How AI could transform teaching

Key points:

As we head into a new school year, teachers need a break more than ever. Educators are still working hard for their students, but the ups and downs of our current environment are not without consequences.

Educators have been grappling with a major new development: the integration of artificial intelligence (ai) into the classroom. The 2023-24 school year was the first school year in which ai was widely available as a classroom tool, and educators are beginning to embrace it. ai has the potential to transform the teaching profession by taking over menial tasks, empowering teacher creativity, and improving accessibility—all while preparing students for an ai-driven future. While technology alone can’t fix teacher burnout, it can certainly be part of the solution.

Here’s why we have a lot to gain from empowering educators to confidently embrace ai in their work.

Teacher burnout is very real

To learn more about the teaching experience, A recent survey 1,000 elementary and secondary teachers in the United States were asked about burnout, and the results were alarming. More than four in five teachers say they suffer from burnout, and more than a third experience it every day or almost every day. These data are deeply worrying and demonstrate the urgency of improving the experience of teachers.

Teachers reported a variety of factors for their burnout, including grueling classroom management responsibilities, lack of administrative support, and inadequate pay. Surprisingly, most teachers have continued to work hard for their students, with two-thirds saying they work longer hours than their contracts stipulate.

Unsurprisingly, this burnout has consequences for students. The survey also found that one-third of teachers say burnout has reduced the quality of their teaching. Perhaps the most worrying finding is that more than half of teachers have considered leaving the profession or changing schools due to burnout, and two-thirds have considered leaving the profession altogether.

Teachers see ai as part of the solution

Heai-education-survey/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”> survey 42 percent of new teachers have already used ai, while 93 percent of teachers knew “little” or “nothing” about the topic. Teachers with less than five years of experience have been the most adaptable to ai: 59 percent say they use the technology.

Of course, the mere use of ai is not the goal. Ninety-two percent of teachers who use it have found it useful in addressing teaching challenges. Educators highlighted how it can improve work efficiency, promote creativity, and enhance learning. Given those benefits, it is not surprising that teachers who reported being satisfied with their jobs were almost twice as likely to use ai than those who were dissatisfied.

How ai can help our educators

ai tools can be a boon for educators, but one of the biggest barriers to adopting new technologies is knowing where to start. Educators can leverage ai to help lighten their load in many ways while increasing their impact:

• Generate ideas for lessons. Use an ai-powered text-based tool to brainstorm what's possible, plan activities, or even create first drafts of materials.
• Customize materials for each student. Tailor teaching materials to each student’s individual needs. ai can help generate a lesson or take an existing lesson and create level-specific ideas to ensure all students can engage with a lesson.
• Create a lesson presentation. ai-presentations/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Some tools Allow teachers to write a message with some inspirational words and create the first draft of a slide presentation.

As one teacher said, by using ai, “teachers can foster more creative opportunities for themselves and students, while saving time and alleviating some common stressors in the field. I hope that with advances in ai and the awakening of more teachers’ curiosity, a more fulfilling environment for educators will emerge, benefiting students and school communities.”

Appreciating our teachers

While some have claimed that ai could replace teachers, I believe nothing could be further from the truth. What ai can What we can do is enable teachers to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time delivering creative, engaging instruction that will be a game-changer for the next generation of workers. In other words, ai can help teachers spend more time doing the things that made them want to become educators in the first place. If we truly want to value our teachers, that seems like a worthy goal.

Our teachers are incredibly important, and we need to do more to make their jobs easier. With better systems, additional resources, and safe use of technology, we can help them focus on the work they love.