By Jarrod Johnson, Learning Designer: AI and Digital Practice
From creating more engaging and interactive lessons to personalising learning experiences, AI is transforming education in exciting ways. As parents, understanding these innovations can help you support your children and their teachers as they navigate the complexities of AI in education. Supporting your child’s learning journey means staying informed and engaged with how AI is being used in their classrooms. Let’s cover some aspects of what may be happening in today’s learning environment.
Smart prompts for smarter teaching
Teachers use prompts to carefully guide how AI interacts with students — not only to support learning, but to ensure that the AI behaves appropriately and ethically. By thinking through the purpose and boundaries of each task, teachers can design AI prompts that are helpful, supportive, and aligned to learning goals.
Here’s the four-part structure many teachers use:
- Persona – Teachers describe how they want the AI to behave and the purpose of the interaction. Example: “You are going to act as a supportive Year 9 Humanities tutor who helps students practise their thinking. The student is researching ancient civilisations and needs guidance exploring Egypt’s economic structure.”
- Task – Teachers explain what the AI is meant to do and how it should engage with the student. This includes instructions to both the student and the AI. Example: “Ask the student a short comprehension question about their topic. Wait for their answer, then check their understanding and provide feedback. If appropriate, follow up with a related question.”
- Output – Teachers guide the format and tone of the AI’s response to ensure learning isn’t bypassed. Example: “Keep responses to one or two sentences. Avoid giving full answers — provide hints, checks for understanding, or gentle feedback to help the student think further.”
- Restrictions – Teachers clearly state what the AI should not do to maintain student ownership. Example: “Do not write complete answers or paragraphs for the student. When the student says “Thank you for your help”, provide a brief summary of what was covered, and what the student can work on next.”
This approach allows teachers to shape AI as a flexible classroom assistant — one that supports student learning without taking over the work. It also helps ensure students can explain and justify their use of AI, keeping the focus on learning and growth.
Once teachers have set clear expectations for how AI should behave, they can begin to use it in a range of creative and supportive ways. From generating engaging learning experiences to tailoring content for individual students, AI becomes a collaborative partner in the classroom. Below are some of the ways teachers are already using AI to enhance learning and support their students’ growth.
Engaging with AI in the classroom
Teachers are leveraging AI to make classroom learning more interactive and personalised. Instead of just searching for information, students can have dynamic conversations with AI, deepening their understanding through questions, anecdotes, and simplified explanations. One example may have students engage in a conversation with William Shakespeare to discuss the themes and characters from one of his plays. Another approach may be to have a dialogue about the impact that sea otters have in maintaining the kelp forests and ultimately the marine ecosystem. This conversational approach allows students to grasp concepts quickly and then build on them at their own level. AI can also help scaffold assignments, generate creative examples for discussion, and assist students in exploring new ideas before they dive into their own work. An English teacher may ask the students to generate some poetry and then discuss with the class the structure of the generated texts before the students create their own works of linguistic art. This makes learning more engaging and adaptable to each student’s needs.
- Interactive AI conversations for deeper understanding
- Simplified explanations and analogies
- Scaffolded assignments and creative examples
- Increased engagement and personalised learning
Personalised and differentiated learning
AI empowers teachers to tailor assignments and learning materials to each student’s level and interests. For example, a mathematics question can be adapted to a student’s favourite topic. Giving students the ability to choose the theme of their problem helps to make the work more engaging and relatable and aligns with their interests. One student may want mathematical questions on how many mice it would take to eat a block of cheese, while another thrives on worded problems about racing cars. Teachers can also generate multiple versions of assignments to meet different learning needs, ensuring that each student can work at an appropriate pace and level. This personalised approach helps keep students motivated and supported in their learning journey.
- Custom assignments tailored to student levels and interests
- Quick generation of varied practice problems
- Adaptive learning experiences to meet individual needs
Tutoring and support
AI can act as a personalised tutor, allowing students to choose topics they want to review and generating practice questions at varying difficulty levels. A teacher can create a Year 12 Biology revision bot to work with each student and generate questions as well as check the answers immediately. This is a great way to prepare the students for their final exams. These AI-powered sessions can guide students with directed questioning rather than just giving answers, encouraging deeper understanding. At the end of a session, the AI can provide a summary of what was covered and suggest areas for further revision. This flexible and responsive support helps students reinforce their learning at their own pace.
- Personalised tutor bots for targeted practice
- Guiding questions to deepen understanding
- Session summaries and revision tips
Quick feedback
AI provides students with immediate, constructive feedback on their work, helping them identify areas for improvement in grammar, structure, and content without doing the work for them. Some students will use this to review their research and collate their thoughts, or proofread a draft to check that they have covered what is required for the task. This ensures that students remain the authors of their own work while learning how to refine their skills. Teachers and students can collaborate with AI to track changes and improvements, ensuring that feedback is constructive, polite, and encourages growth without compromising the student’s ownership of their work.
- Immediate, constructive feedback on student work
- Encourages refinement while maintaining student ownership
- Ensures students remain the authors of their progress
AI is a powerful tool that supports teachers in creating a richer, more personalised learning experience for students. It enhances the classroom environment while ensuring that teachers remain at the heart of education, guiding and nurturing their students. Teachers collaborating with AI enhance education without replacing their crucial role, ensuring that students remain actively engaged in their learning journey. By working alongside teachers, parents can help ensure that AI is used ethically and effectively to support student learning. Staying engaged with how AI is being used in the classroom allows families to reinforce healthy habits at home and encourages students to take ownership of their learning. Together, teachers and parents can build a strong foundation for confident, responsible AI use.
Jarrod Johnson is a teacher and learning designer at Pulteney Grammar School, specialising in AI and Digital Pedagogy and has presented nationally and internationally on how AI can be used appropriately to enhance student learning.
