Name one educational AI tool your students use — not you, them — and tell us why you think it's so good.

40 replies

One that keeps coming up in my classes is Perplexity AI. What I’ve noticed is that students aren’t just using it to get answers; they’re using it to interrogate ideas. The key difference is that it shows sources alongside its responses, which subtly shifts the task from “copy the answer” to “check the thinking.” That aligns much more closely with what I'm trying to build in NCEA contexts....

Notebook LM, which I have been explicitly teaching my students how to use. They can upload resources for each subject, as well as website links and video links, and convert into quizzes, infographics, summaries, study guides, deliberate practice resources, flashcards, podcasts, videos.... this is so helpful for all students - particularly neurodiverse learners - to help them revise, process...

I think the best way to use AI is through a co-learning model with students. This way, it isn't "us" against "them," but instead, we are working in unison to create the best ways to use AI in education. I used PlayLab to build a custom AI bot that serves as a textbook replacement in one of my courses. My students interact with the bot before class, then complete a short formative assessment to...

Good day friends!Playlab.AI - I have used this (and I am using this) with grade 6 and grade 8 students! I'm a superintendent who GETS TO TEACH!! I finished two fellowships this past year, Generation AI (ISTE-ASCD) and Google GSV (cohort 3). I've used a bunch of tools - all powerful and fun and meaningful - so to choose one is hard! So - first Playlab.AI - then MagicSchool AI!!Playlab - why is...

Notebook LM. This is a great tool to support students in AI use with guardrails. You/they can upload their notes and any other resources and then can query off them. They can listen to a podcast of the information. They can create student guides, presentations, notecards...a ton more. This gives them the opportunity to dip their toes into the AIsphere while allowing teachers to...

Goblin Tools is great. SeeingAI is useful for some of our dyslexic students; it's an app primarily designed with visually impaired users in mind but for those students who find reading a challenge it can function as a quick, accessible read aloud tool.

Thanks for sharing these. SeeingAI sounds really interesting, especially for students who need quick support with reading. I’ll definitely have a look at both.

I am frequently making custom Gems for students to use in all areas of their learning, but the one tool that students really latch onto and use independently once they have been shown how is NotebookLM. Students are compiling their class notes and creating living study guides for each unit. Many students are not creating shared notebooks, adding all of their collective notes and ideas that way...

A few of my college level students, have mentioned using AI to colorize black-and-white family photographs. That experience has allowed them to engage with older adults in the family to provide insight about the time period and appropriate coloring of various objects. That has made me wonder if this activity might be built into a good oral history research project that would involve an older...

I appreciate you sharing your case study. Excited to dive in deeper to see systems change and scalability!