All About AI: Mizou

One of the promises of AI in Education is custom tutorials for students. I’ve seen a few examples of this, but one that shows promise is a site called Mizou https://mizou.com/ . This site has some ready-made chatbots that users have created and shared (like what you see in Kahoot and Quizlet). There is a filter at the top of the page that allows you to search by grade level and subject. Some are great and some not so much, so you should test them out before assigning them to students. Once you find one you like, you can send it out to students and they can engage with it. Some are more exploratory- they can learn about a subject by chatting with the bot. Others are more like tutorials- questions are posed that they need to answer but the exchange is more conversational and the questions adjust according to the user responses. There are reading level adjustments and audio supports (it has a microphone for speech to text and the responses have a “play” option so they can be read to you). It even grades and records their exchange.

The best part is that you can create your own chatbot based on a topic of your choice and your own resources. This would be a good way to address PLC questions 3 and 4.

This tool is student friendly, doesn’t require them to login, and has good privacy policies. The free version allows 50 student sessions a day, so if you are a secondary teacher, you might want to stagger student use of it so you don’t hit the limit.

Check out these videos to find out more:

Short video intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5KsylUN8AM

Creating your own chatbot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dKo86NxZWY

Longer video if you want to do a deeper dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrhq_xe_HJ4&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.controlaltachieve.com%2F&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ

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October 21

21st Century Kids: Media Literacy Lesson Resources

I think we can all agree that it is an important topic to explore with our students, especially since we no longer have Library/Media Specialists who teach these lessons to our students.

PBS Shared an article that explores the importance of teaching Media Literacy. It is an informative read with lots of great resources, but here are a couple of highlights:

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. It is a broadened definition of literacy that includes media beyond text and promotes curiosity about the media we consume and create.

So, why teach digital and media literacy in an already jammed-packed content-filled curriculum with limited time? Well, for starters, media literacy is literacy. Media literacy doesn’t need to be “another thing” to teach. Instead, I see it as another way to teach. It’s not another thing to teach, but a redefinition of something we all know and are most likely already addressing in the classroom. We simply need to be more intentional in doing so.

“We are in a freaking revolution. We bank differently. We date differently. We shop differently. We choose a Chinese restaurant differently. We do our research differently. We figure out what plumber to come to our house differently. But school is stuck in the past. What we need to do is… think hard about what the school curriculum really needs to look like in an age when we come to know the world through a screen.” Research Sam Wineburg.

PBS Media has lessons that are a quick and an easy way to incorporate Media Literacy into your instruction (they would even work for sub plans). These are standards based lessons and have quick videos and teacher support materials like handouts (Click on the lesson and look at the right side of the page.) Scroll down for screenshots and links to their lessons.

Common Sense Media has a great collection of News and Media Literacy lessons also: https://www.commonsense.org/education/collections/essential-news-media-literacy-skills-for-students

PBS Media Lessons:

Fact Checking Fundamentals: 3 lessons for grades 6-12

Evaluating Sources

Recognizing Fake News

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