Quick Overview: This tutorial demonstrates how to use Colleague AI’s Find Lessons feature to access, modify, and enhance existing educational materials from various open educational resources (OER). The presenter shows how educators can use AI-assisted tools to customize lessons while maintaining their professional judgment and teaching expertise.

Key Detailed Points:

• Accessing and Finding Lessons: The platform provides access to various lesson resources, including Colleague AI’s built-in lessons, Creative Commons materials, and well-known OER sources like Illustrative Mathematics and OpenSciEd. Users can easily search by keywords or apply filters to find relevant lessons, then create editable copies for customization. The presenter emphasizes that these resources serve as starting points for teachers to modify according to their teaching style and students’ needs.

• AI-Enhanced Editing Features: The platform offers multiple editing functionalities, including traditional text editing similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs, and AI-powered enhancement tools. A key feature demonstrated is the “screenshot” function, which allows teachers to select specific portions of the lesson for AI-assisted improvements, such as elevating the depth of knowledge (DOK) levels of tasks or expanding content. The system also includes built-in rubrics aligned with educational standards for different subject areas.

• Professional Expertise Integration: The fundamental message emphasized throughout the tutorial is that AI serves as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for teacher expertise. Teachers maintain control over the editing process, using their professional training and experience to guide AI suggestions and implementations. The platform is designed to enhance rather than override teachers’ professional judgment, allowing them to implement their ideas more efficiently while maintaining the quality and appropriateness of educational content.

Quick Overview: In this educational training video, experts from the University of Washington and an experienced middle school math teacher demonstrate how Colleague AI can revolutionize inclusive teaching practices. They walk viewers through practical applications of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and differentiation strategies, showing how AI technology can help teachers create more accessible and engaging learning experiences for students of all abilities.

Key Detailed Points:

• Comprehensive Framework for Inclusive Teaching: The presenters break down three interconnected approaches – Universal Design for Learning (UDL), differentiation, and inclusive practices. They explain how UDL proactively removes learning barriers through thoughtful design, while differentiation allows teachers to adjust instruction based on individual student needs. The presenters share real classroom examples of how these approaches work together to create an environment where all students can succeed.

• Six Essential Teaching Strategies: The video delves into six crucial strategies that form the foundation of inclusive teaching: scaffolding for gradual skill development, providing student choice and agency, creating multiple learning pathways, ensuring content relevance, implementing language supports, and integrating social-emotional support. For each strategy, the presenters demonstrate how Colleague AI can help teachers implement these approaches more effectively in their daily teaching practice.

• Practical AI Implementation: The training provides step-by-step guidance on using Colleague AI to generate inclusive teaching materials. The presenters emphasize that AI-generated content serves as a starting point for teachers to customize based on their classroom needs. They show how to use the platform to create differentiated lesson plans, develop inclusive rubrics, and design varied learning activities that accommodate different learning styles and abilities.

AI Nudging: Designing Classroom Group Work

Quick Overview: This tutorial explores Colleague AI’s brainstorming features, demonstrating how educators can generate creative ideas for lessons, activities, and educational content. The presenter showcases how the platform serves as a collaborative thinking partner, helping teachers expand their instructional approaches while maintaining their professional expertise and creativity.

Key Detailed Points:

• Versatile Brainstorming Capabilities: The platform offers multiple approaches to idea generation, allowing teachers to start with broad concepts and refine them into specific educational activities. Teachers can input initial ideas or challenges and receive varied suggestions for implementation strategies, learning activities, and assessment methods. The system’s strength lies in its ability to generate diverse perspectives and approaches, helping teachers think beyond their usual instructional patterns. The presenter demonstrates how the platform can suggest everything from quick engagement activities to complex project-based learning scenarios, all while maintaining alignment with educational objectives.

• Interactive Refinement Process: The video highlights the platform’s interactive nature, showing how teachers can engage in a back-and-forth dialogue with the AI to refine and enhance initial ideas. Users can request modifications, ask for more specific examples, or seek alternatives that better match their students’ needs and interests. A particularly valuable feature is the ability to specify parameters such as time constraints, resource availability, or student skill levels, allowing the system to generate more targeted and practical suggestions. The presenter emphasizes how this iterative process helps teachers develop more nuanced and effective instructional approaches.

• Integration with Educational Best Practices: The brainstorming tool incorporates research-based teaching strategies and current educational trends while remaining grounded in practical classroom application. Teachers can generate ideas that incorporate specific pedagogical approaches, such as inquiry-based learning, differentiation strategies, or cross-curricular connections. The platform helps educators think through various aspects of lesson design, from engagement strategies to assessment options, while maintaining focus on student learning outcomes. The presenter demonstrates how teachers can use the tool to develop creative solutions for common classroom challenges while ensuring alignment with educational standards and objectives.

Scaffold English Language Learners Using GLAD Framework

​Quick Overview: This tutorial demonstrates Colleague AI’s activity creation feature, showing educators how to generate, modify, and enhance engaging learning activities for their students. The presenter walks through the process of using AI assistance to develop various types of educational activities while maintaining pedagogical effectiveness and alignment with learning objectives.

Key Detailed Points:

• Comprehensive Activity Generation Process: The platform provides a sophisticated approach to creating learning activities, starting with basic parameters such as subject area, grade level, and learning objectives. Teachers can specify additional factors like activity duration, student skill levels, and available resources. What makes this feature particularly valuable is its ability to generate diverse activity types – from quick warm-ups to extended project-based learning experiences. The presenter shows how teachers can request specific types of activities, such as group work, individual assignments, or interactive discussions, while ensuring alignment with curriculum standards and learning goals.

• Customization and Enhancement Features: The video showcases the platform’s robust editing capabilities that allow teachers to refine generated activities. Teachers can modify instructions, adjust difficulty levels, and add differentiation strategies to better serve diverse learners. A notable feature is the ability to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles directly into activity design. The system allows teachers to enhance activities with specific supports for English language learners, students with special needs, or advanced learners. The presenter emphasizes how teachers can maintain high engagement while ensuring activities are appropriate and accessible for all students.

• Practical Implementation Support: The tutorial highlights how the activity creation tool provides comprehensive support for classroom implementation. Each generated activity includes clear objectives, step-by-step instructions, required materials, and suggested modifications. Teachers can also access tips for classroom management, assessment strategies, and potential extensions or modifications. The platform helps teachers anticipate potential challenges and provides solutions, making it easier to implement activities successfully. The presenter demonstrates how teachers can use the tool to create activities that not only meet academic standards but also promote student engagement, critical thinking, and active learning.

Plan a Professional Learning Event Using Brainstorm Ideas

​This video demonstrates how Colleague AI assists educators in developing student discourse and group activities, enhancing classroom engagement and collaborative learning.

​This video illustrates how to use Colleague AI to design a think-pair-share activity to launch a math lesson.