[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Felicity,

Thanks for your post here and for outlining a really pertinent challenge in terms of the use of AI, and technology in general, to support learning. Especially in an SET setting (where the time we have with individual children is so tight), we want to be making the best use of our time. It’s fair to say that so many assistive tools can help the children we work with, but the danger is that it may take some time to land upon the correct tool. As such, taking a small step such as incorporating one tool each year could be useful. As we become more familiar with what these tools do, we will be able to make more informed decisions about whether it would be a suitable for for a child’s particular needs. Over time, we will build up a repository of tools that we can confidently pick and choose from.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Shane,

Thanks for your post. It’s interesting to hear how things that can be spun as a positive for some people and sectors can have such negative effects on other aspects of society and the economy. Agriculture is certainly something that is feeling the effects of climate change here – from hotter summers to flooding in winter, there is such an impact on livelihoods. This will be felt particularly in certain parts of the country. The undertaking of upcycling projects sounds fascinating and an initiative which could really get children involved in thinking about how we can be more sustainable in all aspects of our lives.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi John,

Thanks for this post on how you would incorporate the use of Scratch in your classroom. I agree that it is very important that the children understand the language of Scratch and the different aspects of the platform before they are set to create their own stories, etc. Scratch Jr. can be a very nice introduction for younger children in this regard – there are a variety of manuals that go through a series of step-by-step lessons that will get the children looking at this and equipped with the knowledge and skills to use Scratch in more complex ways as they move through the year.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Lina,

Thanks for this. I think you have hit on something so important around raising awareness of the experience of refugees. Allowing our children to truly understand the meaning of the word and the type of conflict these people have had to flee from is so important in building the empathy you speak of. Often, we can take for granted what we have in this country and instead focus on many of its flaws. However, it is very difficult to comprehend what these people have been living through – building awareness of this through storytelling and the other means you have listed would be a really importnt first step.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Rachel,

Thank you for your post. I think you have raised some excellent points around Cosán and lifelong learning within this profession. It is essential that we continue to upskill and become aware of various approaches that may be emerging across different subject areas. This will be especially true with the onset of the new curriculum specifications in September. However, it is a pity that there is not more time allowed for this during the school day. There is exceptional CPD being offered by education centres and Oide, but it often falls in the evening time which can exclude those with other commitments from attending, even though they would love to do so.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for your post here and for outlining the potential use of these tools in a Gaelscoil context. The Image Creator is an amazing tool and one which I am sure you will enjoy playing around with. The prompt is crucial for all aspects of AI in an education sense, but especially so when looking at image creation, regardless of the tool being used. Often,. I have had to provide multiple prompts to be specific enough to match it to look exactly as I wanted. However, once you use it a couple of times you are conscious of this and it becomes a much quicker and fluid process.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Anne Marie,

Welcome to the course and thank you for this contribution to the forum. It is great to hear that you have been able to explore a variety of additional AI tools, beyond Chat GPT. Personally I love using Chat GPT for general prompts and resource creation, but there are a number of education-specific tools that can create the exact material you may want for use in a classroom context. The ability to create posters, flow charts, comparison wheels, etc. can provide a much more visually appealing and effective layout for your resource creation. The remainder of the course will explore more of these tools, and hopefully you will find their use beneficial for your own practice.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Mary,

Thank you for your post and feedback here. I believe that it is so important that every ‘new’ tool can be used to enhance current practice and ties in with our curriculum. If this is not the case, it simply becomes an added extra we must ‘do’ on top of an already overpacked curriculum. Therefore, it is so important to see these tools being used in context – the Reading Coach is a really good tool to begin exploring and could prove transformational in allowing those with literacy difficulties to access material that would previously have not been attainable.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

HI Gabrielle,

hanks for sharing your experience here. It is shocking to hear of the devastating impact of the winter storms on your school grounds. While this is an awful event to happen, it certainly provides a real-life context for the children when they are exploring these issues. It is often not until something directly affects us that we begin to feel the need to tack action seriously – this is certainly the case in your school. The ideas you have shared are all great in terms of the children in the school being able to make small, but tangible steps to say they are doing something to help the situation.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aidan,

Thanks for your engagement throughout the course. The ‘line focus’ is a really nice feature for use within Immersive Reader. While the physical tinted rulers may do the same for children with dyslexia, it can often make them stand out as having difficulties. However, if all children are using devices, this is not the case. Indeed, it is very likely that this feature could prove helpful for a larger number of children, including those with no diagnosed literacy issues.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Carmel,

Thanks for your post. The Office 365 suite of resources very much lends itself to a whole-school approach that may be brought about through SSE. The suite of apps and resources can be used across a variety of means from teaching to learning to administration, meaning that any of the LAOS domains could be considered as a key focus. Whilst the breadth that Office 365 is a positive, it may be beneficial to focus on its one for one of the above purposes for the first year or two to allow everyone get accustomed to this as a way of working.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi April,

Thanks for your post and I’m delighted to hear that you are looking forward to giving Immersive Reader a try over the coming year. It is a really amazing assistive tool that allow a children engage with reading material they otherwise would not be able to. This allows children who may have a specific literacy difficulty to access content at a similar level to the rest of the class, as they may be quite adept at responding orally or in other ways.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Lisa,

You are absolutely right to identify the potential use of AI for the construction of SMART targets that can be placed in a child’s school support plan. I know myself that it is often very difficult to ‘word’ your targets to ensure they are SMART, despite often having a very good idea of what you want to achieve over the course of the plan. In putting a general target and asking for specific SMART targets would be a very good use of Chat GPT, Gemini, etc. I find the speech to text really useful and time-saving for constructing prompts like this and might be worth consideration.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for sharing how you wish to use the selected AI tools. What has been great about the contributions on this forum is the variety of tools selected, with the primary reason being the desire to meet the needs of individual children. It is fair to say that tools like AI Translation for YouTube will be far more suitable in your context than in an classroom with no EAL learners.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Maria,

Thank you for outlining so clearly some of the benefits and challenges around AI integration in our classrooms. The point you have brought up around cost as a potential barrier is particularly interesting. Whilst there are many free versions of different software available, we are beginning to see so much of this excellent content being put behind a paywall. It may be the case that even the free version of Chat GPT for example becomes so inferior to the paid version that we almost feel like the paid version will be essential. This is something I have noticed around the length of time that it takes to create an image lately, which is something to be cognisant of.

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