[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Mary,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts here and for outlining your own positive experiences of engaging with AI to date. Like many, Chat GPT may have been your first interaction with AI tools, which can provide a certain comfort in its use. You have mentioned Pictory AI, which is a more specific AI tool. This course will allow you to explore more of these tools that can be specifically tailored to an educational context. Some of these may be very useful to you, while some may prompt you to think that your current use of Chat GPT would be more effective. Many of these tools boil down to personal preference as they are pulling from the same banks of data and information.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Sean,

Thank you for sharing this sample resource with us which touches upon some extremely important and pertinent issues in relation to children’s interactions online and use of the internet. You have mentioned the Webwise suite of resources and one activity from the ‘My Selfie and the Wider World’ programme springs to mind here. Children can calculate if an image is seen by 10 people and they then share it and a further 10 people see it that it can be seen by up to a million people within a couple of hours. This really strikes home how easily things can go ‘viral’ and may prompt children to think about what they are posting or engaging with online.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to the course and thank you for your post here. You have identified a very relevant point around the importance of a cross-curricular approach to development education. The subsequent modules will outline how some of the key themes of development education can be brought to life in the classroom. However, looking at these in an integrated manner is key and ensuring the learning across different disciplines is reflective of this will allow for deeper learning and engagement with these key themes.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aidan,

Thanks fir your post here and for your overview of how the SETT framework could be used to support children in an autism class. I like the way you have identified how this could be one approach to compliment the child’s school support plan and how it can prompt us to think specifically about both what and why we are doing something or using a particular tool.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Emily,

It’s great to hear that this module has offered you the opportunity to explore some AT tools that will be useful tools in your repository for the coming years. Dictate is a tool that is probably underused and undervalued, both inside and outside education. There are so many uses for this, from making searches and records easier to opening up the writing process to more children, including those with literacy challenges. Other versions of Dictate are also available through Google and Apple for those using those devices and operation systems.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Gabrielle,

Thanks for sharing your experiences here. I’m struck by what you have said around residual issues occurring after covering and broaching the topic of gender stereotypes. It is likely that these thoughts and opinions have been present for a large number of years, potentially subconsciously due to marketing of various companies and businesses. In reality, it is probably something that we need to discuss at various times throughout a child’s progression through school as different class levels will present different challenges in this regard.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Pamela,

Thank for this post. One of the key points you have raised is around the ‘personalisation’ of the learning. It can be very difficult to achieve personalised learning goals through textbook-led approaches. However, AI tools can be used to create and design content specifically around the interests of the class or children. For instance, AI could create a series of reading passages around the importance of the local agricultural show to the town’s economy. This is extremely difficult to achieve without the use of AI and really highlights how it can be used to tailor experiences around the interests and needs if those you teach.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Rhonda,

Thank you for this overview and summation of some of your key learning from the course. Your post highlights that you have taken many key messages from the course content. What hits home is how you have identified different AI tools with different strengths which lend themselves to specific areas. Treating these tools as a sort of ‘pick and mix’ is crucial in finding the balance of how AI and effective pedagogy can integrate.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Maria,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Ehigie’s article here. It could be argued that global citizenship and awareness around this is more important than ever in present times. When you see some of the horrible atrocities going on across the world, it does call into question a range of issues that can be looked at through the lens of development education. Looking at inequalities and migration through the Sustainable Development Goals could be particularly useful and would knit really well with the theme of citizenship.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Orla,

Thank you for your post and for sharing your thoughts on this SDG. As you have aid, Zero Hunger is so topical at the moment when you see images of the horrific starving of children and babies in Gaza. It is impossible not to empathise with their situation and wish for it to come to an end. Using this as a catalyst to think about the importance of healthy eating, diet, sustainability, etc. on a local level is a great way for children to think about the role we all play in these SDG’s.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Louise,

Welcome to the course. It is great that you have been thinking so deeply about key takeaways and how you feel AI can simultaneously be used to enhance the learning in the classroom, whilst also reducing the time spent on evenings and weekends preparing for lessons. This course will outline a variety of different AI tools (beyond Chat GPT) that are very useful and suitable for an educational context. However, it is through trial and error that we will become more adept at tailoring these to be more specific to our own classes. As you have referred to, the prompt is so important and may require refining based on the initial suggestions provided. Hopefully, this course will allow for some thought around how to construct prompts and how these can be refined if needed.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Yvonne,

It is probably true to say that Microsoft and Office 365 have more accessibility tools built into their core products. However, the Chrome web store within Google Workspace offer a number of extensions that do very similar things. ‘Helperbird’ is a Chrome extension that incorporates the Immersive Reader and can be used within the Chrome browser and Google’s content tools such as Docs, Slides, etc. This link offers a range of AT options to support children with different needs, specifying the platforms they can be used with in some cases: https://www.ahead.ie/Our-12-AT-Categories

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Ursula,

I’m delighted to read that you found the content of the module so useful and that you can see the potential benefits of using the Immersive Reader to enhance and invigorate the language and reading experiences of children with a variety of different needs. The beauty of it is that so many of the accessibility features within it can be beneficial for all learners, and as such it doesn’t have to be solely contained to those with reading or wider literacy difficulties. The writing process is often something that I have found even more challenging than reading in terms of motivating pupils – having accessibility tools such as Dictate or speech to text can really open up the learning to all children and ensure their creativity can be recognised.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Anna,

Thank you for your post here and welcome to the course. I think you have hit on a great point regarding the children constructing their own quizzes and assessments using digital tools. Far too often, children spend their time in school answering questions but have far less time to construct their own. This is a key skill in itself that needs to be taught and practices. The use of Forms or other similar digital tools can be a great way to introduce this for children.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Elaine,

Thanks for your post here. Having a general idea of the content you wish to teach and the direction you want to go with it is an excellent starting point when incorporating AI tools to enhance the learning. Using a specific storybook is a great example of this – getting some specific learning activities to do with this, alternative scripts that can be used to re-enact a class drama, etc. are all great ways to use AI in this regard. Indeed, some of the suggestions provided could then be tailored to other texts and end up becoming a core tenet of your instruction for the subsequent years. With careful and specific prompting, a plethora of excellent activities and experiences can be provided.

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