AI in the classroom: How it’s impacting teachers and students
Magic School AI offers more than 50 intelligence tools for teachers and students.
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — Artificial Intelligence is all around us. It’s in our phones, at the drive-thru, and all over our homes.
It’s also inside Indiana classrooms.
At Zionsville Middle School, Ms. Emily Wleklinski teaches Humanities. Her sixth graders are researching World War II, and they are communicating with commanders from that time, thanks to AI.
“They’re able to chose who they want to study,” said Wleklinski, “when they want to study, and the questions they want to ask, which is not possible for one teacher to be able to do.”
How are they doing it? Using a platform called Magic School AI. It offers more than 50 intelligence tools for teachers and students.
Adeel Khan founded the company in May 2023 as a former teacher and principal.
“I founded it out of my living room, and now, Magic School is the fastest growing technology platform for schools ever,” Khan told 13News.
Khan said more than 5.5 million educators around the world use Magic School, including thousands of Indiana teachers.
“The numbers are pretty staggering,” said Khan, “but really, it’s the individual impact that makes it all worthwhile.”
Magic School helps teachers with everything from planning lessons to giving immediate feedback to students. Ultimately, it gives teachers their time back, if you ask Zionsville Schools digital learning coach Kyle Beimfohr.
“They are more efficient when it comes to grading assignments,” said Beimfohr. “They are more efficient at creating lesson plans, differentiating their instruction.”
“Magic School helps teachers build really creative lesson plans and think of ideas that can make whatever they are teaching in their classroom more engaging for their students,” said Khan. “You can think of it as their co-pilot for daily work.”
In Indiana, Educational Service Centers of Indiana announced a partnership with Magic School, which already serves more than 31,000 Hoosier educators.
Indiana schools can now apply for up to $50,000 in funding through the state’s Digital Learning Grant to assist in implementing Magic School. The application is open through May 16.
“That has been instrumental in us getting an AI competent to all of our students,” said Beimfohr.
“All our teachers, at heart, just want to use the classroom time efficiently to get to each student,” said Darlene Kennedy with ESCI. “They are leaning into AI, because they just don’t have enough minutes in the day to get everything done. So they are looking at AI to ease that load for them.”
According to a survey from Magic School, teachers reported saving 7-10 hours a week by using AI.
“For them to say it saved us nearly a day a week, self-reported, we were inspired by that,” said Khan.
While Magic School is designed to help teachers, it also has tools to help students. Just like the lesson in Wleklinski’s class.
“Technology is the way of their life, and it’s going to continue being part of their life,” said Wleklinski. “They need to learn how to use it as a tool. They need to learn its limitations. They also need to continue learning how to use it while they’re developing their own thinking.”
“If we start burying our heads in the sand, or we decide, ‘Let’s not let this in just yet,'” said Kennedy, “are we really preparing our students for tomorrow’s work force?”
“I don’t think it’s ever going to replace our teachers,” said Beimfohr. “I think it’s going to enhance what’s being done. As it continues to grow, we want to grow with it.”
“Teachers are magic,” said Khan. “So much of what we want to do is elevate the teaching profession and celebrate the teachers who do the real hard work.”
All teachers can access Magic School for free, even if their school is not partnered.
“It is something that is everchanging,” said Beimfohr. “It is a tool. It is not a replacement for our students’ thinking. It is not a replacement for our teachers doing their job. It is just a tool like everything else that has come through history when it comes to technology.”
Source: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/education/indiana-teachers-students-classrooms-artificial-intelligence-ai-technology/531-be7f950b-fcf3-4c7f-8965-d37cdddd8ff2
