Empowering Teachers With Generative AI Tools and Support

Introduction

AI, a technology whose application spans from common utilities such as web searches (e.g., Google search), personalized recommendations (e.g., YouTube videos, Amazon marketplace), to speech recognition (e.g., Apple's Siri), has gained renewed vigor with the advent of publicly accessible innovations like ChatGPT. Its implementation resonates globally across an array of sectors, triggering reactions of astonishment regarding its capabilities and optimism concerning its prospective dividends, while simultaneously kindling apprehension due to fears of misemployment or the specter of job displacement in the foreseeable future. This sentiment is mirrored in the realm of education at all levels as well.

In the context of education, the burgeoning wave of AI is poised to revolutionize teacher empowerment. As AI's reach extends from web searches to personalized recommendations, its recent impetus through innovations like ChatGPT has sparked global discourse. This technology, while eliciting awe for its capabilities and potential benefits, also invokes concerns about its ethical use and potential job displacement. These dialogues resonate within educational spheres, where AI's potential is acknowledged. The synergistic interplay between AI and Edtech not only augments pedagogical advantages but also nurtures a data-rich landscape, primed for AI assimilation. The empowering fusion of Generative AI Tools and educational support engenders novel opportunities for instructors to foster enriched learning experiences.

Education is a fundamental process through which human beings transfer their knowledge and skills from generation to generation, and with the development of technology, new possibilities and methods have emerged. In this context, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) offer the potential to transform the education sector. “Transforming Education with Generative AI: Prompt Engineering and Synthetic Content Creation” provides a comprehensive review to understand and evaluate this potential. The chapter entitled “Empowering Teachers with Generative AI Tools and Support”, which I propose as a contribution to this book project, aims to delve deeper into this general framework and explore the role of generative AI in education. Education must evolve in accordance with the needs of our age and the diversifying characteristics of learners. Generative AI tools can enhance the ability of educators to respond to these requirements. Studies on the place and potential of AI in education show that it can help teachers to deliver more efficient, customized, and effective learning experiences (Chen et al., 2020; Kasneci et al., 2023). In this context, teachers' use of generative AI tools in designing educational material and content can open up new ways of customizing and diversifying students' learning pathways (Liu et al., 2023).

The first focus of the chapter is “Pedagogical Enrichment”. Generative AI tools can help teachers to create questions and tasks that are appropriate for students. Research shows that creating customized learning materials for students can make learning more effective (Alam et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2018). In this context, it has been observed that questions designed with generative AI tools improve students' critical thinking and problem-solving abilities (How & Hung, 2019).

“Customized Learning Pathways” is another important issue in education. Students have different learning speeds and styles, which makes it imperative for teachers to develop customized learning approaches. Generative AI can help teachers to monitor student progress and adapt learning materials in accordance with their needs (Lameras & Arnab, 2021). In this way, students can be enabled to learn more effectively (Reiss, 2021).

Another emphasis of the chapter is “Collaborative Content Creation”. Generative AI tools can enable teachers to collaborate in creating educational materials. AI models can work with teachers to create effective and engaging materials (Chen et al., 2020; Chounta et al., 2021). This can enable teachers to use their time more efficiently and focus better on students.