My Edumo Experience

AI in the Classroom?

Around a month ago, I was contacted by Morton Olsen of EDUMO who offered me the change to #betatest his new software, an AI enriched teaching management tool. Edumo is, effectively, a great way to plan and set out the journey your student is going to take with you, to plan out a Path they will follow and break down the Steps within that Path. It is a way to simplify the teaching journey into a manageable thing.

But that's not all it is.

It has AI baked in and you can use this AI to generate content; texts which can be either ficton or informative and can be produced for any topic you like. I have playfully created whimsical stories which were actually rather good.

In fact one story it generated gave me something of a philosophical crisis. What appeared to be a children's story had, on closer inspection, something of a profound philosophical depth and layers of meaning that made one stop and think.

AI, like anything, can be misused and, in that manner can be a threat. If used properly, it is both a tool and an asset.

You see, I'm quite old school when it comes to AI. As a sometime writer and digital artist, I perceived it as a threat, subscribing to the news stories of AI companies scraping copyrighted content (perhaps even mine) to train their models and stories of AI content becoming almost indistinguishable from human-made content. As a matter of principle, I had avoided the use of AI personally.

Then along came Edumo.

1. Create an AI generated text on any subject, with vocabulary and grammar appropriate for the selected student's proficiency.

2. Generate vocabulary exercises based off of that text.

3. Generate comprehenion exercises from the same texts

4. Monitor your student's journey as progression down their Path

See, both the simplified approach Edumo is built around and the potential the AI gives it has actually improved my teaching.

1. I produce a text and add it to the online platform's teaching space.

2. I read the text and have the student underline vocabulary they are unfamiliar with.

3. We discuss this vocabulary.

4. The student reads the text.

5. We hold a discussion using the text as a conversation starter.

6. I send the student the link for the Edumo exercises as homework

So, Edumo provides me the bones of my lesson and an activity to reinforce what we have learned. It's simple but powerfully effective.

That's not all Edumo can do; following conversations is Terry Maher, Edumo's co-founder, there is a lot more in the pipeline.

1. Matched pairs exercises

2. Exercises generated from video and audio

3. Possibly videos generated from text and/or audio (unless misunderstood)

4. Match the pictures exercises

5. Sort the order exercises

6. Drag and match picture exercises

7. Multiple choice

8. Building blocks exercises

And a lot more, I hear.

This means, if I am teaching a more traditional grammar lesson, or vocabulary for beginners or children, I can produce just the exercises as a visual learning or reinforcement experience. Personally, I'm excited for the exercises from video functionality, there's some serious potential there.

On Monday, Terry very kindly offered to interview me for Edumo's blog and I had a lovely chat. We discussed my background and experience, and how I've been finding my use of the tools. It was Terry that suggested using the the Send Link tool for Edumo generated exercises to the student as homework and I've found this to be incredibly useful.

I teach the lesson and then send the text with exercises as homework, reinforcing that lesson, brilliant yet simple. The ability to add additional exercise types to their Path (course overall) and Steps (individual lessons) is also brilliant as you can customise the experience for different learning styles.

Am also looking forward to auto-generated picture options.

Terry and Morten have been extremely responsive and interactive in this process and I've developed a deep respect for Terry's work ethic and values overall. I say this beause I'm directly interacting with Terry the most.

Does this mean I am Converted?

Perhaps the AI has hacked my brain and converted me?

No, as a tool, AI has the potential to help automate and simplify tedious and repetitve tasks but should never be seen as a replacement for actual work and human involvement.

I admit, the things I use Edumo for have cut down my lesson preparation time significantly and allow me to see, through a wide lens, how my students are progressing but my very human judgement is still needed to make on the fly judgement calls and alterations.

I have, more than once, dumped an AI prepared lesson because the student had underestimated their proficiency and I realised this within moments of speaking to them.

I like contextual learning personally so enjoy leading a student through rather than pushing towards, challenging them when I feel it's appropriate, pushing them harder if I believe they can handle it. I don't think any AI model can make those kids of judgements and adjustments yet.

A tool, not a crutch.

So, in my continued use of Edumo and its marvellous AI capabilities (which I'm reliably told are going to evolve even further) has been an education for me and an aid to both me and my students, there is no denying that, and I will be eternally grateful to both Terry and Morten for the experience, which is why I make effort to use the tools and give them regular and honest feedback (a lifetime subscription once it's released wouldn't be refused, lads...hint hint) because I also believe in their tool and respect their hard work.

Edumo is serious already unlike any tool I have seen and tried before, it is groundbreaking and, with simplicity at its core, powerful if used well.

As an aside, do read this attached story it produced for me; which I think reads like a children's story co-wrote by Stephen King and Franz Kafka, maybe influenced by The Hardy Boys....

The old clock ticked.docx

Download DOCX • 12KB

Of course, visit www.edumo.io to learn more.