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Artificial Intelligence continues to gain popularity in education spaces, sparking conversations about its potential to transform teaching and learning. While for many educators, AI is no longer a novelty, its applications, particularly in the realm of chatbots, continue to evolve. For those designing professional learning experiences, chatbots offer a unique opportunity to enhance engagement, provide timely and relevant support, and personalize learning experiences. But with so many tools and types of chatbots available, it’s important to begin developing professional expertise in AI and model its effective use in our sessions, ensuring we lead by example as we integrate these emerging technologies.
What is a Chatbot?
Before we explore the different types of chatbots, it’s important to define what a chatbot actually is. At its core, a chatbot is a tool that provides conversational, text-based interactions using natural language. These bots are designed to simulate human-like conversations, allowing users to ask questions, receive information, or complete tasks through a chat interface. Whatever AI platform you’re using, the underlying technology focuses on creating seamless, intuitive exchanges.
Note: In this post, I’ll be using "chatbot" and "bot" interchangeably.
Types of Chatbots
At a recent conference, a presenter described chatbots as either “Generalists” or “Specialists,” and I thought that distinction made sense. Here’s my interpretation of the different types of chatbots:
General-Purpose Bots: Platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude fall into this category. They are versatile, leveraging vast amounts of information from across the internet to answer questions, generate content, and provide insights on a wide range of topics.
Task-Specific Bots: These bots follow predefined rules and scripts. Common examples include bots for scheduling appointments, handling initial customer service requests, or guiding users through specific processes.
Hybrid Bots: Siri and Alexa are examples of hybrid bots that combine features of general-purpose and task-specific bots. They can perform tasks such as adding items to your shopping list, composing text messages, or retrieving information from the internet.
While general-purpose, task-specific, and hybrid chatbots offer broad utility, the real magic happens when chatbots are customized for specific needs. These tailored bots can provide targeted support, guidance, and resources that align with unique goals. However, one challenge is the variety of names used across different platforms—whether you see them referred to as GPTs, Bots, Assistants, or Custom Bots, they all serve a similar purpose: to enhance the user experience by addressing particular needs.
Customized Chatbots
Several popular AI educational platforms offer a range of specialized capabilities that can enhance your session or classroom. These tools provide chatbots that are specific to the needs of educators and students, and some of these bots are particularly useful for designing professional learning as well.
Magic School AI: Their customized chatbot, called Raina, is an AI instructional coach. The platform also offers various tools for educators, such as creating presentations, lesson plans, choice boards, images, songs, and much more.
SchoolAI: SchoolAI refers to their customized chatbots as Assistants, offering bots that serve as research assistants, instructional, digital, and curriculum coaches, field trip planners, and more. This platform also allows you to create your own customized chatbots, which they call Spaces.
The customized chatbots for ChatGPT, known as GPTs, are as varied as the options you might find in an “app store.” Even with the free version of ChatGPT, you can access many of these customized bots. I’ve curated a selection of GPTs that may support your professional learning designs. To evaluate each GPT, I used the prompt: “What is the purpose of this GPT? I want to share this with other educators who design professional learning, and I would like to give them a summary of your capabilities.” I then experimented with each GPT to determine if it was worth recommending.
SEL Strategy Search
The CASEL Signature Practice Generator GPT helps find activities that are modeled after the CASEL Signature Practices Playbook. You can choose whether you want an inclusion activity, an engagement strategy, or an optimistic closure, and then refine the activity to meet the needs of your audience.
More Inclusive Sessions
The Inclusive Educator GPT is designed to support the creation of inclusive, flexible, and culturally responsive learning environments. It helps educators adapt their practices to meet the diverse needs of all learners, ensuring that materials and experiences are accessible and engaging for everyone.
Gamification
If you’re looking to incorporate more gamification into your sessions, the Gamify Learning GPT is a great resource. This chatbot assists in transforming traditional lessons into dynamic, game-like environments. It offers ideas for forming teams, creating stations, designing points and leaderboards, and even setting up themed decor.
Make a Playlist!
Need a new playlist to energize your sessions? The PlaylistAI GPT can create custom Spotify or Apple Music playlists tailored to your tastes. I started with a request for "upbeat, classic rock, clean hits from the '70s-'80s." While the initial result was decent, I felt it needed more diversity. So, I refined my prompt to include, "How about adding more female artists? Also, can we have some songs that fit the theme of starting the school year?" The updated list was much more engaging and aligned with my preferences.
One other (free) platform worth exploring is Poe. A notable advantage of Poe is its ability to generate images, a feature not yet available in the free versions of ChatGPT. After signing up for an account, you can start exploring the range of Custom Bots that Poe offers. Here are two bots I’ve experimented with that could be particularly useful for professional learning:
TeachReflect Bot: This bot could serve as a valuable tool for concluding a professional learning experience. Designed to support reflective practice, the TeachReflect Bot provides feedback and coaching, guiding educators through their reflective process. It’s an excellent way for learners to take a moment to process and internalize their learning.
StickerDesignr Bot: If you need to create simple digital stickers, this bot is a handy resource. It generates images in a sticker format, perfect for adding a bit of visual flair to your materials or activities.
While customized chatbots present exciting opportunities to enhance professional learning, it’s essential to balance our enthusiasm with a critical examination of the broader implications of AI. As we integrate these tools into our work, we must also consider the potential challenges and ethical concerns that accompany their use.
A Thoughtful Approach to AI
While I’m still cautiously optimistic about the use of AI, both professionally and personally, I believe it’s important to consider all perspectives. Tom Mullaney, for example, has shared compelling insights on the problems with AI, including biases and environmental impacts. He also discussed the potential pitfalls of chatbots, particularly in educational settings, in his post on the Eliza Effect, which highlights how people can be misled into attributing human-like understanding to AI.
Ethan Mollick, in his book Co-Intelligence, emphasizes the importance of maintaining human oversight in the AI process, identifying "be the human in the loop" as one of his four rules for co-intelligence. He states, “By actively participating in the AI process, you maintain control over the technology and its implications, ensuring that AI-driven solutions align with human values, ethical standards, and social norms.” This perspective serves as a reminder that while AI offers powerful tools for (professional) learning, it’s essential to approach its use thoughtfully and intentionally, ensuring that it enhances rather than detracts from our educational goals.
As AI continues to shape the future of education, I encourage you to explore the customized chatbots mentioned in this post and think critically about how they can be used to enhance your design process and professional learning sessions. At the same time, consider the ethical and equity issues that accompany these emerging technologies. How might you integrate AI tools thoughtfully and responsibly in your work? What steps can you take to ensure that these technologies serve all educators and learners equitably?
In the words of Dan Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein from The AI Classroom: “By being courageous and innovative, educational leaders can help their teachers and students to develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the AI revolution. They will be able to prepare them for a future where AI is not just a tool but an integral part of daily life.”
If you're interested in learning more about AI in education, be sure to check out this recent interview with A.J. Juliani in the Learning Professional journal, where he discusses the implications of AI for educators. A.J. Juliani will also be a keynote speaker at the Learning Forward Annual Conference on December 11, 2024, where he’ll be sharing more insights on this important topic.
References:
Fitzpatrick, D., Fox, A., & Weinstein, B. (2023). The AI Classroom: Teaching and Learning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. TeacherGoals Publishing.
Mollick, E. (2024). Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. Portfolio.
Kathryn Laster brings over 30 years of education expertise as a math teacher, instructional coach, and digital learning consultant. Now, as an independent consultant, Kathryn creates and facilitates transformative learning experiences through intentional, human-centered, tech-infused design. Connect with Kathryn at Refined Learning Design or on Twitter @kklaster.
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