Winnick is more comfortable speaking than writing, so she used an AI-powered voice-to-speech transcription tool on Google Docs to capture her words. “I dictated it on the page, I took that, I ran it through an AI to remove my filler words and make me sound more professional,” says Winnick, Educational Technology Director at the Pocantico Hills Central School District in New York. “Then I would go back and edit it.” 

Winnick received the Innovative Tech Director Award, one of Tech & Learning’s Innovative Leader Awards, during the recent Northeast Regional Leadership Summit in New Jersey. She was honored for her work promoting effective and responsible AI use in the classroom as well as her larger efforts to use edtech to promote innovation in education. 

AI and Saving Teacher’s Time 

Throughout her career, Winnick says it has been a challenge to get teacher buy-in when it comes to various edtech tools. That changed for a time during the pandemic, except when things returned to normal many teachers drifted away from technology again. That has not been the case with AI. 

“This was actually the easiest buy-in I've ever gotten, because I'm like, ‘This is going save you time,’” she says. 

For example, she has shared a fill-in-the-blanks AI prompt that teachers can use to create AI-assisted units in minutes, complete with lesson plans and detailed activities appropriate for various grade levels. Of course, teacher expertise is still needed to fine-tune these lesson plans and correct mistakes AI might make. 

While this process is often called “curation” Winnick calls it DJing. “You might run the same thing through multiple AI, and be like, ‘Oh, I like that, I like that, and I like that,’” she says. “You're picking and choosing your own beats and making your own mixtape.” 

As a bonus, when educators are incorporating AI with students, using the DJ analogy is also more fun than the term curation.  

AI Tips For Students  

When using AI in educational setting, student safety and being aware of bias are paramount. “I think that every user, students and teachers, need to understand bias and misinformation in AI before they can use it for good,” Winnick says. “They need to know that we're detectives. We need to analyze everything that the AI is outputting to make sure that there is no bias, there's no misinformation.” 

Once this solid digital literacy/AI literacy foundation in place, there are many potential uses for AI. For example, Winnick likes to help students improve their writing skills by having them write prompts for AI art. When the prompt does not turn out the way they want it to, they realize instantly that they need to be more clear in their descriptions. It’s a form of instant writing feedback that also inherently inspires students, Winnick says. 

Building An AI-Supportive Culture and More

While there are many concerns around cheating and AI, Winnick says educators can bypass many of these by focusing on the process over the final product. By assessing that process and being a part of it, educators can help students use AI to effectively enhance their projects and not just spit out answers to essay questions.

Winnick says effectively bringing AI into the classroom in your school is about far more than AI technology on its own. Administrators should empower teachers, and teachers should empower students to share their expertise and guide classroom experience, Winnick says. 

Ultimately, she says you want to build “a culture with your teachers, that allows them to not be afraid to try new things.”

• 4 Lessons From California’s Teaching with AI Guidance
• 5 Key Policy Considerations for Regulating AI in Classrooms

“It does matter what you do when you teach writing because some things don't appear to work so well,” says Steve Graham, lead author of a new analysis of writing interventions (or “treatments”) for students in grades 6-12. 

The meta-analysis was published in the Journal of Educational Psychology and used data from 406 previous experiments involving 52,529 students. While no interventions studied in this analysis had a negative effect on writing outcomes, some interventions didn’t have significant positive effects. For instance, “Just simply increasing how much students write in middle school or high school does not improve their writing,” Graham says.

On the bright side, however, many interventions did help students improve their writing, and writing practice paired with enhanced instruction could make a significant difference. 

In their analysis, Graham and his co-authors identified 16 categories of writing interventions that had a positive impact on student writing and can serve as a guide to writing instructors. However, Graham cautions even though analysis of this kind provides teachers with tools that have a proven track record, there are no guarantees these strategies will work in all instances. 

“Just because a writing practice worked in eight other teachers' classrooms and had a positive effect, it does not mean that it is for certain going to work in your classroom,” he says. “Because the conditions under which research studies are conducted are different from the ones that may exist in an individual teachers’ classroom.” 

That’s why Graham advises instructors to use these 16 writing interventions as inspiration and to keep monitoring and adjusting their own practices based on what is and isn’t working for their students. 

Note: This study, like most education studies, measured effect sizes in standard deviation, which is the average deviation from the mean score for a group of students studied. In education research, effect sizes are notoriously small, so anything approaching a standard deviation of 1 is significant. For instance, a student with a 1.5 below the mean would require significant intervention.

1. Comprehensive Writing Programs  

Standard deviation: 0.47

These programs include those based on the process approach to writing, or what is sometimes called a writers’ workshop. Graham and his co-authors note this includes “extended opportunities for writing; writing for real audiences; engaging in cycles of planning, translating, and reviewing; personal responsibility and ownership of writing projects; high levels of student interactions and creation of a supportive writing environment; self-reflection and evaluation; personalized individual assistance and instruction; and, in some instances, systematic instruction.” 

2. Strategy Instruction  

Standard deviation: 0.76

This method of writing instruction involves explicitly teaching strategies for planning, revising, self-assessing, and/or editing text, the study authors note. Writing strategies range from processes, such as semantic webs to strategies designed for specific types of writing, such as stories. 

3. Digital Writing Tools  

Standard Deviation: 0.31

When students moved from using pen and paper to writing with the help of a traditional word processor over time, there was a marked improvement, Graham says. “The reasons for that are fairly obvious,” he adds. It’s easier to self-edit and move words around, and grammar and spellcheckers also help with the process. An even greater improvement was seen among students who had access to more advanced word processors, which might include the ability to add images and sound, or have gamified elements to help students learn to write. 

4. Transcription Instruction  

Standard deviation: 0.71

This positive effect was seen in lessons that included teaching spelling, handwriting, or keyboard use.

5. Computer-Assisted Instruction  

Standard deviation: 0.32

This included teaching writing, spelling, and other lessons with the help of a computer program as well as technology provided personalized instruction. However, computer-generated feedback on writing, in and of itself, did not provide a benefit, Graham says. This research predated the rapid advances in generative AI over the past year, so computer-assisted benefits and limitations will need to be updated in the future. 

6. Teaching Critical/Creative Thinking Skills for Writing  

Standard deviation: 0.27 

Teaching students critical thinking strategies improved writing as did teaching them how to add more creativity to their work. “Creativity could be exemplified in a study in which students were taught how to use metaphors, similes, etc., and critical thinking could be shown in a study in which students are analyzing their texts using questions that help them think critically about the veracity and value of the content they're looking at,” Graham says. 

7. Emulating Good Models of Writing

Standard deviation: 0.46

Graham and his co-authors defined this as, “Examining one or more examples of model texts or models for carrying out writing processes and attempting to emulate these models when writing.” This is something many professional writers do intuitively, so it makes sense that it would help with student writers. 

8. Feedback  

Standard deviation: 0.34

“We found feedback makes a difference,” Graham says. This included instructor feedback as well as peer and group feedback but notably not self-assessment/feedback or computer-generated feedback, at least in the studies looked at for this analysis. 

9. Goal Setting  

Standard deviation: 0.44

Whether teacher-assigned or based on students’ own goals for for writing or learning writing skills and processes, goal setting seemed to have a measurable impact on writing success. 

10. Prewriting Activities

Standard deviation: 0.49

“If you engage students in prewriting activities to gather or organize information – so it might involve discussion, or using some kind of organizer to generate and organize your ideas – writing gets better,” Graham says. 

11. Grammar Instruction 

Standard deviation: 0.77 

This positive association was much stronger than in some previous research into grammar’s impact on writing, including work Graham has been involved in. He says the change is likely due to better methodology that eliminated less well-designed grammar interventions as well as other factors. Most of the studies involve teaching grammar in context, he adds. So it was not the old form of grammar instruction that involved fill-in-the-blanks exercises and decontextualized practice around specific contexts. 

12. Sentence Instruction  

Standard deviation: 0.73

“We found that teaching students how to create more complex sentences had a positive effect on students’ writing,” he says. “When you write a lot of your cognitive efforts and resources are engaged in taking your ideas, images, etc, and translating them into an acceptable sentence that conveys your intended meaning, and is going to be understandable to the reader. So when you teach kids to be more facile with construction, then there's a positive effect on your writing.”  

13. Inquiry  

Standard deviation: 0.92

“We don't have as much data on this, but the idea behind inquiry is that you're gathering information that you're analyzing, that will help you in terms of your writing assignments,” Graham says. The study notes this could include comparing and contrasting cases or collecting and evaluating evidence.

14. Observing Writers/Readers, Peer Assistance  

Standard deviation: 0.41

Simply observing other writers, readers of writing, or teachers/peers as they model how to go about a writing process or skill, can also improve writing outcomes. 

15. Summarization Instruction

Standard deviation: 0.49

This can take the form of either sharing summarization strategies or direct instruction in which you present a summary, you discuss it, your students practice, and you get feedback, Graham says.

16. Text Structure Instruction  

Standard deviation: 0.39

Graham and his co-authors defined this as strategies in which teachers explicitly teach students knowledge about the purpose and/or structure of specific types of text, such as stories or persuasive texts. Once again, few writing instructors will be surprised this is an effective method. 

• Khanmigo’s Academic Essay Feedback Tool Can Help Make Writing Instruction More Accessible, Sal Khan says
• 4 Tips for STEM Writing

The idea is to offer a tool for creating stories digitally, complete with words and images. While that's fun and educational in and of itself, the fact you can publish the works adds to the excitement and learning experience.

The platform has a library of already-created books that allow students to get reading and to search for inspiration before working on their own creations. Selling published works is also an option that could be appealing for parents.

StoryJumper has lots of other teaching uses, all of which are explored in this guide.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is StoryJumper?

StoryJumper is a digital story creation tool that allows students to write, illustrate, and arrange stories into book format. These can be shared digitally or published in physical books that can be purchased through the platform's library.

StoryJumper is easy to use with a library of images, a selection of fonts, and colors that can easily be arranged by students of a wide range of ages -- from around grade 1 and up.

The option is available to output to a digital format to share and read, or to pay for publishing of the book in physical form. For teachers there are helpful templates, teaching plans, and plenty of integration with the likes of Google Classroom, all making it a viable teaching tool.

How does StoryJumper work?

StoryJumper offers a free-to-use service that allows teachers to sign-up for an account to get a dashboard, which makes distributing and managing works of the class an organized process.

Add students and you can set work tasks for individuals or groups to get creating their own stories. It can help to take the class through some guidance at first so they know how to use the tool -- but it is all quite simple.

Many useful templates are available to guide students, rather than simply setting them loose on blank pages -- which might be a little overwhelming for younger kids. It's also possible to create your own templates, which can be helpful when teaching something specific.

Once completed, students can share their work, have it printed, or leave it in the library for others to access publicly. 

Usefully, this saves as you work so students won't need to worry about losing their creations. Also, since it is web-based, they can jump between devices to continue their project in class or at home on various devices.

What are the best StoryJumper features?

StoryJumper is simple to use when starting from scratch, and especially so when using templates to build stories.

Since images and text boxes are drag-and-drop, it makes the process intuitive and works across devices, including iPads. Since students can pick images from a library of options it can help to change how story creation comes about. Often the images may help inspire turns in the story that would not have come about from writing alone.

Google Classroom integration is helpful as that, combined with the dashboard, makes setting and accessing student work far easier for teachers. Lesson plans are also useful to get ideas on inspiring the class to start writing.

Students can add background music or even record voice-overs, which can make for more engaging multimedia projects. They can also insert their own images and artwork, opening the platform to further creativity as students become more adept as using the setup.

The Write-a-thon school fundraiser project is another useful tool that lets families and friends sponsor writing projects that can ultimately end up with a published winner.

How much does StoryJumper cost?

StoryJumper is free to use with no ads or tracking up front. If you want to publish the works, or access them in various downloaded digital formats you will need to pay.

A hardcover book, at 11.5-by-8.5 inches, is charged at $26.99 for up to 16 pages then its $0.66 per extra page.

Go for paperback book, at 8-by-6 inches, and it's $13.99 for 16 pages and $0.40 per page after that.

A video book download, in MP4 format limited to one hour, is charged at $7.99 per 16 pages and is $0.20 per extra page.

A PDF download is $2.99 for 16 pages and $0.20 per page more.

Go for an audio book at 16 pages and it's $2.99 plus that $0.20 per page over.

StoryJumper best tips and tricks

Work with templates
Set tasks using pre-built templates, and build your own if you want specific results from a certain project.

Hold a competition
Hold a Write-a-thon to see who can create the best story and have the winner published, all while raising funds for the school.

Start from words or images
Have students write a story or doodle images to inspire the other format, then swap order for another story and see which they found preferable. 

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Katherine Goyette, Computer Science Coordinator for the California Department of Education and co-author of The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, helped write this guidance, titled Learning With AI, Learning About AI. 

Goyette shares highlights from the AI guidance as well as tips for school leaders on crafting their own policies. 

1. Teaching With AI Guidance: Prioritize Student Safety  

When using AI, as with any technology used in a school setting, the first priority is student safety. One area in particular that AI can be a problem is data privacy. 

“There are laws for student privacy,” Goyette says. “We are reminding educators that they have a moral and legal responsibility to attend to those privacy laws.”  

Unfortunately, many generative AI systems were not developed for schools and don’t have appropriate privacy settings. So, with some tools, Goyette says, "We are urging educators to be vigilant and wait until safe, legally compliant ways of actually integrating this for student use into classrooms is possible.”  

2. Teach AI Literacy 

Regardless of what teachers and schools do about AI in class, students will use AI tools at home. That’s why it’s vital that educators provide AI literacy training for students as an extension of digital literacy programs, and talk with them about AI and how AI systems work, Goyette says. 

When it comes to students who want to use AI outside of class in ways that aren’t cheating – for example, helping with research rather than writing a paper – Goyette says she approaches it like she would social media. “As an educator, I'm not going to ask all my students to get on social media for our school project,” she says. However, if students show their learning via a TikTok or Snapchat video, and that project was created outside of school time, Goyette wouldn’t prevent it. 

“That is them taking what is in their world and using that to integrate their academic learning, which is a win, and it also is an opportunity for me as an educator to have conversations about how those technologies work,” she says. 

3. Recognize AI Bias and Potential Social Impact 

The California guidance suggests teaching AI literacy in the context of its social impact and its bias.  Students and teachers should approach AI “with an understanding that these AI systems are not infallible, but they are created by humans and they could potentially exacerbate bias and so we need to be aware of that," Goyette says. 

This bias might have larger impacts on society, influencing everything from hiring to school admissions, and students need to be cognizant of this as modern citizens. “We want them to have this kind of base foundation of understanding of how these things work so that when they're making our laws and when they're deciding as business owners if they're going to use AI systems for certain purposes, they do so ethically and responsibly,”  Goyette says. 

4. Incorporate The Community and Update Tech Procedures 

When drafting AI guidelines, districts and schools should not do so in a vacuum. “It's important to value community voice,” Goyette says. That includes students as well as their parents. 

She adds that looking at school or district AI policies can also be a good opportunity to update technology policies, particularly around student privacy, in general. “It's possible that these guidelines were created a decade ago and haven't been looked at in a while, there may be things that are outdated,” she says. 

On the other hand, these existing technology policies can be a great foundation for building AI policies. Goyette says: “Look at what is currently in place and say, ‘How can we modify it in order to meet today's technologies?’” 

• The AI Digital Divide 
• Navigating AI Biases in The Classroom

The current edtech milieu is about as fluid as one could imagine with new AI tools emerging daily. Since ChatGPT, the poster tool for generative AI, was unveiled about 14 months ago, some educators have tried to ban the use of it. For example, NYC Public Schools originally banned AI, which didn’t work well, and the policy was rescinded after only a few months. 

The Biden Administration outlined AI guidance for schools in an executive order in October 2023, asking the U.S. Dept. of Education to provide guidance for classrooms and considerations about equity and privacy issues, as well as recommending AI tools include watermarks to identify AI-generated content. The U.S. Dept. of Education did publish guidance in May 2023, addressing the need to ensure human decision-making within automated processes and ensuring equity and that quality data is used to train AI tools. 

At this stage, it is important to ensure that extant institutional policies address issues raised by the use of AI tools. Teachai.org provides a sample set of recommendations about AI  for educators that can be used to inform policy development. It is best to revise extant policies in light of AI as opposed to building a new AI policy that may or may not fully align with other policies.  

5 Key AI Policy Considerations 

1. Do not simply ban the use of AI in the development of assignments. Tools such as MS Office and Grammarly have AI embedded, so to do this would unnecessarily ban the use of many common tools. 
2. Make sure that any AI tools comply with FERPA and ADA regulations. When using AI tools to develop student-specific items, such as personalized learning plans or IEPs, do not include personally identifiable information. 
3. Require instructors to be clear about when and how students can or cannot utilize AI tools. For instance, an instructor might allow students to use AI to develop an outline but not to draft the narrative. At the course level, instructors should be clear about what level of use they would like to see within the course, or assignment by assignment, if appropriate. This is especially important if the institution does not have up-to-date policies that address AI use. Joel Gladd offers some sample syllabus language for educators to consider at several levels of AI integration.  
4. Ensure that there is a human decision-making step in any AI automated processes. Clear evidence exists that AI detectors tend to discriminate against non-native English speakers, often identifying their work as AI derived. Make sure that the use of AI does not detract from creating an equitable environment for all. 
5. Consider how to make sure the use of AI throughout the institution is as transparent as possible. Also, consider identifying AI-generated materials from outside of the classroom. 

As educational institutions navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, a thoughtful approach is required to harness the benefits while mitigating potential risks and doing so transparently and responsibly. The journey toward AI integration in education is complex, but with careful policy development and consideration of key factors, it can lead to a more efficient, equitable, and innovative learning environment for all.  

• 5 Things AI Can and Can Not Do For Students
• My Student Was Submitting AI Papers. Here's What I Did
• Developing AI Pedagogical Practices

At its most basic this operates like a private social media space, allowing teachers and students to share videos back and forth. Crucially, this is built in a way that allows for total privacy control as well as sectionalizing and making subject-based video creation an option.

A teacher can post a video, with text, emojis, and more, to which students can reply with their own videos. This sets up a space for rich communication that allows even less confident students to interact. It also makes for a safe place to express opinions and discuss topics of varying natures.

This guide aims to show you all you need to know about Flip as well as how best to use it as a teaching tool.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is Flip?

At its most basic, Flip is a video tool that allows teachers to post "Topics" that are essentially videos with some accompanying text. This is then shared with students, who can be prompted to respond. 

The response can be made using the software's camera to create videos that are then posted to the original Topic. These videos can be recorded as many times as needed before uploading, and can have the addition of emoji, text, stickers, drawings, or custom stickers.

The service works online so it can be accessed via web browser from nearly any device, or through the app, making it good for laptops, tablets, smartphones, Chromebooks, and desktop computers. The only requirement on any of those devices is a camera and enough processing power to back that up.

Flip is free to use and can be accessed using a Microsoft or Google account. 

What's new in Flip?

Flip recently has added Topic Copilot, a useful AI-powered tool. This works to help find ideal topic suggestions easily. Teachers simply need to input a list of keywords and then the artificial intelligence goes to work. 

Since this is AI, you can expect mixed results, but as you perfect the prompts -- with a bit of practice -- this could become a genuinely useful tool for generating new topic ideas for use in class.

What's Good About Flip?

One of the best things about Flip is the ability to interact using video, such as face-to-face in the real world, but without the pressure of a live classroom. Since students are given the space and time to respond when they're ready, it makes educational engagement possible for even more anxious students who might ordinarily feel left out in class.

The ability to add rich media encourages students to be creative and, potentially more importantly, expressive. By adding emoji, text, and stickers, students can engage with class content as they might interact with friends using social media platforms. 

This aspect can help students feel less apprehensive and more empowered to express themselves openly, engaging more deeply with the task. Ultimately, that should result in deeper learning and better content recall.

On a software level, Flip is great for integration. Since it works with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Remind, it's easy for a teacher to integrate into the current virtual classroom setup.

How Does Flip Work?

The process is pretty straightforward to get set up and start using Flip. A teacher can simply go to Flip to get signed up with a Microsoft or Google account. 

Then it's time to create your first Topic. Select "Add a Topic." Give it a title and you can post a video, such as a YouTube clip, right there. Optionally, add a "Prompt," which is text to describe what's going on and what you want in response.

Then add the emails of those students you want involved by adding a student username if they're not using email. This can be setup by adding a student and sending them the required link and code. Add an optional password, if needed.

Select "Create Topic" and then you are given a link to share with the option to copy as well as to quickly pick what platform you want to auto share to, including Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and so on.

Students can then login and use the myjoincode to get into the Topic directly to watch the video and post their response. The video response then appears on the page below the original Topic Prompt. These can be commented on by other students, using text, but permissions can be set and controlled by the teacher as they see fit.

Flip currently offers more than 25,000 lessons and activities, and more than 35,000 Topics, helping you to create new Topics or use existing ones quickly and easily.

Flip Features

While Flip keeps things minimal, making it very intuitive, there are still plenty of useful settings that you can tweak. Get your offering just right and it can be tailored to get the best engagement possible with the class. 

Here's some lingo guidance and tips to help you understand what's available to use.

Flip Grids

A "Grid" is the term used by the Flip community to describe a group of learners. In the case of a teacher, a Grid could be the class or a small group. 

This is where you can create a custom Flip Code that is then used to share with anyone you want to enter into that group.

Flip Topic Guests

Want to integrate more than your own Topics? It is possible to use Topic Guests, aka, Guest Mode, to allow others to input. 

This is ideal if you want a specialist speaker, for example. Equally, this is a powerful option if you want to include guardians in the process, since this is online and that becomes a real possibility. 

Flip Shorts

This video tool allows teachers and students to create their videos for a custom finish rather than simply uploading a YouTube clip.

Users can upload and edit video, add more clips, cut, and segment as well as enhance with emojis, stickers, and text. Add arrows to a graph image as you talk over that section of the video, for example, as a great way to get in-depth information across.

Shorts is, essentially, a really simple-to-use video editing tool that can produce a powerful result, depending on how creative you want to be.

Flip Video Moderation

One way to stay in control of the content submitted by students is to set the Video Moderation mode to on when you post a new Topic. In doing so, any video uploaded will not be posted until you have checked and approved it.

This is a useful tool when starting out, but once trust has built and you're confident, it's also good to have this setting off to save time on moderating. When it's off, students can also enjoy more freedom of expression in real-time.

You can always select individual videos to hide or delete at a later time. 

Best Flip Tips and Tricks

Use stop-motion
Students and teachers can rearrange recordings by simply hitting pause. This lets you build a collection of images, essentially, which can be used in the order that's needed to create a stop-motion video. Great for showing project stages and to help encourage creativity.

Enjoy the weekly hits
#FlipgridWeeklyHits, in the Disco Library (just a library, no glitter balls here), offers the top 50 topic templates for that week. This is a great way to spark ideas for teachers and to network, with the ability to edit templates for a quick way to get creative without starting from scratch.

Get MixTapes
A MixTape is a collation of videos that you've built up that is compiled into one useful video. This is a simple way to share a collection of ideas or as a study aid for students. Equally, it provides an easy way for students to share ideas with teachers.

Communicate with Shorts
The Shorts in Flip are videos that are limited to three minutes in length. As such, this is a great way to communicate succinctly, using video. That doesn't mean being limited though, as you can use stickers, draw on video, add text, filters, and more.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
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Even with its many years of experience and wide selection of tools, Kahoot! still offers a free-to-use platform, providing a great option for teachers and students.

Since everything is cloud-based this is ideal for use across connections, locations, and between varying types of devices. That makes it useful in class on a smart board as much as across tablets and personal devices.

Thanks to a well-organized system it's possible to create quizzes using age or ability metrics to tailor the results to suit the class or individuals as needed. And thanks to plenty of pre-built quizzes -- that can be edited to suit -- this is quick to setup and use.

This guide aims to give you all you need to know about using Kahoot! in the classroom and offers some helpful ways to teach using this tool.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is Kahoot!?

Kahoot! is a cloud-based quiz platform that is ideal for students and teachers. Since the game-based platform allows you to create new quizzes from scratch, it's possible to be creative and offer bespoke learning options for students.

Kahoot! offers more than 40 million games already created that anyone can access, making it quick and easy to get started. Ideal for hybrid or distance learning, when time and resources are at a premium.

Since Kahoot! is free, it simply requires an account to be created to get started. Students can use Kahoot! across most devices from any location with an internet connection.

What's new in Kahoot!?

As an ever-growing platform, there are lots of updates landing on Kahoot! regularly. One feature worth taking advantage of is the relatively new AI system.

The new AI component lets you vary your content without having to spend us much time and effort manually editing. Change the length, how descriptive it is, or the text style all with simple AI commands and it's all done for you.

Kahoot! also added a selection of quizzes focused on sustainability and innovation. This comes from a partnership with the College of Global Futures at ASU for a selection of pre-built learning tools, ideal for use in the classroom.

For students thinking about the next move into college, there are new tools from College Board's BigFuture, built to be accessed on Kahoot! right away.

How does Kahoot! work?

At its most basic, Kahoot! offers a question and then optional multiple choice answers. This can be enhanced with rich media such as images and videos to add more interactivity. 

While Kahoot! can be used in the classroom, it's ideal for remote learning use. It's possible for teachers to set a quiz and wait to see the scores as students complete it. Or they can carry out a live hosted quiz using video – with third-party apps such as Zoom or Meet – to be there as students are working through the challenges. 

While there is a timer-based quiz mode, you can also choose to turn that off. In that instance, it's possible to set more complex tasks that require research time.

Teachers can also review results and run analytics from game reports for formative assessments so as to better judge progress being made in class.

To get started head to getkahoot.com and sign up for a free account. Select "Sign Up," then pick "Teacher" followed by your institution be it "school," "higher education," or "school administration." You are then able to register using your email and a password or with a Google or Microsoft account – ideal if your school already uses Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams. 

Once you're signed up, you can get started making your own quiz or using one of the many options already created. Or go for a bit of both, building a new quiz but using the half a million question options already available on Kahoot!

                  Get the latest edtech news delivered to your inbox here:

Who can use Kahoot!?

Since Kahoot! is online-based, it will work across most devices, including laptops, tablets, smartphones, Chromebooks, and desktop machines. It runs online in a browser window as well as in app form, with iOS and Android versions available. 

Kahoot! works with Microsoft Teams, allowing teachers to share challenges more easily. In the premium or pro versions, this provides more options, such as the ability to co-create Kahoots with colleagues.

What are the best Kahoot! features?

Ghost
Ghost is a great feature that allows students to play against their own previous high scores, making a game of improving performance. This allows for going over a quiz more than once and helping to make sure information sinks in at a deeper level. 

Analysis
Improve each student's understanding by using the analytics of results to see which student has struggled and with what, so you can help them in that area.

Copy
Take advantage of the wealth of quizzes created by other educators already available to use freely on Kahoot!. You can even combine multiple Kahoots for an ultimate quiz.

Assess students first
A Kahoot quiz can be a great way to check students' knowledge before you start teaching a subject to help avoid making it too simplistic or too complicated for the class.

Use media
Add in videos right from YouTube very easily. This is a great way to have students watch and learn, knowing they're going to be questioned after the video ends. You can also add in images and, in the case of the iOS app, your own drawings. 

Kahoot! best tips and tricks

Drive the class
Set a quiz at the start of class and adapt your teaching for that lesson based on how everyone does, letting you tailor it to each student as needed.

Save time with pre-written
Use questions that are already in Kahoot! to build a personalized quiz but without having to take the time to write out every question -- the search works well here.

Play with ghosts
Use Ghost mode to allow students to progress against their previous high-score. A great way to compare the start and end of a lesson to see improvements.

Let students create
Have your students create their own quizzes to share in the class, helping others learn but also showing you how much they know in order to create.

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Best Free Martin Luther King Jr. Lessons and Activities 

Fascinating facts about Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s hard to believe that there could still be little-known facts about this widely known civil rights icon. Yet there are! From his early and unusual name change to his history of imprisonment to his Grammy awards, these revelations will provide more ways to understand the life of Martin Luther King Jr. 

National Education Association Learning and Living the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
A modest but high-quality collection of lessons and activities for K-5 students to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Coloring Pages
Perfect for younger learners, these ten printable coloring pages feature quotes from MLK in doodle-style font. Three other printables provide space for kids to write about MLK and their own dreams.  

105 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes for the Classroom
Within these 105 quotes—most of which are just a couple of sentences long—lies a goldmine of material to serve as a starting point for students to explore King’s legacy. Have students choose the quote that speaks to them most strongly, then have them research the context and answer questions about the meaning and message.   

Americorps Martin Luther King Jr. National Day Of Service
Unique among holidays, Martin Luther King Jr. Day focuses on service to the community. Explore a diversity of free project ideas and ways to engage students in community service, from helping the homeless and refugees to community cleanups. A great source for hands-on projects. 

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Power of Words
When we talk about nonviolent resistance, we have to talk about the power of words. Designed to be completed in a single class period, this lesson plan from the Center for Civic Education includes detailed guidelines as well as teacher resources. Grades 7-12. 

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute: Nobel Peace Prize
The remarkable story behind King’s naming as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1964 includes the reactions of the day, both positive and negative, and how King distributed the prize money. 

Teaching and Learning About Martin Luther King Jr. With The New York Times
A wealth of teaching and learning resources that includes lesson plans, songs, photos, videos, a civil rights quiz, and connections to current events. All NYT Learning Network resources are available to use for free without an account.  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X
A downloadable, standards-aligned three-lesson unit covering the very different civil rights approaches of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Included are all required texts, a compare-and-contrast exercise plus questions for document analysis and critical thinking. Grades 6-12.  

The Fight for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Given the long struggle for civil rights for African Americans, it’s not surprising that the idea of a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King generated plenty of resistance. History.com relates the decades-long fight to commemorate MLK.

The Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
King’s biography is accompanied by photos, texts, audio excerpts, and a timeline of key events. 

Dr. King's Dream Lesson Plan
In this standards-aligned lesson, students learn about King through a brief biography, videos, and photos, then answer questions and complete activities.

Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and the Power of Nonviolence
King was strongly influenced by Gandhi’s philosophy of civil disobedience via nonviolent resistance. This standards-aligned lesson provides digital readings, videos, and five suggested activities for learners. 

Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story
There is no greater asset of freedom than the right to vote. This in-depth lesson plan on the struggle for de jure and de facto voting rights includes: background; motivations; document, map and photo analyses; extension activities; and more. Note the link to "Liars Don't Qualify" by Junius Edwards.

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters
Nonviolent civil disobedience isn’t as simple as it sounds. It requires training, diligence, courage, and most of all, a commitment to nonviolence in the pursuit of justice and equality. Using online newspaper articles of the day, photos, and printable worksheets, this complete lesson plan will teach students about the theory and practice of nonviolent direct action. 

The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Kid President
The effervescent Kid President tells the story of MLK in a highly engaging and relatable manner. Perfect for younger learners. 

Read Write Think Martin Luther King Jr. Activities and Lessons
Searchable by grade, learning objective, and topics, these classroom/elearning activities include lesson plans, student interactives, and related digital resources. 

Competing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
The question of how best to achieve equal rights was, at times, a contentious one. This fine civil rights curriculum explores different views of key black leaders during the 1960s and includes guiding questions and lesson plans. Grades 9-12

12 Classic Songs Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.
You probably know some of the famous songs on this list, such as U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and Marvin Gaye’s “Abraham, Martin and John.” But other well-known musicians, from Stevie Wonder to Elvis Presley, have also recorded tributes to MLK. These powerful and emotional tunes speak to the impact of King’s legacy on popular culture, as well as the broader society. 

Letter from a Birmingham Jail
An audio recording of Dr. King reading his influential “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Students can listen to this civil rights classic, learn about the issue of the day, and note his skillful use of persuasive rhetoric. Challenge: Ask your students to determine which of Dr. King’s concerns are still a problem today, 59 years later.

Resources for Virtual Projects
An extensive, step-by-step guide for teachers to plan and implement creative virtual volunteer projects for students and others who wish to participate in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. 

Birmingham 1963: Primary Documents
Using six historical documents, students will investigate the civil rights protests and violent police response in 1963 Birmingham, Alabama. 

Martin Luther King Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers
What happened during the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ strike, and what was King’s role in his final campaign? How did King view economic issues compared to traditional civil rights causes? These and other questions are thoroughly investigated in this primary-source-focused lesson from the National Archives.

•  Best Lessons and Activities for Teaching Black History Month 
•  Best Juneteenth Lessons and Activities  
•  Best Women's History Month Lessons and Activities 

As we prepare students for careers that do not yet exist, curating innovative learning environments will provide the space for them to develop their creative capacities. Many ways that we as teachers can approach fostering innovation are available within teaching and learning spaces. Here are four practical and actionable ideas to get you started.

1. Nurturing Innovation in the Classroom: Cultivate Entrepreneurial Mindsets 

Our mindsets impact the ways in which we think and act. And while successful entrepreneurs have different business and goals, they usually have similar mindsets in terms of thinking outside the box, trying new and different ways of approaching problem-solving, and being relentless in working toward making their dreams realities. 

We want our students to think in this way too, and to do, it is important to cultivate that entrepreneurial mindset as we nurture their creative spirits and encourage them to innovate while learning. This means designing learning activities that ask them to solve problems, question existing approaches, and create different ways of doing things.

2. Focus on Digital Fluency 

Technology has made innovation possible in ways that were once not even imaginable. We are already using generative AI use in the classroom with many more developments each day. 

Many of our classroom learning activities focus on helping students develop their digital literacy skills, which is great for growing their understanding of what digital tools are and how to use these. However, in classrooms that nurture innovation, we must move from digital literacy to a focus on digital fluency, which is necessary in building students’ capacity to use digital tools to create what does not yet exist. 

Students who are digitally fluent produce new, original, and exciting creations that are at the heart of innovation.

3. Leverage Design-Thinking Stages  

Many stages in the design process allow for the space and time to reflect on problems, think of ideas and test any, and come up with a final product. By leveraging similar design-thinking stages in our classrooms, we can nurture innovation in a systematic way, while using tried-and-true principles. 

Start at the problem setting stage where you ask students to reflect and think about their environment, what they would want to create, and who that creation will serve. For example, Siri and Alexa were developed to provide humans with information based on questions they have, eliminating the need for manual research of the weather, traffic conditions, recipes, etc. 

After students come up with a problem, they can engage in the ideation phase, in which they brainstorm and think through ideas for solving it. What would follow is prototyping and testing, and through all these design-thinking stages, innovation can evolve naturally. 

4. Motivate through Mistakes 

With so much focus on grades, assessments, and standardized tests, students are often stressed about perfection. This can stifle creative thinking as students may focus on doing only what needs to be done to secure an “A” grade. 

To provide an environment for students to truly innovate, they need to be encouraged to take risks and try something new, even if that means they make mistakes along the way. 

You can model this approach, showing when you make a mistake and using it as motivation. Students can then think about doing something in a different way, taking away or adding a component, or using alternative digital tools and materials in a design. This is what learning is all about, and what better way to approach it than using previous experiences and outcomes as a base for improvement?   

I hope you will be able to try one or all four of these ideas to nurture innovation in your classroom. Not only will cultivating entrepreneurial mindsets, focusing on digital fluency, leveraging design-thinking stages, and motivating through mistakes help build students’ interest and engagement inquiry, they will also have a stronger stake in the lesson, which will result in meeting learning outcomes.

• Developing AI Pedagogical Practices
• Supporting Student Collaboration

At its heart, this is a GPT-3-powered AI but it has been custom-tuned, so to speak, in order to best work as a tool you can use to summarize scientific writing. The idea is to offer a simple way to shorten long scientific papers to make them more digestible and easier to read.

In schools this can mean teachers are theoretically able to read more papers, getting summaries to cut down on reading times. But it can also allow students to access a wider breadth of science and STEM-related reading that could help them discover what it is they find most interesting to read in more depth.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about SciSummary so you can decide how it best works for your class.

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What is SciSummary?

SciSummary is an AI tool that can be used to summarize scientific papers to be read or shared with ease, digitally. 

SciSummary uses the Chat GPT-3 AI smarts to work out what it is reading and how to best summarize that for human consumption without losing the important details -- but while cutting back on length.

If you've even had to read multiple scientific papers you will likely understand how useful a tool this can be. And for students, that want to get an idea of a complex STEM-related paper, this could offer a way to reach that without being put off by an otherwise complex read.

Comparative to using another AI, such as Chat GPT-3 on its own, this presents the results in a more clear and detailed fashion, making it a genuinely useful standalone tool.

How does SciSummary work?

SciSummary is an AI platform so it will use artificial intelligence to work out what you're asking for, how to achieve that, and how to lay out the end result to best serve your request.

SciSummary isn't a search engine though. You'll need to input a paper for this to analyze before giving it back to you in a new form. First you sign up, which can be done with a Google account or a few other options. Then you pick the type of document you're uploading, select it on your drive -- or enter a URL -- and then select if you want brief, medium, or long results, and finally let the AI get to work.

You're then given an output that can be scrolled through, can feature images from the original, such as graphs, and then offers tags at the end and an option to ask for the AI to expand upon an area that might have taken your interest.

It's very straightforward, even for younger students to use, and the results appear in seconds.

What are the best SciSummary features?

SciSummary is simple. As such, you can do this with lots of papers, one after another or as a batch, without it costing you a great deal of time. That makes it a really helpful research tool both for educators and students alike.

SciSummary does have its faults, of course. As you can see from the document above, the results don't make a lot of sense and feel like a placeholder that could apply to anything. But in its defense this was a social sciences paper so perhaps that's not so easy with which to work.

Get into the hard sciences, such as physics, biology, chemistry, or math, and this can work wonders. Crucially, for teachers, it can help you stay up to date with the latest breakthroughs without spending lots of time poring over the long papers.

Since this is all online-based, it means easy access from nearly any device. As long as you can input the paper, including from a URL, then your device can work to read the output.

You also get sent the summary in your inbox, which is a helpful way to check it later and have access, perhaps from a mobile device when on the move.

How much does SciSummary cost?

SciSummary offers several pricing options including a free version of the software, which actually offers a lot of functionality.

The Free plan gets you 10,000 words summarized per month, the first document being up to 200,000 words, the rest after that being 10,000 words maximum, five documents indexed for semantic search, unlimited article searches and import, and summarize references with a click.

The 1M Words plan, charged at $4.99/month or $39.99/year, gets you 1 million words summarized per month, maximum document length of 200,000 words, unlimited bulk summaries, 500 chat messages per month, 1,000 documents indexed for semantic search, and unlimited article searches.

The 2M Words plan, costs $8.99/month or $79.99/year, and gets the above but with you 2 million words summarized per month, 1,000 chat messages, and 2,000 documents indexed.

The Lifetime plan, at $299.99, gets you 10 million words summarized per month, all the above, plus no more fees.

Or there is an option to pay as you go in which documents are charged at a one-off fee for around $2 each.

SciSummary best tips and tricks

Set a summary
Give a complex paper to the class and have them use this tool to summarize it so they learn the uses and pitfalls of AI in this context.

Summarize yourself
Pick a paper you enjoy, summarize it yourself, then use the AI for another version. See if the class can tell the difference and work through why.

Send to self
Load all your latest must-read papers in before you leave to go on a journey, then access the summaries via email to read on the go.

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