Written by Corey Verkouteren (cvs002@marietta.edu)
From students using Chat-GPT to write their papers to teachers using them to generate assignments, artificial intelligence tends to be seen as a negative tool in education. This has led to an arms race between AI writing and AI-generated assignment detection that harms both students and teachers. A more helpful form of AI use in college, or school in general, is using them to help study or proofread assignments.
Google’s NotebookLM is a great example of this. It transforms the tedious and repetitive reading and rereading of notes to study into an easy to listen to podcast. Simply upload your notes from up to 50 different sources, including pasted text, Google Docs, Google Slides, websites, or YouTube videos. You can choose from having one or two voices, which sound fairly realistic. The tool also allows you to add notes, ask questions, and generate study tools like sample tests. This makes NotebookLM a great all-in-one tool for students that will help make studying more interactive without a bunch of work.
Otter AI is best known for its ability to transcribe audio into summarized notes. For teachers that allow it, this can be used to record lectures to make sure any important information isn’t missed. Students are also able to ask questions about what was in the audio specifically, like if a test or assignment was mentioned. Students can also add other people to the Otter AI chat, allowing them to collaborate with classmates.
Grammarly has been around for a while but has recently joined the AI trend. Their tools focus on writing, with a grammar checker, plagiarism checker, AI detector, among others. These tools help students not accidentally paraphrase too similarly or miss obvious mistakes. And, of course, one can never be too careful making sure your work is original.
Quizlet is one most students have probably heard of by now. Their flashcards are widely used to help study, and recently they’ve been given a bit of AI assistance. Like NotebookLM, Quizlet allows you to make flashcards from notes with AI, as well as study guides and practice tests. They also offer a paid version which allows students to go more in-depth and open up features like expert solutions.
One last AI tool for school is Microsoft Math Solver and anyone in math classes next semester will appreciate it. This tool stands out from the rest because it actually gives students steps to solving a problem, videos on a topic, related concepts, and similar problem solutions from the internet—all for free with no signup required. After some questions are asked, students can even generate a practice quiz based on them, allowing them to prepare for exams while they do their homework.
These are just a few examples of the best AI tools for students that’ll actually get them on teacher’s good side. With finals coming up, AI tools like these can help students review the semester and go into the next one confident. New tools are always being developed now too, so look forward to even more advancement in the educational AI space.
Edited by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
