Teachers spend up to 29 hours a week doing nonteaching tasks: writing emails, grading, finding classroom resources, and carrying out other administrative work. They also have high stress levels and are at risk for burnout.
Can artificial intelligence help ease both those problems?
Advocates say AI can be a real timesaver for teachers, completing tasks in seconds that would have taken a person hours. While educators caution that AI will never replace a teacher’s professional expertise, many argue that it can take the more mundane, rote job duties off teachers’ plates—reshaping a notoriously high-stress job.
Already, 9 in 10 educators say artificial intelligence has changed the job of teaching at least a little, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders, conducted in December. Forty-two percent said AI has changed the profession “a fair amount” or “a lot.”
And the job will change as AI gets more advanced and teachers become more comfortable with its use, educators predict: About three-quarters said AI will change the profession “a fair amount” or “a lot” over the next five years.
Part of that perceived change likely stems from the way students may be using AI to complete assignments. But another way AI is changing the profession involves the day-to-day work.
The EdWeek Research Center asked 990 educators (mostly teachers) to share an example of how they use AI in their classroom or daily work. Although many respondents said they aren’t using AI in the classroom at all, other responses show that teachers are leaning on AI tools to make their jobs easier, including by creating such classroom materials as quizzes and assignments, drafting emails to parents and administrators, helping individualize instruction, and refining and enhancing lessons.
Following are 40 responses from teachers:
Teachers use AI to help them write emails to parents and administrators
—Middle school social studies | Indiana
—Elementary school | Utah
—Middle school English/language arts | North Carolina
—Elementary instructional technology | Maryland
—High school science | Michigan
How teachers use the technology to create quizzes and other classroom resources
—Middle school science | New York
—High school science | Missouri
—High school math/computer science/data science | New Jersey
—High school English/language arts | Georgia
—High school English/language arts | Arkansas
—Middle school English/language arts | New York
—High school science | Kansas
—Elementary school | Utah
AI-driven strategies teachers are using to differentiate instruction
—Middle school science | Pennsylvania
—High school social studies | Oregon
—Middle school special education | Pennsylvania
—High school mythology | Louisiana
—High school world/foreign languages | Colorado
—High school English/language arts | Washington state
What teachers are doing with AI to align lesson plans with standards
—High school English/language arts | Montana
—High school social studies | Oklahoma
—Middle school social studies | Nevada
—Middle school science | Utah
—High school English/language arts | Texas
—High school science | Michigan
Teachers use AI to give students feedback on writing, create exemplar essays
—Elementary school| Utah
—Middle school fine arts-related subject | California
—High school English/language arts | Tennessee
—High school English/language arts | South Carolina
—High school English/language arts | Nebraska
Teachers are showing students how to identify original work vs. AI-generated content
—High school English/language arts | Wisconsin
—High school science | Connecticut
—High school science | Colorado
—High school fine arts-related subject | Minnesota
—High school science | Washington state
AI is also being used to generate ideas and summarize meeting notes
—Middle school physical education | Texas
—High school physical education/health | Washington state
—Middle school science | Idaho
—High school special education | Ohio
—High school math/computer science/data science | Wyoming
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Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center’s work.