7 AI Edtech Tools That a Teacher Should Try in 2024

2023 was definitely the year of artificial intelligence in education. With all the AI excitement came equal amounts of nervousness and questions. How can we prevent students from using AI works as there own? Are teachers going to replaced by AI? These were some of the most frequently heard questions. If I remember correctly, similar questions came about when Wikipedia first came out! After playing around with different types of AI and a few deep breaths later, I started to realize how advantageous AI would be to help combat the deficit of time teachers have in a workday. From creating lessons to providing student feedback… there is an AI tool for that.

I guess it is time for me to disclose my top 7 AI Tools for educators (in no particular order). These AI tools have made the list because they will save teachers time to accomplish many of their professional duties.

#1 MagicSchool.ai

The Magic School.ai, an innovative platform, offers a comprehensive set of tools to support educators in various aspects of their work. The array of tools provided by Magic School.ai is designed to assist teachers in diverse tasks such as developing lesson plans, designing assignments, generating materials, creating newsletters, and many other essential activities. With over 60 AI tools available, MagicSchool.ai has the potential to significantly reduce the time teachers spend on these tasks, potentially saving them hours of valuable time each week. This can ultimately allow educators to allocate more time and focus to engaging with their students, fostering a more dynamic and effective learning environment. Some of my favorite ai tools that MagicSchool.ai has to offer are:

Unit Plan Generator
Lesson Plan Generator
YouTube Video Questions
Choice Board (UDL) Generator
Ai Resistant Assignments
Project-Based Learning (PBL) Generator
Rubric Generator

Diffit.me

Diffit is a valuable resource designed specifically to aid teachers in effortlessly delivering differentiated instruction for any given lesson or text. With Diffit, teachers can access leveled resources tailored to the needs of their students for any lesson, ultimately saving significant time and ensuring that all students receive the necessary support. The impact of Diffit on the teaching community is substantial, as it’s widely regarded as a game-changer due to its ability to streamline the process of creating personalized learning experiences for students. Top uses of Diffit:

Have you ever had to make sub plans in a hurry? Last week I had 2 sick kids and no babysitter. My original lesson involved too much set up for a sub, so I decided to use Diffit. I was able to create a lesson based on a PDF I had in my Google Drive on Photosynthesis. Diffit allowed me to keep the original text for my students who read on grade level, while changing the grade level for ESL and special needs students.
Do-Nows and Exit Slips are a popular way of formatively assessing students to gain valuable insight. This task takes about 30 seconds to generate multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and open-ended questions. Once generated, you can easily export them to a google form or choose from a bunch of diffit-made student activities!
Study aids and graphic organizers are often timely for students and teachers to create. With Diffit Exports Library, making study aids and graphic organizers are a click away. My favorite Diffit exports are the Claims, Evidence, Reasoning Organizer, Bubble Map Graphic Organizer, and the Timeline Interactive Slides.

#3 Eduaide.Ai

Eduaide is truly a remarkable artificial intelligence resource, offering a diverse library of tools that cater to the needs of educators. When considering the responsibilities that teachers juggle on a daily basis, Eduaide steps in as a reliable ally, providing solutions to address their needs and streamline various tasks. Whether it’s organizing lesson plans, assessing student progress, or fostering innovative learning experiences, Eduaide has proven to be an invaluable asset for educators seeking to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness in the classroom. As a teacher, log into the site, chose your tool, enter a few key words, and select your settings. After that, sit back and watch the artificial intelligence do it’s thing. If you are looking for a place to start, here are some of the tools I love to use:

Lesson Seed– This is a tool that creates a lesson outline with a range of techniques, strategies, and activities aligned to an objective and set of standards.
Anchor Chart- An anchor chart consists of an outline of key concepts and supporting details from the lesson.
CER- I like the claims, evidence, reasoning tool because it will create a completely filled out experience. I take these completed CER’s and delete portions of the exercise and have my students fill in the blanks as a Do-Now or Exit Slip!
Escape Room- Make puzzles that are based on content for your students to work on.
Scenario-based Questions- This tool creates scenarios and questions that requires the students to have a deep understanding of the topic. For this tool I entered one word, “photosynthesis.” Her are scenarios that were generated:
- Scenario 1: Agriculture and Photosynthesis You are working with a team of agricultural scientists to develop crops that can thrive in low-light conditions. How can an understanding of the light-dependent and light-independent reactions of photosynthesis help your team in designing these new crops? What strategies and technologies might be employed to optimize photosynthetic efficiency in these crops?
- Scenario 2: Environmental Impact You are part of a student-led environmental committee aiming to address the impact of human activity on the environment. How does an in-depth understanding of photosynthesis and its role in the carbon cycle contribute to your committee’s efforts? What initiatives could be developed to raise awareness about the importance of photosynthesis in mitigating climate change and preserving ecosystems?
- Scenario 3: Biotechnology and Photosynthesis Your school has been chosen to participate in a biotechnology competition focusing on leveraging photosynthesis for sustainable innovations. How can the principles of photosynthesis be harnessed to develop novel biotechnological solutions for environmental sustainability and renewable energy production? Design and outline a proposal for a project that utilizes photosynthesis as a central component for addressing a specific environmental or energy challenge.

#4 TextBlaze

Text Blaze allows users to save programmable text snippets and insert them anywhere on the web using keyboard shortcuts. Snippets can be plain text, but they can also be turned into dynamic templates with placeholders, business logic, reading any information from any webpage, and integrations with other apps. Text Blaze has several usage cases for administrators, edtech coaches, and educators.

Administrative Uses:
- Newsletters: Make a newsletter template in Text Blaze and use your formatted shortcut to sent out valuable info in seconds!
- Reminder Emails: Semester 1 ends today, please make sure your grades are in by Thursday at 4pm.
Edtech Coach Uses:
- Trouble-shooting issues: Sometimes email is the most efficient way to help teachers during the day. If you are an edtech coach that covers multiple buildings, Text Blaze is your tool! All I do is turn on Text Blaze and add the shortcut “/clearcache” and the follow gets added to the email.
  - Before we go any further, please try the steps below to clear your cache the RIGHT way. Here is a more detailed doc that outlines the same process.
  - Right click the Clear Cache extension (looks like a recycle symbol) and click on Options.
  - Check the box next to “Automatically reload active tab after clearing data”.
  - Under Data to Remove, check the first 3 boxes.
  - Under Time Period, select “Everything”
  - Close the tab.
  - Then left click the Clear Cache Extension. Your page should refresh automatically and your cache is now clear.
  - Let me know if you are still experiencing problems after completing these steps. In that response, let me know what periods you’re free and where you’ll be so we can coordinate our availability. Thanks!
- How-to Guides: Here is an example of one of my How-to Guides. Once again, all I do is turn on Text Blaze and add the shortcut “/qrcode and the follow gets added to the email (or anywhere you can put text). Did I mention that it is formatted?
  - Share pages with a QR Code
  - You can create a QR (quick response) Code to share a page from Chrome with others.
  - Open Chrome .
  - Go to the page you want to share.
  - Find the address bar:
    - Linux computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share QR code .
  - Windows computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share QR code .
  - Mac computers: On the right of the address bar, click Share QR code .
  - Chromebooks: Click the address bar QR code .
  - You can choose to:
    - Copy the QR link.
    - Click Download to download the QR code.
    - Scan the QR code with another device’s camera.
Teacher Uses:
- Parent Communication:
  - One thing my administration has encouraged is positive behavior referrals. If a student does something awesome, share it with their parents. When I first heard about this I envisioned that it would take a long time to do, but with Text Blaze I have a template of the email ready to go. All I have to do is write a sentence or two to personalize the email to explain the behavior.
- Permission Slips: If you need to hand out permission slips each year for a similar field trip. Make a shortcut in Text Blaze and eliminate the extra steps of finding it in an overcrowded Google Drive.
- Grading Rubrics and Canned Comments: I love rubrics for grading reports, projects, etc. Create a rubric in Text Blaze and add it to the end of their digital assignment. Similarly, you can make canned comments to provide feedback and resources.

#5 Canva

Canva is an amazing educational resource for educators and students. Hands down, this is the edtech tool that I use the most. I love all of the design features, functionality, and uses of the tool. One of the newer functionalities is the inclusion of their “Magic Studio.” Whether you are creating or editing images, magic a presentation base off of a few key words, or using the magic write option to create a list of 50 science fair projects, Canva Magic is powerful. My oldest son signed up to do the science fair with a buddy and we started by using Magic Write to come up with a list of 50 possibilities. Our prompt was “Please (Yes, treat AI with respect) provide a list of 50 possible science fair projects for a 2nd grade student.” Here is the response:

As a 2nd grader, there are many fun and exciting science fair projects you can do! Here are 15 ideas to get you started:

Make a volcano erupt
Create a rainbow jar
Grow crystals
Build a birdhouse
Create a windsock
Make a balloon rocket
Do an egg drop experiment
Make a kaleidoscope
Build a bridge out of toothpicks
Create a lava lamp
Study the water cycle
Make a homemade compass
Create a static electricity experiment
Build a roller coaster
Study the phases of the moon

Remember, the most important thing is to have fun and learn something new! Good luck with your science fair project!

#6 Inspod

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Listening to 30-40 episodes a week is a pretty good baseline. When I am driving… podcast. When I am doing yard work… podcast. When I am throwing batting practice to my kids… podcast (on-low). Because I listen to a lot of episodes, I frequently run into a problem. How do I take notes on things I want to remember when I can’t stop what I am doing to grab a pen and piece of paper? The answer, I use Inspod. Inspod is the world’s first podcast and YouTube annotation service that integrates both online streaming platforms. It allows digital learners to capture, organize and share the information acquired from Podcasts and YouTube videos. With the push of a button, Inspod inserts a marker into the podcast or Youtube video. Once my hands are free, I go back to the marker and label it. At the end of the episode, I typically have 5-10 “ah-ha” moments documented that I can pull up whenever I need them.

#7 GotLearning’s GotFeedback

GotFeedback is an AI tool that you can use to more efficiently give your students feedback on their writing. GotFeedback uses artificial intelligence to help you provide your students with feedback on their writing. GotFeedback has four default options for analyzing a document: 1) Narrative Structure, 2) Details in this writing, 3)Claims in this writing, and 4) Evidence in this writing. You also have the ability to write your own prompt. Simply select one of the four default options, add a file (or copy and paste text), hit submit and see the feedback roll in. I copied and pasted the intro to one of my blog posts and this is the feedback I received!

Great job on your writing! You have a clear introduction that captures the reader’s attention and establishes the topic of education in the “New Normal.” Your enthusiasm for teaching and continuous learning shines through in your writing, which is fantastic.

To improve the narrative structure and make the transitions smoother, I suggest focusing on the organization and flow of your ideas. Here are a few suggestions:

Use subheadings: Consider using subheadings to divide your blog post into sections. This will make it easier for readers to navigate through your ideas and understand your main points. For example, you could have subheadings like “The Excitement of Redefining Education,” “The Power of Podcasts,” and “Advocating for Podcasts in Professional Development.”
Develop each main point: Expand on each of your main reasons for writing the blog post. Currently, your second and third points feel a bit underdeveloped. Take the time to elaborate on the impact of podcasts on your professional development and the potential benefits of incorporating them into professional development hours.
Use transition words/ phrases: To make your transitions smoother, utilize transition words or phrases to connect your sentences and paragraphs. This will help guide readers through your ideas and maintain the flow of your writing. Some examples of useful transition words include “however,” “moreover,” “in addition,” and “finally.”
Conclusion: End your blog post with a powerful conclusion that summarizes your main points and leaves the reader with a strong takeaway. You could reiterate the significance of podcasts in your professional development journey and encourage others to explore the world of educational podcasts.

Overall, your writing demonstrates enthusiasm and a clear purpose. By implementing these suggestions, you can enhance the narrative structure, improve the flow of your ideas, and make your blog post even more engaging for readers. Keep up the great work!