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ASSIGNMENT
Write a forum post (150 words min) as a Reply to this post reflecting on your experience using Copilot and detail the classroom resource you created, including topic and class level. Also consider
- how AI can support teaching
- One benefit and one limitation
- How you will ensure pupils remain the ones doing the thinking
Then reply to at least one other participant. Your reply should help extend the discussion by offering encouragement, a practical suggestion or a reflective question.
Throughout, consider how M365 Copilot could be used in School Self-Evaluation (SSE) at your school.
Use of AI Tools: Our facilitators occasionally observe that course reflections may be generated with the assistance of AI tools. While AI can be a helpful support for drafting ideas or exploring different ways to express your thinking, it is essential that your forum posts reflect your own understanding and engagement with the course content. This is in line with the Department of Education and Youth’s Summer Course guidelines.
Before posting to the forum, we encourage you to take a moment to review your contributions and, if necessary, revise them to ensure they are appropriate and authentically your own. -
AI can support teaching by helping to personalise learning, save teacher time, and enhance feedback. For example, AI can generate differentiated resources, provide instant feedback on pupils’ work, and suggest lesson ideas or explanations for different ability levels. This allows us to focus more on interaction and deeper learning.
One benefit – AI can improve efficiency by reducing workload (e.g. planning, correcting, creating resources).
One limitation – AI can produce inaccurate or superficial information, so it needs careful checking and cant replace professional judgement.
I will ensure pupils remain the thinkers by – Using AI as a support tool, not a shortcut (e.g. for prompts, not final answers) – Designing tasks that require reasoning, discussion, and justification rather than just clumps of information – Encouraging pupils to critically evaluate AI stuff rather than accept it blindly – Setting clear expectations that learning comes from their own thinking and effort, not by relying on AI to do it all without any effort from them.
6th Class – History – World War II cloze test
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Hi Mark. I agree with your view of AI in education. I think saving teachers time is a major benefit and I also see the importance of checking AI-generated content before using it in class.
Your 6th Class History cloze test on World War II sounds like a useful resource that could be used for reinforcing key vocabulary and assessing pupils’ understanding. I also liked your point about ensuring pupils remain the ones doing the thinking. I feel encouraging them to question and evaluate AI-generated information is a very important skill that will help develop their critical thinking ability.
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Hi Mark,
Welcome to the course, I couldn’t agree with you more GenAI has huge potential to support teaching by saving time and helping to create differentiated resources and learning activities. However, as you’ve mooted out, it’s important that teachers critically review AI-generated content, as accuracy and quality can vary instead of taking any output as verbatim. The ‘Human in the loop’ adage.
I particularly like your emphasis on keeping pupils as the thinkers in the learning process. Encouraging children to question, discuss and evaluate AI-generated content is central to responsible GenAI, criticality and digital literacy will only grow in importance as GenAI becomes more and more ubiquitous in our society.
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I thought using Copilot was a positive experience overall. I found it easy enough to use and it created the resource quickly. The first response it gave was good, but I needed to refine my prompts a bit and edit the content to make sure it matched the objectives and was suitable. I think this highlighted the importance of using AI as a support tool rather than relying on it to produce finished resources.
The classroom resource I created was a lesson on the water cycle for 4th Class. Copilot helped me generate a short reading passage, comprehension questions, a sequencing activity, and a simple reflection question to check understanding. I adapted the language slightly, added visual supports to differentiate to meet the needs of children in my class.
I believe AI can support teaching by saving time on lesson planning and creating differentiated materials. One significant benefit is the efficiency it offers. It will allow me to spend more time focusing on teaching and supporting pupils. However, one limitation I found is that AI can produce inaccurate or sometimes overly generic information, so its important to review and fact-check and adapt the content before using it in the classroom.
To ensure pupils remain the ones doing the thinking, I would use AI only to support my planning and resource creation, not to replace pupil learning. I would encourage pupils to ask questions, explain their reasoning and solve problems independently. The activities would be designed to promote discussion with AI acting as a tool to enhance learning rather than provide the answers.-
I agree Marguerite about having to refine the prompts in CoPilot. It is similar in teaching sometimes in that you have to be soooo specific about what exactly you need or alter your instructions a little to get exactly what you want. I spose that’s what teaching is too to a certain extent.
One problem I came across too which I haven’t solved yet is that I have CoPilot as a shortcut on my Microsoft Edge browser but don’t have it in my Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. I think it’s a subscription thing. I’m onto IT to try and solve it but it does work in the browser too.
I think doing my fortnightly plans, having coPilot available to fill in lesson objectives and differentiation would be invaluable. -
Hi Marguerite,
Welcome to the group and thanks for engaging with this module.
Your 4th Class water cycle lesson is a great example of using Copilot as a supportive launchpad rather than a finished product, relying on your own expertise to add visual supports and language adaptations. As GenAI becomes more prominent in society, this is a great approach.
I completely agree that while the efficiency of M365 Copilot is a massive benefit for reducing lesson prep time,. I agree that its tendency to produce generic or slightly inaccurate content is a major limitation.
Your strategy of prioritising pupil reasoning and discussion ensures that the cognitive load stays exactly where it belongs—with the children!
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I suppose the main point is that Microsoft 365 Copilot to be a useful tool for supporting planning and resource creation. To explore a bit I used Copilot to create a summer holidays reading comprehension worksheet for my 2nd Class. It generated a short reading passage, comprehension questions, vocabulary activities and a drawing task. This saved time and gave me a solid starting point, which then needed editing to the ability of my students. In hindsight I should have asked it to edit it too and make differentiated passages.
One benefit of AI is that it can reduce the time spent on admin and prepping tasks, allowing teachers to focus more on teaching and supporting pupils. Sometimes only basic idea is needed or sometimes I revert back to my old ideas rather than trying something new which AI can provide.
A drawback, is that AI-generated content is not always accurate and requires reviewing. It’s like an enthusiastic child which needs the teacher (as the adult) to give proper direction!!
To ensure pupils remain the ones doing the thinking, we need to get students to have questions and requests ready for Copilot so it can be used as an aid rather than as a source of answers. We don’t want to stifle kids problem solving and creative abilities by only using AI to answer all problems.
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Hi Cormac,
Welcome to the course and thanks for engaging with this module.
Your analogy that AI is like an “enthusiastic child” requiring adult direction is absolutely spot-on and a fantastic takeaway. It underscores the vital role of the teacher’s professional judgment in reviewing and editing AI content.
Your approach to pupil autonomy is excellent. Having students prepare questions for Copilot so it acts as an aid rather than a “cheat sheet” is a great way to protect their critical thinking and problem-solving skills and also ensures the teacher maintains control of the AI tool
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Hi Cormac,
Welcome to the course and thanks for engaging with this module.
Your analogy that AI is like an “enthusiastic child” requiring adult direction is absolutely spot-on and a fantastic takeaway. It underscores the vital role of the teacher’s professional judgment in reviewing and editing AI content.
Your approach to pupil autonomy is excellent. Having students prepare questions for Copilot so it acts as an aid rather than a “cheat sheet” is a great way to protect their critical thinking and problem-solving skills and also ensures the teacher maintains control of the AI tool
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