Educators Can Benefit From New Generative AI Course from Google & MIT

Many people focus on the potential benefits of generative AI for kids when thinking about its application in the classroom, but teachers can gain just as much, if not more, from the technology. A free Google Generative AI Educators course was launched last week by Google and MIT Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) to assist middle and high school educators in utilizing generative AI tools to improve their workflow and the learning environment for their students.

According to the press release, the self-paced, two-hour course teaches educators how to leverage generative AI to save time on routine chores like email composing, adapting content for various reading levels, creating innovative evaluations, organizing activities around students' interests, and more. By feeding their current lesson plan into the generative AI models, educators can even learn how to use generative AI to assist with one of the most time-consuming tasks: lesson planning. This will provide ideas for what to do next in the classroom.

"This course empowers educators to confidently integrate AI into their teaching, creating richer and more accessible learning experiences for all students," MIT RAISE Director Cynthia Breazeal said.

Teachers and administrators can access the course's five modules, each lasting no more than forty minutes, on the Generative AI for Educators webpage.

According to the press release, several school districts across the nation also intend to offer the course, including the Anaheim Union High School District in California, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, the Chicago Public Schools in Illinois, the Albuquerque Public Schools in New Mexico, the Glenpool Public Schools in Oklahoma, and the Sun Prairie Area School District in Wisconsin.

"In a rapidly evolving world, our teachers cannot afford to fall behind in accessing powerful generative tools that will help them develop new approaches to teaching and learning," Michael Matsuda, the superintendent at Anaheim Union High School District, said.

The company that created ChatGPT, OpenAI, previously emphasized the advantages of providing teachers with shared use cases and generative AI tools, as well as examples of how teachers throughout the nation are already utilizing the technology. Examples given by OpenAI included teaching students about critical thinking, creating instructional materials, helping non-native English speakers with their English, and employing a chatbot to role-play discussions intended for students.