Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are gaining attention in education, sparking conversations around their potential to save teachers time and improve efficiency. Just recently the English Government announced plans to put AI at the front of centre of teacher workload. But how effective are these tools in practice?
A recent study by the Education Endowment Foundation offers some of the first evidence-based insights on this, shedding light on how ChatGPT can be used to reduce teacher workload when it comes to lesson planning. They were keen to explore if it a) saved time and b) came at a cost to lesson planning quality.
What did the research find about ChatGPT and Lesson Planning?
The study explored the impact of ChatGPT on lesson planning, focusing on Science teachers preparing lessons for their 11-13 year olds. The teachers were split into two groups: one group used ChatGPT alongside a guide designed to help them use it effectively, while the other group planned their lessons the traditional way without any AI tools.
Teachers using ChatGPT generally found the accompanying guide both relevant and simple to navigate, which helped make the tool easier to learn. For most teachers in the trial, ChatGPT wasn’t used to reinvent their entire lesson, but to support specific parts of it. Many used it to generate questions, quizzes and activity ideas, or to tailor existing resources to better suit their students. Importantly, most teachers didn’t use ChatGPT to plan entire lessons, but instead they focused on using it for one or two activities per lesson.
One of the big takeaways from the study was just how much time ChatGPT saved. Teachers in the ChatGPT group cut their planning time by about 25 minutes per week, compared to the 81.5 minutes for teachers who weren’t using AI. This is a saving of 30%.
In a profession where time is always in short supply, these savings can make a real difference. The study’s findings highlight this, showing that teachers using ChatGPT felt noticeably less overwhelmed. At the start of the trial, nearly half of the teachers felt they were spending “too much time” on lesson planning. By the end, that number dropped significantly to just 26% for those using ChatGPT. In contrast, there was no such change for the teachers who planned without AI. This suggests that tools like ChatGPT could play a role in helping teachers feel more in control of their time.
But did this come at the expense of lesson quality? An independent panel of teachers reviewed lesson materials from both groups and found no noticeable difference in quality. Teachers in the ChatGPT group agreed with this assessment: they felt the resources they created with ChatGPT were just as good as those made without it.
How to use ChatGPT to streamline your lesson planning
This study offers an encouraging glimpse into how generative AI tools like ChatGPT might be used to save time without sacrificing quality. So, how can you bring AI into your own teaching? Here are some tips to get started:
1. Get AI involved
Begin with incorporating AI into your teaching, with the right tools and support. The guide featured in the study is available online and is a great place to begin, providing step-by-step instructions, demonstration videos, and example prompts. It’s designed to help quickly adapt ChatGPT to your specific teaching needs.
2. Take time to get comfortable
Integrating new technology takes practice and patience. In the study, teachers were given five weeks to get familiar with ChatGPT before their lesson planning time was evaluated. Over time, they became more comfortable and relied less on the guide.
If you’re just starting out, allow yourself time to experiment and learn how to make ChatGPT work best for you. Our blog on 8 principles on effective AI use offers some useful tips to help you get comfortable. It can help to start small – many teachers in the study used it for just one or two tasks per lesson, like generating quizzes or brainstorming activity ideas.
3. Move beyond task automation
While using ChatGPT is helpful to quickly complete tasks, which we call Level 1 use, its real value shines when it evolves from being a simple tool into a collaborative partner at Level 2 and 3 use. To unlock this potential, think of ChatGPT as a thinking assistant and even a co-intelligent partner. This means not just using AI to generate ideas, but engaging in back-and-forth dialogue and treating it as a thinking partner to elevate your work. To explore more about using AI as a co-intelligence, check out our blog here.
Final thoughts
This recent study gives us a glimpse into how generative AI like ChatGPT can streamline lesson planning without sacrificing quality. However, we still have lots to learn about how best to use (and not use) AI. Hopefully, there will be more studies like this in the future to shed practical light on what this might look like.
