An AI Framework For Teachers: Introducing The IFC

Keywords: #AItoolsforteachers, #IntroducingTheIFC, #DigitalLearning

AI can be overwhelming…

The weird thing about AI right now is that there appears to be a lot of it going around. Whether that be in the form of AI apps, AI plug-ins, AI programs, AI classroom suites, or the current parental favourite, AI augmented homework submissions. 

As a high school teacher, I will readily admit I am intrigued by AI!

But I know that's not the case for everyone!

One of the things I have noticed over the last few years is that there are numerous workshops aimed at convincing teachers to bring AI tools and programs into their classrooms. However, there doesn't seem to have been a lot in the way of equipping teachers to better separate the signal from all the noise being caused by AI's growing presence in the educational space.

This is where the IFC system comes in... 

I came up with the IFC as a way to help teachers get the most out of the AI tools they choose to use without feeling overwhelmed. To give them something like a bird’s eye perspective which they can use to identify the things they would like to be able to do. To frame the how and what they would like to get out of these AI interactions. And to get in the habit of putting constraints on what the AI is going to be throwing back at them. 

Let's take a closer look at how the IFC works.

Step 1: Identify

First, identify what it is you would like to learn more about, or to identify what you would like to be able to do. Having some idea of what you would like to achieve from the outset is important when interacting with an AI as AI’s have a bad habit of being overly eager to please. Providing walls of text when in instances where a simple sentence or word were what the user was looking for. 

Step 2: Frame

Step two asks teachers to frame how they would like your interaction to go. As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest problems with AI systems is that they want to be over helpful and will fill up your screen with paragraph after paragraph of text. This is why it is so important to frame how you want your interaction with the AI to go and what you want it to look like. 

Think of framing as being equivalent to giving your conversational partner context cues. Things like the how, what, and where you want the conversation to go. 

Step 3: Constrain

The third step to constrain, put limitations on, what you would like the AI platform you are working with to do. Putting constraints on an AI can be as simple as telling it to respond in point form, to provide pictures, or to frame its answers in terms of yes’s and no’s.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself bouncing between the frame and constrain steps several times throughout the process. But above all else, don’t be afraid to frame and constrain the conversation in a way that works for you!

Sound interesting?

Click the link below to find a free .pdf resource and start getting the most out of your interactions with AI today