AI Tools Produce Content But Students Learn Less
Educators are struggling to integrate new technologies, particularly AI-powered tools, into their classrooms. The focus is often on flashy features and demos, while the tedious, time-consuming, and essential daily tasks (like progress reports and ensuring accuracy) are neglected, leading to burnout and a lack of trust in new solutions.
SOURCES (60)
“The tutor (a character named Maya) lives in a room on screen. A kid tells her what they covered in school today (text, voice, or a photo of a notebook page), and she teaches that specific lesson back. When they get something wrong, she explains…”
“I’m a primary school teacher currently building out a local AI setup to help with my workload, and I’ve hit a bit of a wall. I’m looking for some advice on whether I’m approaching my workflow correctly or if there’s a better way to structure my models and tools. My Setup: Main Workstation: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, 64GB RAM, dual GPU setup (an 8GB card for display/dictation and a 16GB card dedicated to running my LLMs). Infrastructure: I run a small lab with a few NAS servers and two ThinkCentres. One”
“Ai is great for this. You can take a picture of a textbook page and have it translate it. Or you can ask AI to put together readings and questions on the topic in their native language. Assuming you’re in a public school and have a credential you must have some training in teaching English learners? Teaching EL’s is actually good teaching for all students. Lots of visuals and interactive activities as opposed to just reading a book and answering questions.”
“I teach high school and used to spend hours every week building slides from scratch for each lesson. Started experimenting with AI presentation tools about six months ago and it's genuinely given me that time back. Not without its issues but the workflow is solid now. Happy to answer questions about what works, what doesn't,and whether it's actually worth it for educators submitted by /u/Lubomir-Jawon [link] [comments]”
“There were some early successes with the model, the. The Gates Foundation started pushing it for a decade before eventually realizing it was largely ineffective. You can find their paper basically retracting the idea.”
“Preparing students for how to think and still interact with AI, how to demonstrate they know something while using AI to help them formulate their presentation seems important. submitted by /u/lipmanz [link] [comments]”
“I'm a language teacher. My students use artificial intelligence. The old “Trojan horse” tricks don't work anymore—ChatGPT and the like catch on to them. Can you suggest a way to tell if they're using AI and prevent them from doing so, similar to the “Trojan horse” method? submitted by /u/Remarkable_Desk_2650 [link] [comments]”
“Human thought + human action = answer. It has been like that for eternity and will continue. Again, this is blindly buying into it. I have yet to see anything really applicable with AI yet, kids used it to make political cartoons instead of drawing, it was nice. Otherwise no, It summarizes. It makes nice study guides, so do normal teachers. Remember saving the planet? Remember paper straws? Recycling? Turning off lights in rooms you don't use, and water when you brushed your teeth? Remember”
“You can only really understand something if you could do it yourself. So even if someone believes they will be using AI for every task, they need to be able to learn how to do those things themselves in order to effectively evaluate the output of the AI. In a world where AI does fully take over, that's the role of the human - to understand. The current shape of chatbot generative AIs have proven exceptionally good at convincing students that they understand things that they don't.”
“What are you trying to adapt to? AI? It really feels more harmful than helpful to introduce AI at the high school level. Developers need to know how to break problems down, use critical thinking skills, analyze trade offs, and (with AI) utilize an “does this make sense?” approach. You develop those through struggling through problems, and having strong foundations. If you skip that step you’re functionally useless and won’t pass probationary period (if you even pass the technical interview). Dat”
“I am a K12 Comp Sci teacher and very nervous about the downturn in the Comp Sci market in the wake of AI. It impacts us educators as well, far less enrollments in AP Comp Sci classes and all CS classes in general. I work in one of the highest performing schools in the US and for hte past few years I have seen AI being developed and after using some Agentic AI I finally think we are teetering on the edge of it being so incredibly powerful OR falling off the edge and being a bust. Obviously we are”
“I've to make semester project about School Management System with AI/LLM integration, I don't wanna follow tutorials blindly and at the end know nothing where I can't even implement one component myself, same goes for vibe coding. Keeping in view my current coding & learning situation, it feels like my last chance to actually learn something, because I'm running out of time. I'm want to use Next.js, tailwind CSS, typescript, in DB Supabase ig or any other that su”
“Apparently when kids are given the opportunity to use an AI tutor, they won’t— unless they can get it to just give them the answers. With all the struggles going on with using AI to avoid doing the actual work, this resistance seems odd. I kind of am surprised. How about you all? Hope this fits this sub, because I think this is an interesting subject to discuss. NOt to mention I’d love to hear your collective thoughts on Khan Academy. The Problem with an AI Tutor: Students Don’t Want to Use It &”
“This sounds like a money saving measure. SPED has for a long time been a mechanism to pass students who don't have basic skills. I have seen students passed along who are completely illiterate. AI is just another 'tool' for them to use to 'access' curriculum. I wonder when people will realize schools aren't allowed to teach because we are so scared of SPED lawsuits.”
“we have a lot of work showing the harms of AI on learning, from math skills to writing. This interesting working paper looking at how AI can harm learning when used in teaching. Seems that including AI as part of a course can really make students lose interest in learning https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7007339 Abstract Teachers are rapidly adopting generative AI, yet there is little causal evidence on whether AI-assisted teaching improves or harms student outcomes. We conduc”
“When calculators were new, they wouldn't let us use them. I'm sure the teacher used them to double-check their answers on the advanced math tests. Now the kids in many schools are require to use programmable calculators. I remember some teachers not letting you use computers to type your essays, they thought the computer was writing them or something(?), this was in the pre-Internet days. Now if it's not typed, formatted correctly, and submitted online, it's considered unacceptab”
“I saw that AI was included in Moodle 5.1+, and I'm curious about its scope and limitations. At work, we do a lot of course building (clients usually send us a PDF or PPT, and we convert it into H5P or similar formats to build the course based on their requirements). We were wondering if the new AI feature includes something similar to automate this, or if we'd need to build a custom plugin for it. Or is its scope much more limited right now? Also, I imagine it works via an API—is it tied”
“I’m testing an AI math tutor that tries not to give students the answer too quickly. Can you break the tutoring flow? math app submitted by /u/Initial_Ruin_2608 [link] [comments]”
“[Canva] ★ 1/5 (v1.123.1) — Who’s gonna tell all the apps that putting “AI" in their names does not make them look good? Just saying. Also, tell my teachers that this app should not be allowed for presentations because editing on this app is ANNOYING. That one teacher that was the most annoying last year finally did something good for once and only allowed us to use Google Slides. Unfortunately this was not the case for my other teachers. The first presentation I actually put effort into had hidd”
“Hi! I am a teacher too and I am looking for a solution to improve my workflow, can you share with me how you do that, plz!”
“You can even see the thread where the article authors discuss what should be included. Super valuable.”
“I don’t see a problem with either tool. Wikipedia is commonly my first stop for historical research. The links to sources are amazing and save so much time. AI can also lead to sources and can make some interesting suggestions on research pathways. Although I do find AI to be repetitive and a bit of a liar. Either can be useful, they just need to be used correctly. A hammer is a great tool. Just not for painting on a canvas.”
What can go wrong? submitted by /u/Emergency-Pepper3537 [link] [comments]
“I moved to an innovative US high school this year. Its a very cool school that focuses on STEM and career tracks. Of course they’re all AI all the time. Admin uses it, teachers use it, and they want students to use it. I’m on the fence about AI in general, but am staunchly against AI in my English classroom. Should students learn to use AI as a tool because ”it’s not going anywhere”? Yeah, sure. Can it be used to help students who struggle with the writing process… I’m not convinced. It can “hel”
“Anyone have any idea how to combat the use of AI by our kids? Last year was simply giving zeroes out when the students were caught (especially when they didnt know what words meant) submitted by /u/WritingOk6413 [link] [comments]”
“In today’s AI market what I can build for students or in Edtech ? Any suggestions from your side ? Like any real problems students face ? Tell me ! submitted by /u/Rabi31 [link] [comments]”
“I was a high school English teacher when ChatGPT first showed up, and I now work in instructional design with university faculty. One question has followed me through both sides of that transition: What actually convinces us that a student is becoming more capable? For a long time, we've relied heavily on artifacts as evidence: the essay, presentation, discussion post, analysis, project, etc. But AI can now produce increasingly competent versions of many of those things. That doesn't mak”
“I taught high school English when ChatGPT first showed up, and I've been stuck on this question ever since. We spend a lot of time debating whether students should use AI, how much AI is too much, detection, etc. But I'm increasingly wondering whether there's a more uncomfortable problem underneath all of it. A lot of what we've historically used as evidence of learning—the essay, response, presentation, polished artifact—is becoming incredibly easy to produce. That doesn't m”
“It’s about having something engaging, not entertaining. As someone with ADHD, the difference between a homework that feels engaging and interesting and one that is a waste of time is massive. I wish I had learned the distinction and got my diagnostic when I was young, but I now see it clearly as I take courses as an adult.”
“For those currently in programs and those that have graduated in the AI era, what tools did were you using to be most efficient and get the most out of the classroom? With all the capability of AI, AI-enabled tools, and more traditional tools like OneNote, I’m curious what and how other folks are using. Cheers! submitted by /u/Accurate-Command1730 [link] [comments]”
“That's the way to do it. I really like the honest presentation. I'm sure a lot of univ teachers will be interested. The idea is great. All the best!”
“I have a PhD focused on data science and machine learning in Education policy research, and most of my dissertation (started back in 2019, finished in 2022) was deep in the weeds on all of the technology current AI is based off of. My goal is that between my actual teaching background AND my actual longer-term work with these tools, I can present this stuff in a genuinely grounded and approachable way for everyone. All of the content I've seen so far leans REALLY hard into hype and tech-bro”
“Our school is using Subject AI for 7-12 virtual school now that our area is allowing for ISD's to offer online school options. I would like to hear the good, bad and ugly from those with experience with it. Previous posts that pulled up didn't have much in the way of replies ... So I'm hoping that with a little bit of time there are more folks with experience they are willing to share. Are they just that new that this is the first year they are getting more use?: i tried a couple oth”
“I know it's going to vary from district to district, school to school, but I'm curious if anyone has experience "leaning into" AI. I've gotten friendly pushback from staff I got along with when I shared that I'll use AI when it takes work off my plate, which has enough on it, but I'm weary of AI that is essentially another job expectation with little oversight. A coach we had that I loved working with and supported me once told everyone during a staff meeting that w”
“This New York Times article (gift link, free to read and share) reports on the enabling of A.I. features for K12 students with access to Gemini via its popular Classroom app. While the AI industry overall is pressing to expand into K12 education, some parents and schools leaders are resisting, concerned about the risks to privacy and critical thinking abilities. What do you think? submitted by /u/TechandLearning [link] [comments]”
“New tech appears, many misunderstand or misuse it. News at 11. I used to code simulations for my physics and chemistry classes by hand. It took a long time - I could make maybe 3 or 4 per school year, and I was limited to my particular domain of knowledge (unfortunately not web based). Now I can make a really nice simulation in an hour, precisely to my specifications, and have it running on my website for students to interact with before my planning period ends. I wanted my students to get bette”
“Hello, the tile is self-explanatory. I started a channel about explaining math stuff but I am worried that people prefer watching content generated by AI apps instead of actual videos on YouTube in the near future. Edit: I forgot to mention that I am a faceless creator and I don't want to record my voice, making my content more prone to get irrelevant. submitted by /u/Fragrant-Job-3200 [link] [comments]”
“Thanks for the feedback, that's useful! Yeah its not great at doing a curriculum for such a broad topic. I'll think about how I can address this. Curious why you chose 5th grade math -- just to test things out, or you're a parent/teacher looking for a curriculum? As for the latency -- good to know! Im using a big model + lots of thinking to make sure things are accurate and the content is useful (I prompt it to consider a few things). I'll see how I can improve this. Thanks again”
“Tried it for '5th grade math'. I liked how it also created illustrations and questions. Good job on that. But Latency is an issue. Also, for structured learning with a wide topic such as '5th grade math', I guess it doesn't go into too much depth and doens't cover everything in 5th grade math.”
“For designers working towards ai + edtech, how is the market? Flint, Magicschool etc. What's the market like? submitted by /u/art3mis_8 [link] [comments]”
“You've missed the point of education. We've had pocket calculators my whole life, but we still learnt to calculate without them. Because the point was never 1.7320508075688... The point has always been why √3 works the way it does.”
“District Administrator: "ChatAIbot, make two study giudes, one for MacBeth and one for Hamlet." District Administrator: "ChatAIbot, write a student-led lesson plan comparing MacBeth with Hamlet culminating with a prompt for a persuasive essay with a 5 point rubric." "ChatAIbot, grade these essays according to your rubric and upload the grades to the district grading platform." District Administrator: "ChatAIbot, make two self-running slidedecks. One summarizes”
“I’ll be honest, I’m probably a bit behind on all these AI tools, but I’ve been hearing other teachers talk about using them for slides and I feel like I should probably start looking into it. Right now I still build everything manually and it just takes way more time than it probably should. I’m just curious what people are actually using that can take basic lesson content and turn it into decent slides without too much effort. submitted by /u/WeekendKindly4037 [link] [comments”
“I’ve been reading a lot lately about the trend of AI-driven micro-schools—the ones where kids spend 2-3 hours in the morning doing core academics guided by adaptive AI software, and afternoons on hands-on projects, with adults acting as facilitators rather than traditional teachers. On paper, the idea of personalized learning pacing sounds appealing. But as someone looking at the future of education, I keep wrestling with big concerns: screen fatigue, the loss of deep human-teacher relationships”
“Background I’m a Senior Instructional Designer with an MA in Technology and Learning Design. I work in the utilities industry. Over the last year I’ve been helping my department integrate AI tools into our workflows. After a brief stint with a localized Amazon product (essentially a third-hand version of ChatGPT), we moved to Microsoft Copilot. So far, so good. At home, for my own projects, I use Claude, Grok, and Gemini. I’m unapologetically all-in on AI (I even had Grok review this before post”
“Hi there! I've been teaching English and German for nine years. Now I feel the urge for a change in my career. We've recently conducted some research on the use of AI in ESL teaching and published a couple of articles. What we actually did was speculate on how we can implement chat bots into our routine, what task we can suggest with the help of AI etc. I thought why not try to get deeper into the subject instead of just observing. Now I'm preparing for an IT master's entry exam.”
“If you use AI to teach and your students learn nothing from it that’s a you problem and a huge embarrassing red flag as a teacher. Yikes.”
“To some of the contrary kids, sure. But there is quite a bit of AI backlash among people of all ages.”
“Maybe a bit high-falutin' and verbose for middle school, but this Frank Herbert quote from 1965 still resonates: "Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." I would go with "Actually Incompetent" out of the possible options.”
“I’m looking for suggestions for an acronym for AI that would b e suitable for a middle school classroom. I’m thinking along the lines of “Using AI to do your work makes you …” Actually Ignorant Astonishingly Incapable What else works??? submitted by /u/SlartiHarleyBartFast [link] [comments]”