[Pat Brennan]

 

You’ve given a balanced reflection on both the opportunities and challenges of AI in education. I particularly like your focus on using AI initially as a whole-class tool, allowing students to develop responsible habits before becoming more independent users. Your lesson outlined is very comprehensive combining historical inquiry, empathy and digital literacy in a meaningful way. Your use of differentiated resources, primary source analysis and the AI interview creates plenty of opportunities for engagement while keeping the learning goals firmly at the centre.

To develop on what you’ve outlined, one suggestion would be to encourage pupils to discuss how trustworthy AI-generated responses are during the interview activity, helping them develop critical thinking alongside historical understanding.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Christine,
Thanks for the comprehensive and thoughtful of how you plan to use to GenAI to support inclusion and differentiation. I really like how you focus on freeing up time for engagement with students while using tools such as Diffit, Reading Coach and OSMO to meet a range of learning needs. Your lesson idea also provides a good example of combining literacy, creativity and digital literacy, while helping students understand the importance of good prompting.

Building on the literacy piece, one suggestion would be to create opportunities for pupils to compare and contrast AI-generated outputs with their own ideas, which encourage discussion about accuracy, creativity and indeed, the limitations of AI.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Jacinta,

Absolutely, teacher expertise or literacy when it comes to using AI is really important. The value of GenAI tools comes not just from generating resources, but from the teacher’s ability to evaluate, adapt and use them in ways that support effective teaching, learning and assessment. On the broader literacy piece for both teachers and students as you’ve outlined I agree developing and encouraging critical thinking, when engaging with AI-generated content is also key and never taking at outputs face value.

Staying with this, a useful next step could be to explore ways of explicitly teaching pupils how to question and verify AI-generated information, helping them develop the critical literacy skills needed to use these tools responsibly.

 

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Ruth,

You’ve provided a clear overview of how AI tools can support differentiation, assessment and accessibility in the classroom. I particularly like the practical examples of MagicSchool.ai and Microsoft Learning Accelerators, and your emphasis on continuous feedback to support pupil progress.

Also, I couldn’t agree with you more on the  the importance of continual and robust  teacher oversight. And indeed developing key digital literacy skills is mission critical. To this point and as a next step, you could explore how you can get children more involved in discussing the responsible use of AI, helping them become informed and critical users of these technologies.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Martin,

I would certainly agree with the key benefits of AI in education you’ve outlined here, particularly its potential to support personalised learning and and differentiate for different learners. What you’ve mooted, such as generating tailored activities and using tools like Vidnoz AI is a brilliant way to bring learning to life and provide the all important stimulus to engage.

To build on these kinds of AI uses, i would suggest including opportunities for children to critically evaluate AI-generated content, helping them develop mission critical AI literacyy while maintaining their own understanding and independent thinking.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Deirdre,

You’ve highlighted a wide range of practical ways here of how children and families new to the school can be supported, from working with local organisations such as WIS to creating a welcoming and inclusive school environment. I particularly like your focus on belonging, with ideas such as buddy systems, multilingual resources and opportunities for families to participate in school life.

One further step could be to involve pupils in exploring the stories, languages and cultures represented within their own school community, either informally in class or more formally at a whole school level, helping all  students to recognise and celebrate the diversity that already exists around them.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Louise,
You’ve chosen a very relevant local issue. Linking climate change to rainfall and flooding in the locality helps make the topic real and meaningful for children and the practical investigations you’ve mooted here like collecting rainfall data and mapping areas at risk of flooding, provide powerful opportunities for inquiry-based & ross-curricular learning.

To build on what you’ve outlined, increasing biodiversity, walking to school and recycling,  why not get the children  involved in a simple whole-school climate action audit to identify further ways to reduce waste, save energy or support biodiversity. This could help connect their learning with positive action.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Danielle,

You’ve made a strong link between Development Education and the needs of your school community and your multicultural setting provides many real opportunities for children to learn about different experiences and perspectives.

I also love the mosquito quote, not one I’ve heard of before but so simple and apt. Staying on how small actions can make a difference, small actions can make a difference, as a next step, you could explore a simple pupil-led action project, helping children see how small actions in their school or community can contribute to wider global issues such as equality, sustainability or inclusion.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Niamh,

I couldn’t agree more encouraging peer mentoring/sharing is a great way for a school to built confidence and capacity with digital learning across a staff  As you’ve highlighted.

I also agree regarding being selective when adopting new tools and resources, often less is indeed more. With so much change taking place, there is real value in focusing on one or two areas, mattering them and then moving on from there.

Returning to the mentoring idea, identifying a group of staff who are particularly interested in digital learning and supporting them then as digital mentors/ambassadors that try out tools such as Google Forms, Gemini, NotebookLM and then share examples of effective practice with colleagues (Croke park hours are ideal for this). This again will build capacity across the school.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Edel,

This is a central objective of this course is encouraging participants to explore a broad range of AI tools and identifying those that could have an immediate impact in your classroom.

Agreed too,  tools like Twee and Gamma can be real time savers. As the adage goes ‘They avoid the blank page’ by (As you’ve highlighted) providing a strong starting point for a myriad of classroom relevant resources like quizzes, story starters, and presentations, while still affording teachers the last word when it comes to tailoring or personalising the final output to their students’ needs.

You also mentioned Reading Coach and again I agree it’s a brilliant tool . Its personalised feedback can help students build confidence and develop reading skills independently while giving you useful insights into their progress.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Niall,

Your ‘Jump Strategy’ approach to break down what  is a challenging abstract concept for students and presenting the steps in a consistent, colour-coded format is a simple but effective way to scaffold learning and help them work more independently. I also like your focus on learner autonomy.
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One suggestion I would have is to incorporate a few real-world problems, such as calculating journey times or the duration of matches. This can help students see the relevance of the skill and make the learning more meaningful.

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[Pat Brennan]

Hi Victoria and welcome to the course.

Using Gemini as a thinking partner as you’ve outlined here rather than expecting it to produce a finished lesson makes sense particularly if you are new to AI as it will avoid over reliance. Also the ROLE-TASK-CONTEXT-FORMAT structure should make for efficient use.

And absolutely, AI-generated content needs careful review before being used in a specialist setting. As you’ve outlined, pupils in a junior autism class can have very individual needs and interpretations, so professional judgement and the ‘Human in the loop’ remain essential.

In your context, one suggestion I would have is to use Gemini to generate multiple variations of the same activity at different levels of complexity. This can be a useful way to further personalise learning while still keeping the lesson focused on the same theme.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Elaine and welcome to the course.

Agreed, DE should be embedded across everyday teaching and learning. and as you’ve mooted using a range of resources and approaches, such as stories, videos and discussion can help pupils explore different perspectives.

I particularly like how you’ve considered accessibility from the outset. Using a Scoilnet learning path (I must admit i wasn’t aware you could customise these so note to self on this) Google Translate, text-to-speech and closed captions levels the playing field and ensure all pupils can engage meaningfully with the learning.

One suggestion I would have is to let pupils create their own digital content or artefact, such as a poster, presentation or short video about a culture or issue they have explored. This can help strengthen pupil voice (And agency) while reinforcing the themes of inclusion and global citizenship.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Monica,

It’s great to see how thoroughly you explored Immersive Reader across Teams and Edge. The sheer range of accessibility features shows how powerful a learning scaffold IR can be and how easily children can personalise their learning experience to suit their needs.

I also like how you’ve linked these tools to the needs of your learners. Features such as text-to-speech and translation can help remove barriers for struggling readers and EAL children, while encouraging greater independence.

Building on your idea of using IR with a reluctant reader, you might also explore getting them (And other children) creating literacy resources like digital stories in OneNote (Once setup on the schools iPads). Combining IR with audio notes for instance provides children with multiple ways to record and consume content they create.

[Pat Brennan]

Hi Rachel,

Starting with children’s experiences in their locality is  a great way to introduce climate change, linking learning to local weather patterns, biodiversity, farming, and flooding helps make a global issue much more relevant and meaningful for them.

I also like the practical actions you’ve identified. The focus on reducing waste, protecting biodiversity, and lowering carbon footprints gives pupils clear examples of how individual and community actions can make a difference.

To further build on the local-action focus, you could get your class to conduct a local biodiversity audit of the school grounds and/or community. Children could record plants, insects, and wildlife and then input the data into a portfolio tool such as OneNote or NotebookLM over time to observe how climate and environmental changes may be affecting local ecosystems.

 

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