Artificial intelligence (AI) is not new. Various forms of AI have been used for more than 20 years. The first version of ChatGPT appeared in 2018, and we have been playing AI-enabled chess and other games for many years.
What is new is that AI is getting better and more reliable, learning as it develops. Students are also finding new and helpful ways to leverage AI to support their learning. The vast majority of students are respectful of the integrity of assessment and exams, and are seeking to use AI tools as digital assistants and supports that enable them to improve their learning and understanding.
The website, There’s an AI for That! has 6,000+ AI-enabled apps available for review, with more added daily. Some are very focused on learning — whether in terms of document summaries, data analytics or learning supports — and others are more general.
Here are 10 ways that AI apps and resources can support effective learning.
Understanding and Exploring Ideas
1. Students have to do a lot of reading and exploring of video materials. There are apps to efficiently and quickly summarize long documents, books and videos.
Here are some to look at:
- Use GENEI to summarize a document. Simply load a PDF into the tool and request a summary, which can then be used as a set of notes.
- Discovering similar articles and materials to those previously found helpful is made easy with Research Rabbit. This tool helps users find related content from the same authors or those working in the same field.
- For a summary of a YouTube video, TED talk or any other format, YouTubeSummarizer is a go-to. It quickly generates a set of notes from the video, which can be used for revision purposes.
- Use Booknotes to summarize a book. Just type in the book title, and the tool will provide a concise summary.
- To stay updated on emerging trends in a specific discipline or topic, turn to Elicit. This powerful tool can “mine” through 175 million research papers in seconds, allowing the user to select a paper and instantly access its summary.
2. Summarize online lectures and Zoom sessions. Automated note-taking has been a feature of Zoom for some time (transcripts become available if recording has taken place). But there are automated note-taking systems for lectures and online lectures, like Otter.ai (online meetings) and Audionotes (any audio recording). Students can also use Audionotes to capture their own thoughts and have them summarized.
Tools for Research and Projects
3. Project-based learning, especially when linked to work-based learning, is growing in popularity. But what tools are available to help with this work? Here are two:
- Use ChatGPT (either directly or via BING using Microsoft Edge) to ask for the 10 things to know about a topic or the five key insights the project has to address. Remember to acknowledge the use of ChatGPT using the appropriate form of reference.
- Use Concept Map to help lay out the big ideas being worked on and do so collaboratively with other students working on the project.
Data Analysis and Analytics
4. Analyzing data in Excel, Sheets or other tables requires some work. Now AI tools are available to help make this process easier. Using simple statements, Formulabot converts text into an Excel formula that can be used instantly. Sheet+ offers the same functionality for Google Sheets.
5. Occasionally, a graph is needed. Graphmaker will create one in seconds. Just provide the data to graph, choose the graph type and your desired output will be ready in less than a minute.
Presentations
6. Presentations are often required at the end of a project. With BeautifulAI and other software (like SlidesAI), slide decks can be created in a few minutes to reflect the team's work. These applications take plain text reports and convert them into visually appealing presentations.
Tools for Revision and Exam Preparation
7. Students can use a variety of tools to create flashcards or revision notes. Two of the best are Studywand and Roshi. There are also some highly specialized pre-prepared flashcards for certain topics, like Cardiology, linked to already designed tests and quizzes.
8. Students can also create, using their notes and flashcards, self-assessment quizzes with quiz creation engines like Questgen or PrepAI. Some of these have a free-to-use feature, and others require some payment. Best to use these applications when there is an additional need for preparation and support.
Other Tools
9. ChatGPT can write code, and some students in technology programs are using it for just this purpose (always acknowledging its use). There are now some dedicated code generators, like Maester, that also support this work. Others can be used to audit and review code created either in such systems or by more conventional methods — Coderbuds being a good example.
10. Collaboration is at the heart of many learning activities. Students are often asked to undertake work with peers and to engage with others to benefit learning. There are some useful tools for this work, like tools for brainstorming, flowcharts, stickie notes and document creation. One of the best here is Whimsical AI.
A Bonus Tool for Students Taking Online Classes!
Taking online classes and want to improve your online study skills? Try the free tool https://studyonlinequicktips.ca/ developed by Contact North | Contact Nord. This AI-based chatbot allows learners to enter any question about online learning and get instant answers without having to sign up for an account.
Take a Critical-Analytic Approach
There are new tools appearing all the time. Some are breakthrough tools, and others appear to be clones of those already available. Searching There’s an AI For That, or the AI Master List (both updated daily) will provide the resource needed for the task to completed.
The way to understand these developments is to recognize that we now have access to a 24x7 digital assistant. This assistant can do many things, including translating from one language into more than 130 others (Google Translate) and support writing improvement (ChatGPT, Grammarly and Hemmingway).
Embrace the power of these tools. Many of them are available for free, while others require a monthly subscription. Always keep an eye on the costs and invest wisely, ensuring value is gained from choices. By leveraging these tools, one can unlock the potential to excel as a student and beyond.
But users need to be careful. Some of the material generated by AI systems needs checking, especially suggestions regarding biographies, references and available resources. But this is true for any online source of information: it is not always correct. There can also be bias in the material produced, which is to be expected, given that any AI system can only make use of the material it was trained on, and these materials may have implicit bias built in.
Be on guard and maintain a critical-analytic approach to all the resources AI systems produce.
