessons by grade is not always effective. The images are modern.

GRADE B
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(Image credit: Presentations.ai)

ADVANTAGES:
Professional looking slides with elegant animation effects. Each slide can be edited for text and images. Users can import documents or a PDF to create slideshows. The text, although concise, is quite informative.

CONS:
The images are quite modern and include laptop light bulbs and clip art. Intensive use of computer memory. No free download.

GRADE B-
ai/view/8Z06hw” target=”_blank”>Link to share

(Image credit: Simplified)

ADVANTAGES:
Simplified provided some period-relevant images, along with moderately informative text. A library of animation effects, as well as links to free image databases, allow teachers to further enrich their presentations. In addition to the share link, users can export their presentations as video, png, PDF, jpg, gif, or svg.

CONS:
In a 10-slide presentation, one image was used six times. While the text is moderately informative, it also has the distinctive characteristics of ai-generated text; that is, many complete grammatical sentences that are too vague or general to be educational.

GRADE: C
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(Image credit: SlidesGPT)

ADVANTAGES:
No account or login required to get started with SlidesGPT’s free basic plan. The text content of the slideshow was by far the most comprehensive and educational of all the generators. The images include at least some that are relevant to the era. Don’t care about images? Repeat your message and a new set will be produced. SlidesGPT also offers a great one-time option: for a modest $2.50, download your presentation as an editable PowerPoint, Google Slide, or PDF.

CONS:
Users cannot edit anything without downloading it. The slides, although informative, are text-heavy. Many modern images included.

GRADE: B+
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(Image credit: Slides.ai)

ADVANTAGES:
Easy to use once installed, Slides.ai provided concise and moderately informative text. while the “MagicWrite” feature offers the option to search for royalty-free images, icons, quotes and emojis. To paraphrase existing text, simply highlight and click “Paraphrase Sentences” within MagicWrite. But the best feature of the free Slides.ai is the ability to download an editable PowerPoint presentation.

CONS:
The annoying insistence that users must sync Chrome and Google accounts in order to deploy SlidesAI.io can add a few minutes to installation time. The images included the strangely inappropriate snow monkeys that accompanied the “Intolerable Acts” slide. Blank slides are included in the presentation. Free plan limit of three presentations per month.

GRADE: D+
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