Schools and districts are facing an onslaught of AI tools, each offering to solve a problem in K-12 schools. There’s no shortage of solutions. The question is, then, “Which tool will deliver on what educators need?” Enter TeachAid, an innovative AI tool that offers several positives for educators exploring their AI options.
Assessing the TOS and Privacy Policy
Before exploring TeachAid’s features, let’s take a moment to assess it using the TCEA PROTECT rubric. PROTECT analyzes the terms of service and privacy policy. It checks it from a variety of angles. TeachAid’s TOS/Privacy policy appear together in a single online document. The document scores 4-5 out of a possible 14 via Claude.ai and Perplexity.ai. Here’s the breakdown:
| Category | Description | Vendor | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parental Rights and Access | Clearly states parental rights to access and control their child’s data and complies with applicable laws. | TeachAid | 1 | The policy doesn’t explicitly mention parental rights, but it does state that they don’t collect personal information from students, which partially addresses this concern. |
| Retention and Deletion | Specifies data retention periods and allows users to delete their data entirely. | TeachAid | 0 | There’s no mention of data retention periods or allowing users to delete their data. |
| Opt-out Options | Provides clear opt-out choices for data sharing and third-party use. | TeachAid | 0 | The policy doesn’t provide clear opt-out choices for data sharing or third-party use. |
| Transparency | Lists all data collected and how it’s collected; clearly states data ownership. | TeachAid | 2 | The policy clearly lists all data collected from educators and explicitly states they don’t collect personal information from students. |
| Encryption and Security | States how data is protected and encrypted; implements security measures. | TeachAid | 1 | The policy mentions secure connections and firewalls but doesn’t provide detailed information about encryption or specific security measures. |
| Consent and Age Restrictions | Addresses age and consent requirements related to data collection. | TeachAid | 1 | The policy states that only educators can register, implying an age restriction, but doesn’t explicitly address consent requirements. |
| Third-party Management | States all third parties involved and notifies users of changes. | TeachAid | 0 | There’s no mention of third parties or notifying users of changes related to third-party involvement. |
That aside, TeachAid does state the following in their privacy policy:
Only Educators can register for TeachAid; we do not allow any other user types. We do not collect any ‘personal information’ in respect of students nor do we collect any other information to personally identify a student.
Additional information is collected to improve the quality of the TeachAid service and to manage content delivery. This information is reported in an anonymous way and in aggregate to protect the identity of the individual educator.
With this in mind, you will need to review the policy to make sure it aligns your organizations’ privacy goals. Now, let’s change gears and take a closer look at three of TeachAid’s features.
Feature #1: Lesson Plan/Curriculum Unit Generator
“TeachAid has made it easier for me to create a month’s worth of lessons. I get this done in a fraction of the time it once took me. This allows me to focus more on individual students,” says one high school history teacher. One feature it brings to the table? The ability to generate full, lesson plan units.
Some more benefits of using TeachAid include:
- Aligning units to educational standards by state.
- Adding cross-curricular lesson correlations
- Selecting assessment types
- Adding custom instructions for the final assessment
- Including materials and resources
- Setting start and end dates, as well as number of lessons
- Determining the duration or lesson length
- Assigning a theme to lesson plans (e.g. Space, Energy, Oceanograph, Disasters, etc.)
What’s powerful about TeachAid’s interface is that you always know where you are at in the process. Also, you are able to go back and forth in the steps. At the end of the process, you’re able to review all your decisions. This makes the process of unit design with AI easy and stress free.
See the result in this PDF. You can also view this unit via a shareable link or send it to yourself via email. There is also the option to save as markdown text, a Google Doc, or a Microsoft Word document. While the Unit Plan has to be printed to PDF or emailed, the Final Assessment is different. It appears as markdown text (with no copy button available):
Feature #2: Interactive Lesson Generator
One fascinating tool TeachAid brings to the table? An interactive lesson generator that allows you to create interactive presentations, quizzes, and prompts.
The presentations even feature speaker notes and suggestions. Think of it as a teacher’s edition for every lesson. TeachAid makes it easy to add images and videos to your slide deck. But it doesn’t stop there. It also offers the ability to create new instructional resources, such as:
You get customized inquiry-based discussion guides, as well.
Feature #3: Comprehensive Assessment Tools
Creating assessments is straightforward in TeachAid. It offers a variety such as:
- student choice-based assessments
- assignments
- tests
- rubrics
- checklists
With a few clicks, you can get a rubric, like the one shown below:
You can also generate discussion guides along with customizable lesson plans and materials. There is quite a bit possible with TeachAid. It’s clean interface makes it easy to develop Tier 2 and 3 intervention strategies and differentiation.
Conclusion
Use TeachAid to save time, create personalized learning experiences for students, and lessons. Tools like TeachAid go a long way towards easing the burden of teachers.
