AI for Teaching Innovation
An Educator-Led Approach
to building EdTech
We help educators build the learning experiences they wish existed for their students.
We do this by partnering with educators to help them design their own education apps built specifically for their classroom, their needs.
Voices from the Past
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Using the entire writing corpus of renowned historians to create virtual personas allowing students to engage in dynamic conversation with historians of the past.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony from Valentina about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
Try This
Designed by:
Jane Alexander, Jane McKie, Creative Writing
About the app:
Offering students unexpected ways of developing their creative work by prompting them to challenge their default habits as writers.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony from James and Jane about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
The Virtual Ward
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Using AI to generate realistic case scenarios that stimulate clinical decision-making by students, then provide appropriate, evidence-based feedback.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
Sura SuWriter
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Developing a fun, AI-powered storytelling app that enhances learners’ writing skills in Japanese, tailored to different proficiency levels.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
Entrepreneurial Personas
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Developing investor personas for students to simulate and explore investor perspectives, including contexts, values and concerns.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
Consult-Ed
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Developing AI chatbots for students to gain a realistic idea of patient context, and to help training for holistic assessment, diagnosis and case management.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
ClientConnectEd
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
AI to enhance the training of law students in professional skills and responsibility, particularly in the interviewing techniques required in legal practice.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
CaseConnect AI
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Generative AI for creating interactive, customisable environments in which staff can design discipline-specific scenarios tailored to their courses.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
EnviroForum
Designed by:
Marc Di Tommasi, History
About the app:
Simulating interviews with stakeholders in environmental projects, eg land managers, government advisors, protection officers and engineers working on critical issues.
Learning Objectives:
[Insert 2-3x learning objectives]
Results:
Testimony from Valentina about results of this experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What would be better next time?
Learn more about using LLMs to simulate real-world conversations
“As an educator of 25+ years I’m so excited about AI4TI! Finally someone with the technical skills to build me the AI powered resources I need.”
– Mrs Sharma, Kent English Lit. Department
Our Approach
We help teachers design the learning activities they wish they had.
The ideas and the expertise come from the teacher. We provide the tech support to bring those ideas to life.
The app is the most visible result, but not the only one — everything we learn about how teachers design with AI gets shared publicly, so the whole field can benefit.
Our Principles
1. Learning in the Open
We share our process as it unfolds, mistakes and all.
2. Transparent About Approach and Learnings
Our methods and results are open for scrutiny, always.
3. Intentional Making
We build deliberately, not by default.
4. By us and for us
We build from within the communities we serve.
About AI4TI
This project is developing a ‘ground up’ model for AI in education based on direct teaching need, as an alternative to enterprise-level, ‘top down’ AI services. It puts capacity in the hands of academic teams to create AI apps for their discipline and their courses.
It asks: How might generative AI help us develop new and interesting ways to teach differently?
The project aims to develop our capacity as an institution to think widely and creatively about human/machine partnerships in education, while supporting staff skills development and capacity for working with AI in their teaching and assessment. It’s a partnership between the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and the Moray House School of Education and Sport.
The project is led by Prof Sian Bayne (Assistant Principal Education Futures) and Javier Tejera (Senior Learning Design and Technology Advisor in EFI).
The project is working with eighteen groups across many disciplines in order to create and research custom apps for use in live teaching contexts.
Meet the Team
Professor Sian Bayne
Assistant Principal Education Futures
Academic lead
Javier Tejera
Senior Learning Technology & Design Advisor
Technical product lead
Anna Kapron-King
PhD in Natural Language Processing
Software Development
Kokulan Thangasuthan
PhD in Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Software development
Yvonne Ding
PhD in Healthcare Systems Engineering
Software development