Using AI in teaching: practical ideas for teachers and contest entries

What can AI in education do for teachers?

Today's artificial intelligence (AI), especially chat and content-generation tools, can read requests in Vietnamese and produce text, questions, images and voice-overs in seconds. For teachers, the biggest value is cutting repetitive preparation so there is more time for students.

AI does not replace teachers. It is like a hard-working assistant that is sometimes wrong: it drafts quickly, while final decisions on content, method and assessment remain with the teacher.

Using AI in teaching: the most practical tasks

• Lesson planning and materials

  Suggest lesson outlines, opening scenarios, examples close to students' lives and worksheets matched to learning outcomes.

• Differentiated exercises

  From one base exercise, create easy, medium and hard levels; adapt texts for students who need support or more challenge.

• Questions and review games

  Generate multiple-choice, true/false and fill-in-the-blank questions with answers and explanations for the teacher to select.

• Suggested comments and feedback

  Based on the teacher's criteria, suggest specific, encouraging comments on students' writing and work.

• An assistant that answers students

  An AI assistant that answers only within materials the teacher provides, helping students revise outside class.

• Illustrative images and audio

  Story illustrations and voice-overs for videos, audiobooks and digital exhibitions.

Ideas for using AI by subject and level

• Preschool and primary

  Create short stories for the weekly theme, illustrations and nursery rhymes; storytelling voice-overs for parents to listen to with their children.

• Literature

  Suggest reading comprehension questions at several levels, sample paragraphs with errors for students to find and fix, criteria-based feedback on writing.

• Maths

  Create real-life word problems, change the numbers so each group gets its own version, and explain step by step for weaker students.

• English

  Situational speaking dialogues, level-appropriate reading texts and clear voice-overs for listening practice.

• Science, history and geography

  “What if…” scenarios for reasoning, mock interviews with a historical figure, discovery questions for virtual tours.

• Homeroom work

  Suggest class meeting content, letters to parents and scripts for experiential activities; the teacher adapts them to the class.

Using AI responsibly in teaching

AI can give wrong information that sounds very convincing. So using AI in teaching needs a few simple principles:

• Always check accuracy

  Compare with textbooks and authoritative materials; be especially careful with figures, dates, quotations and formulas.

• Protect student data

  Do not enter students' names, photos, grades or family information into public AI tools.

• The teacher decides

  AI suggests; the teacher selects and is responsible for the content, teaching method and final assessment.

• Teach students to use AI properly

  Guide students to use AI to ask, check and practise, not to copy answers; make clear when it is allowed.

• Disclose AI use when needed

  When contest rules require it, state which parts had AI assistance and what the author's role was.

How to write AI requests for lesson planning and materials

Good results depend heavily on how you phrase the request. A good request usually has these parts:

• Role and audience

  For example: “You are a grade 4 maths teacher with students in a rural area.”

• A specific task

  “Write 5 word problems about multiplication, each set at a village market.”

• Format requirements

  Length, difficulty, whether to include answers, table or list layout.

• Source material to follow

  Paste the lesson content or text to use so the AI does not make things up.

• Ask again and refine

  Request changes piece by piece: “Make question 3 easier”, “Change the example to suit city students”.

AI contest entry ideas for teachers

In AI-in-education creativity contests, convincing entries usually solve a specific problem in your own class or school. The idea and content are owned and developed by the teacher; the following are only starting points:

• A lesson-based study assistant

  Students ask an AI assistant that answers only from lesson content written by the teacher, with guiding questions instead of instant answers.

• AI narration for a virtual exhibition

  AI voice-overs for each item in a 3D gallery, possibly bilingual; the narration text is written by teachers and students.

• A question generator with teacher review

  AI generates question sets from a lesson; the teacher reviews and edits them before they go into review games for students.

• A chatbot for the school heritage room

  Visitors scan a QR code to ask about the school's history, notable teachers and students; answers come from the school's own records.

• An English speaking practice assistant

  Dialogues based on textbook situations, vocabulary limited to the students' level, with suggestions for better phrasing.

Steps to build a small AI product for teaching

• Step 1: Choose a small problem

  One specific need, for example students revising at home with nobody to ask; do not try to build an assistant that knows everything.

• Step 2: Prepare the knowledge base

  Gather lesson content, common questions and checked materials; this is the scope the AI may answer within.

• Step 3: Write rules for the AI

  Form of address, tone, answer length, what to do with out-of-scope questions, and never asking for personal information.

• Step 4: Build and test

  Use an existing assistant-building platform or get technical support; ask it many questions yourself, including hard and off-topic ones.

• Step 5: Trial with students

  Let a small group use it and note wrong answers, unhandled questions and how students feel about it.

• Step 6: Refine and record impact

  Expand the knowledge base and adjust the rules; record usage, student feedback and before-and-after comparisons for your submission.

Presenting an AI contest entry convincingly

• State the problem and the users

  What difficulty the product solves, for which grade, in which situation.

• Let reviewers try it

  A link, QR code and a few sample questions so reviewers can try it at once.

• Explain how content is controlled

  Which sources the AI answers from, how the teacher reviews it, and what happens when the AI is unsure.

• Evidence of real use

  Photos and videos of students using it, feedback and usage figures from the trial period.