Using AI in the Classroom: Students

Assignments and Research Papers

Large Language Model (LLM) programs, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity AI, can be used to help get you started on an assignment or pick a topic for a research paper. 

• To get started, you could ask: Can you show me an example of a persuasive paper outline?
• If you're having trouble picking a topic for an assignment, you could ask: What is a persuasive paper topic related to hunting?

Using an AI Search Engine such as Perplexity AI, you can ask a question or for information, and the program will write a summary and provide a link to the sources it used to create that summary. You can then read those sources yourself to get started researching your topic.

Consensus can help you find scholarly papers and articles.

• Type your prompt, and Consensus will recommend 5-10 papers that match your query. You can then visit the Research Databases provided by the Northwood Tech Library to locate and read those papers/articles.

You can use Grammarly to check your writing while working on an assignment or research paper.

• You can upload your paper, or just copy and paste a paragraph. Grammarly will look through your work and suggest spelling or grammar changes, but it may also suggest ways to re-word your work for better clarity. You can choose to accept these suggestions or not because every suggestion may not be an improvement to your work.

Class Presentation

For the content in your class presentation, you can use the same tools we talked about in the Assignments and Research Papers section above, but when it comes time to prepare for your class presentation of your findings, here are some suggestions on how AI can help.

It can be difficult to find the exact words to convey your message.

• Ask a Large Language Model (LLM) program to "summarize _______" and type in some of the information you wish to present. The program will pare the information down into a smaller paragraph. Repeat this a few times to see how the program re-words the summary. This will give you examples that you can model into your own speech.

When you're looking for visuals to include in your presentation, you can use Generative AI tools such as OpenArt to create unique images for your presentation.

Study Schedule and Organization

Large Language Model AI programs can help you create a schedule to work on assignments or a recurring weekly schedule to set aside needed time for school, family, and work.

• As an example, we asked Gemini "create a 3 week schedule for me to complete my 20 minute class presentation assignment"
  • Gemini gave us a three week schedule, down to the day, with tasks to complete each day to complete the project evenly over the three weeks

Week 1:

• Day 1: Choose your topic and brainstorm some ideas.
• Day 2: Do some preliminary research to get a better understanding of your topic.
• Day 3: Start creating an outline for your presentation.

Tools for Students

There are dozens and dozens of AI programs already out there, and more are being developed every day. Most of these programs require a recurring payment plan to access. The programs listed below are free to use, so you can try them out right now!