#431 – TeacherServer

#431 — TeacherServer

AVID Open Access
9 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Paul Beckermann 0:01 Welcome to Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m your host, Paul Beckermann.

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 0:05 Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 0:16 The topic of today’s episode is Teacher Server. A theme that seems universally true for K-12 teachers these days is that they lack sufficient amounts of time to get all their work done. The day is just too busy.

This is one of the reasons that generative AI chatbots have caught the attention of teachers. It offers an opportunity to create added efficiencies and save time. And who doesn’t want more time? Not only can saving time make the use of our time at school more productive, but it can give us more time to work face-to-face with students, while also giving us back some of our evenings. If AI chatbots can help do this, it’s a win-win situation. That’s where today’s topic enters the scene: an AI-powered website called Teacher Server.

Transition Music 1:03 Here’s the, here’s the, here’s the tool for today.

Paul Beckermann 1:07 So what is Teacher Server? Teacher Server is a collection of over 1,000 AI-powered tools created for teachers. It feels a little bit like School AI or Magic School AI, with more of a focus on the teacher-facing tools rather than experiences designed for students.

While you could probably get the same results using one of the main generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, this site helps guide the process. You choose a tool, and then Teacher Server will ask you to fill in a few key form fields that help guide you toward more targeted and effective results. It’s like the middle person in the process between you and the open-ended chatbot. If you know what you need and feel comfortable crafting your own prompt from scratch, tools like ChatGPT will serve you just fine. If you want a little extra guidance or some extra help getting ideas for what you might ask, Teacher Server can be helpful for you.

Paul Beckermann 1:59 It’s run by the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and is completely free, so there are no ads or subscriptions involved. All it requires is that you set up a free account, which you can access at teacherserver.com.

All right, so how does this work? To get a better idea of what tools it offers and what functionality it has, I’ll walk you through a basic experience. The first step is to navigate to the website, teacherserver.com, and set up that free account. You can log in with Google, Microsoft, or enter your email and put in a custom password.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll arrive at a dashboard. This is a large customizable section in the middle where you can organize your favorite tools from the platform. It also features a list of main tools. On the left side navigation bar, that’s where you can find the hundreds of AI chatbot tools organized by audience and tool type.

Paul Beckermann 3:20 At the top of the list, you’ll see a welcome page that provides a list of the top tools used by visitors at the site. Since the vast number of tools available can be overwhelming, this can be a good place to start. You might want to check out the most popular tools first to see if it’s a site that will possibly meet your needs.

The welcome page also offers a list of site benefits. They list that Teacher Server offers unmatched speed because they own their own server. They claim to offer full privacy and security, including compliance with US Department of Ed privacy and safety guidelines. And again, it’s a completely free web experience with no ads or fees.

Underneath the welcome link on the left, you’ll find a search tool page here. You can enter in keywords to look for a specific tool, or you can browse an extended list of the most used and most favorited apps. Again, this can help to narrow the scope when you’re first getting started.

Paul Beckermann 4:48 Next on the left navigation panel is a section for Pre-K teachers broken down into subtopics like general education, science, social studies, math, reading and writing, art, PE and music, special ed, leadership, and even sections for parents and career.

When you click into one of these, you’ll find a list of tools related to that topic, and these are further broken down into helpful subtopics. For instance, when I clicked on science, the content was broken down into general science at the top, and then below that, there were sections for biology, chemistry, Earth-space science, physics, and other science-specific areas of study. This helps to save teachers time and get them directly to custom chatbots that will be relevant to their work and curricular area. When you find a tool that looks helpful, you click into it. For instance, there’s a science lesson plan generator.

Paul Beckermann 5:51 When I clicked that option, it prompted me to choose a grade level, enter a topic, standard, or objective, as well as any specific instructions that I wanted the chatbot to consider when generating the lesson idea. There’s even an auto-fill button that pre-loads each field with an example to help guide you. So if you’re not sure where to start, click that and it’ll give you a nice example to maybe prompt your thinking.

Then click “Generate response” to get an AI-generated lesson plan. At the bottom of that plan, you’ll always find an open-ended chatbot field where you can ask for refinements or further information that was not included. This can lead to an efficient back-and-forth conversation about the generated materials.

There are far too many tool options to list in this episode. But here are a few examples to give you an idea of what else you might find on the site: Worksheet generator, text proofreader, math word problem generator, IEP goal generator, critical thinking…

Paul Beckermann 6:52 …exercise generator, group work idea generator, quiz maker, rubric generator, vocabulary-based reading generator, and over 1,100 more.

If you move further down the left navigation menu, you’ll find a similar section of ideas for college faculty. Below that are some interactive tools. These let you link or upload a PDF, YouTube video, web URL, or content standard. Then, based on that specific resource, you can ask the chatbot questions or generate content from that material.

For instance, under the “chat with PDF” feature, you can choose to get a summary, a quiz, a PowerPoint outline, discussion questions, or a vocabulary list, things like that. Again, you could accomplish these tasks with any AI chatbot, but Teacher Server’s value lies in guiding you through the process and giving you ideas of what you might want to ask.

Transition Music 6:24 How do I use that? Integration, inspiration, integration, ideas.

Paul Beckermann 6:30 Personally, I think the most powerful use of the site is that it serves as a thought partner, an idea generator. By providing pre-loaded prompts, it can jump-start your thinking and get you past that writer’s block stage of the planning process.

And planning is probably the area this tool thrives in the most. It gives you great starter ideas, while it does outline lessons and activities more fully, it’s better at providing structure and ideas than the actual class materials, although it will generate some of those as well.

I also really like the interactive “chat with” tools that allow you to inquire about specific documents, videos, or websites. This can be a great way to get general summaries of longer resource material that can really save you time. If it looks promising, then you can dig in deeper, but this gives you that first overview.

Now, yes, you can do this with other tools as well, like Google’s Notebook LM, but if you want one available in the same place that you’re also generating lessons, rubrics, and class activities with AI, this one is right there for you.

Of course, the best way to determine if Teacher Server will benefit you is to visit the site yourself. Again, you can find it at teacherserver.com. Set up your free account, start browsing, and add a few to your Favorites menu to begin exploring. And there’s a share feature so that you can share specific tools you like with your colleagues.

To learn more about today’s topic, explore other free resources. Visit avidopenaccess.org. Specifically, I encourage you to check out the article collection, “AI in the K-12 Classroom,” and of course, be sure to join Rena, Winston, and me every Wednesday for our full-length podcast, Unpacking Education, where we’re joined by exceptional guests and explore education topics that are important to you. Thanks for listening. Take care, and thanks for all you do. You make a difference.