Smart ways students use AI as it evolves and changes daily.

A student asks a far advanced Microsoft.Future Copilot for “a summary that’s a little more understandable and readable”. The original text they were given was confusing — a complex paragraph about a tax issue — as they study for a business degree.

That is now the acceptable norm for AI in an academic setting, the student no longer needing to read a difficult paragraph five times and still not understand until the concept is explained in a different way.

Generative AI is opening up all sorts of new avenues for learning, from personalized tutoring to study guides. But as with any technology, it is helpful to know its strengths and limitations before diving in.

Students, parents and educators have now embraced the new tools for AI responsibly at every level, to enhance learning and avoid potential pitfalls.  

Use it, is encouraged. And once you’re done using it, use it again. Use it as early as possible, and learn to become a good prompt writer. Using AI is a basic life skill now, and if you’re not using it, you’ll be at a competitive disadvantage. 

Elementary school‑aged students can benefit from AI‑powered programs to help learn the fundamentals such as reading and math, they help the focus on building foundational skills.

A 12-year-old seventh-grader can utilize AI Reading Coach after school to help practice reading and speaking — and get higher grades as a result.

A 10-year-old fifth-grader can learn about AI in Minecraft Education to get more comfortable with the new technology and the ways it can help learning in the future.

What AI can help students do

Tools like Reading Coach — part of Learning Accelerators — can help kids boost their confidence by practicing skills with a less intimidating audience. Beneficial training before reading out loud in front of the whole class, they may become more comfortable presenting to others and are more willing to take the risk of sharing ideas. Now they can test the waters first with secure AI coaches built for learning.

Reading Coach can show when students are speaking too fast and say some words incorrectly, and assist in adjusting the problem.

There’s value in learning how to learn and how to constantly grow with these new tools.

Some students were first introduced to the concept of AI through Minecraft Education’s Hour of Code, and now can spout off an explanation at the drop of a hat: “AI is basically a human-made technology that helps people with real-world problems,” one teen said.

“I will probably use it as a fifth-grader to help me with research, studying and understanding the steps to math equations,” another says. “Especially going back to school now, I’m going to need a refresher on long division.”

Tips for using AI in learning

Kids need to learn the fundamentals first and focus on ways to build their skills with AI tools. “You shouldn’t be using AI to figure out how to do the beginning of something. Like, if you’re learning what 2+2 is, and AI tells you the answer is 4 but you don’t know why, then later there could be a test on what is 298+375 and you wouldn’t know how to calculate it. It’s better to use it for something that will help you forever, like how to improve your writing skills and do research for new ideas.” A wise student reported.

The personalized guidance in Reading Coach helps keep students engaged — “almost like getting a personal tutor with one-on-one instruction,” Pat, a student, says. They urge fellow students not to share personal information, such as an age or address online, and says younger kids generally should use AI alongside an adult. A recent 4H study backs that up, showing that 72% of the kids surveyed are seeking support from adults in learning how to use these new tools correctly and with confidence.

Minecraft Education has given Ava a way “to explore things in a safe context,” says Ava’s mom. “And she’s learning about the principles of creating with AI and thinking about inclusivity, privacy and security.”

More involvement - More validation of sources

As kids get more involved with technology and start using AI, tools such as Search Coach can help by teaching information literacy and how to validate sources. Those are foundational skills students need now, says a 16-year-old high school student.

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Further AI can help for students

Search Coach can help to narrow down prompts to be more specific, allowing for more relevant and trustworthy answers from AI. That, in turn, can teach how to be more concise and precise with the essay and writings for English classes. “I’m a bit of a rambler,” says one student, “so this is helping me get more clear with what I’m saying and get to the point.”

AI tools can help generate ideas and assist with research. It helps kickstart the process and guide you into not looking at the wrong things.

Using AI to brainstorm can help the students work smarter, not harder, says a teacher of remote classes for kids spread out all over the world. Tutor Kingdon uses Copilot in class to show students various prompts and responses and help them ascertain “what’s good and what’s not. They can see what her prompts are and the answers that come out, and that prepares them for the future.

The skill of learning how to use AI effectively is helpful throughout a student’s education, such as realizing that if you only ask for information about “President Roosevelt” for the U.S. history class, you could get back an answer about Theodore when you meant Franklin.

AI is basically a human-made technology that helps people with real-world problems.

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Search Coach also instructs students in how to evaluate sources, Isabelle says, to get more reliable and less biased information. “We learned the difference between .com and .org and other different domains,” she says. “It’s good to see your searching habits and where you can improve and maybe branch out to different websites or domains, or change what words you use to get different answers. It helps to see your patterns.

That helps to refine what you are looking for and to get better results.

Tips for using AI in learning

Use AI as an aid to help learn subjects, but not to produce final coursework, the student and teacher both say. “You need to utilize it in a way that helps you build the skills, not just to get the work done.

AI tools won’t be available in every setting, such as exams, so it’s important to know how to do assignments yourself. Don’t rely on it as a crutch.

It’s all about the process for students. It’s no longer the final result that’s important, but giving them the tools to do it all.

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Older students can benefit from AI’s help with the more intense course loads — as well as with life skills such as meal planning.

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College and university students will find that AI can help them both in and out of the classroom, as they’re hit with intense course loads as well as the complexity of stepping out of the childhood nest into adulthood, says Evans, a 21-year-old student from Florida who’s moving to Pennsylvania to start on a master’s degree in business analytics.

What AI can help students do

In addition to reframing complicated concepts to help better grasp them, Evans uses AI to help create study guides or practice tests, to brainstorm essay ideas and the best structures for presentations, and to research topics.

Students now need to synthesize massive amounts of data in short periods of time. Using Copilot for Microsoft 365 — with permission from everyone participating — to record, transcribe and summarize classes and meetings can be a huge help with that. It’s also worth asking Copilot to condense reports that might be hundreds of pages long into the key points, to see if the information is relevant to a study topic and worth spending the time to fully read.

AI tools can help students learn the language of unfamiliar subjects and industries, such as helping Evans talk about warehouses, shipping and logistics for a business class. And that, along with knowing how to use new technology in general, could be valuable in landing an internship or that first job.

For school projects that require creativity, Copilot can be 'a pull-start lawnmower' to get you going.

Using AI is a basic life skill now, and if you’re not using it, you’ll be at a competitive disadvantage. Knowing how far you may go to best utilize its services is a thin line which requires a delicate navigation of your dependency on the input versus the outcome. Maintain your individuality if your work is to be judged as your finished product and not lacking in its depth and humanity.

AI is helpful outside the classroom, too — especially for university students living away from their parents and “trying to figure out the logistics of life,”.

“One of the biggest things you hear everywhere is, ‘never stop learning; always be learning something new. There’s value in learning how to learn and how to constantly grow with these new tools, because we’re on the precipice and seeing this major change with technology.”

Tips for using AI in learning

Don’t use AI to write your schoolwork, tutors advise. Even though AI can write, it won’t have your voice or style, and those are important to put out in the world. “We view AI as a co-creator or referential tool, don’t cheat yourself out of the learning journey.”

Learn how to do something yourself before getting AI to help with it, to make sure you can assess if the final product is accurate and good.

Trust but verify. Use tools such as Copilot that provide sources and citations along with their answers to help with veracity checks. “At the end of the day, I’m the one who needs to make sure the information in my presentation is right,” you must tell yourself. “And I need to learn these lessons before I get to the corporate world.” (Note to self).

Learn how to talk with other students about AI as well. Some will be more comfortable than others using it for help with group projects.

Most importantly: how students use AI in the classroom, or how adults use it in life and careers, will probably continue to evolve as quickly as technology itself. Next semester your answers could change, because we’re still learning it, and learning how to use it, and AI is changing with us.

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Excerpts from article by Susanna Ray - Category:AI

Pics by Microsoft AI.