Generative AI in Teacher Education:
Theory and Practice�CSSE 2025
Norm Vaughan
Mount Royal University
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Jessica Lee Wah
Mount Royal University
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Overview
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Why bother?
Why conduct a research study on the use of generative artificial intelligence in a teacher education program?
Conducting a research study on the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in a teacher education program can provide valuable insights into its potential benefits, challenges, and implications for future educators. Here are some key reasons why such a study is important (ChatGPT, 2024):
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Guiding Framework
Action Research Approach
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Guiding Framework
MRU Study Context
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MRU Context
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MRU Context
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Methodology
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Methodology
Beginning of semester blog post
End of semester blog post
Follow up interview
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Findings
Beginning of semester blog post
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Concerns
Dual perspective: University student vs teacher candidate
End of semester blog post
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Not Used
Reason | Quotation from final blog posting |
Lack of confidence | I did not use AI in my practicum as I am not comfortable with it. (67) |
Plagiarism | I didn't. I see no reason to actively lower the quality of my work in any capacity just so I can use a trend that people are hopping on the bandwagon of without actually understanding any of the implications behind it. I felt no reason or no particular need to engage with a mass plagiarism engine in order to plan lesson plans, especially since my own planning allowed me to more effectively account for the individual needs of my very complex classroom in a more targeted and specific way than AI ever could. (82) |
Dependency and over reliance on AI applications | I decided over the course of this practicum that I would not use AI to plan lessons or assist me in the process. I decided this because after experimenting with AI prior to my practicum, I found that although the lessons often seemed like they would work well, they weren't tailored to the group of students I was teaching, and they didn't include my ideas. I also felt that using AI would take away from my learning as a pre-service teacher, and I wanted to become self-sufficient in creating and planning learning experiences before using AI. (83) |
Planning
Lesson Planning
Ideation
Throughout my practicum, I utilized AI in many different ways. Firstly, I used it to help me brainstorm ideas for integrated lesson plans. For example, I used it to help me connect science and math by generating scenarios for my students to develop statistical questions from. This made my process much shorter and allowed me to critically think about what was generated and how I needed to adapt it to make it more useful in my classroom. (3)
Efficiency
When lesson planning became hectic, I turned to AI to generate ideas using the Alberta Curriculum. This was my first semester using it, and I was amazed at how precise the lessons were. Of course, there were adjustments. However, it took the weight off my shoulders from trying to think of new lessons every week. Using AI felt like a breath of fresh air and gave me back some valuable time I could use elsewhere. (39)�
By leveraging AI, I’ve been able to cut down on the time I spend planning while still producing detailed and effective lesson plans. This has allowed me to maintain a healthy work-life balance, ensuring that my evenings are not entirely consumed by planning and preparation. (50)
Planning
Lesson Planning
“I can” statements
When planning my lessons, the main thing I used AI for was to create my "I can" statements using the specific KUSPs. (11)�
I used AI applications for the majority of my lesson planning throughout my practicum. I mainly used it as a tool for simplifying 'I can statements’ into grade three vocabulary and language (41)
Real-world relevance
I used it in helping come up with creative ideas for words, titles, or sentences within my lesson plans, such as in the real-world relevance section of our lesson plans. By using AI applications, such as Chat GPT, in that section of my lesson plans, I have been brought aware to so many real-world applications that I would not have even thought about. I appreciate it for bringing me aware of things outside of what I know about the subject. (62)
Assessment
Rubrics �
When it was time for assessment, I used MagicSchool AI to help create rubrics by entering the grading point scale (1-4) and the criteria I was going to mark them on. This helped me get a baseline, and I was able to edit anything that needed to be changed to make more sense. (11)
I used AI to help me generate a rubric format. During a whole-class activity, I worked with the students to co-create a rubric by writing down their ideas about what they thought a "4" product should look like. Together, we created a list of success criteria, which I then input into AI to format into a clear, professional rubric. This process was not only convenient and time-saving but also allowed me to incorporate student voice directly into the assessment tool. (17)
Assessment
Report Cards
Supporting Report Card Writing: AI-assisted in drafting thoughtful, specific comments for report cards, streamlining the process (16)
I learned about how to use MS CoPilot to aid report card comments in one of the professional development days. The principal showed us how to safely use this and created a template to enter into the AI chat to ensure that it was professional and followed the report card guidelines. (18)
Assessment
Formative Assessment
AI also helped me develop formative assessment tools like questions and charts to track student progress and understanding effectively. (8)
For assessment, asking MagicSchool to create a "quiz" for me using the Learn Alberta curriculum was useful for creating exit/entry tickets. I would take some key questions from the quiz that was AI-generated and create my own exit ticket or assessment on Canva. This was great because it formed a solid foundation for my assessments. (41)
Inclusive Environment
AI also supported my lesson planning by generating differentiation ideas for a Level 1 ELL student and two students on the autism spectrum (6)
I was also able to utilize AI applications when seeking support on the differentiation piece within my lessons. When a lesson was planned where differentiation was challenging, I often used these AI applications to seek a solution. (31)
Professional Responsibilities
Ethical use of technology
AI is a tool that needs to be used wisely. If we are using it, we need to ask the right questions, double-check its ideas and answers, and diligently ensure that they correspond correctly with the outcomes and meanings of our lessons. (84)
Communication
Editing Professional Communications: AI helped refine emails to professors, my practicum supervisor, my mentor teacher, school staff, and parents, ensuring professionalism and clear communication.(16)
Mentor-teacher collaboration
My mentor teacher also provided me a few new resources, such as Magic School Ai, which is amazing! In return, I was able to teach her Canva AI and get her set up on a teacher account! It was great being able to share resources together and collaborate in the world of technology! (76)
Facilitation
I have one key example. While we were working on short stories as a class, I wanted to teach students about the importance of using rich and descriptive language pertaining to both characters and setting. I had ChatGPT create a list of rich descriptive vocabulary that we could inquire upon. I have included a picture of the list of adjectives that I used. The utilization of ChatGPT was perfect for this specific learning activity as I got to spend less time thinking of and writing adjectives on the board, which meant I had time to instead circle the classroom, interact with students, as well as ask and answer questions. I have included a photograph of our list of descriptive adjectives in this blog post (7)
I taught my students how to responsibly research using ChatGPT, and learned from them that you can ask the model to provide you with references for scientific and academic research! (32)
Follow-up Interviews
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Recommendations for the EDUC3326 Course
Unpacking preconceptions and concerns about �teaching with technology
I came into the course not really knowing anything �about how to use technology effectively. So I think �even just more emphasis on how to use technology effectively, as well as talking about some ways that it's ineffective. (Interview C)
I know a lot of other colleagues of mine do not feel the same way about Gen AI, and they're still not comfortable using it. So I would say maybe recommend spending a little bit of time just talking about people's individual feelings about AI and why many of us may have that hesitation or aversion to using it in the classroom, just because I know there's a lot of people who feel uncomfortable using it. There were some of us that eased into it because we could see a purpose. And I feel like all of us have different views and uses for AI in the classroom; some of us may like to use it or not. (Interview D)
Recommendations for the EDUC3326 Course
Gen AI prompting
Focus more on the ethical use of using chat GPT.� I'm going to teach you how to prompt properly �and how not to generate lesson plans, or, if I'm �prompting lesson plans, try to see the differences. �(Interview A)
The one thing that I would say is that I felt like it would have been great to spend even more time chatting about AI and maybe even getting someone who is using it all the time and can give advice on how to prompt it. (Interview B)
So maybe an area that we could work on more next year was how to create an effective prompt. What do we need to include in our prompts to help generate these ideas that are both authentic to us and our teaching philosophy and what we're trying to accomplish, but also work within the efficiency side. So, we don't want to spend too much time on these prompts, but they need to be to produce high-quality results. So, that could be maybe an area that we didn't really touch on this year that I think could be helpful for others. (Interview F)
Recommendations for the EDUC3326 Course
Personal library (toolkit) of Gen AI Tools
I think the focus on the PLP is a good aspect of the course. For the PLP, I would also recommend developing a library of AI tools. So I know the math and science courses �have an assignment where they generate a resource list. So I think for your course, �what could help teachers is to also generate a list so they can use it in the future. J�ust generate a list in your PLP tab or something like a general spreadsheet as an assignment, list out AI tools that you may use, and then, like, just curate it and see how you can use them. (Interview A)
That's a good question because I think the assignments were framed really well in the fact that all of those applications—that Scratch application one was amazing for me... because that makes you more comfortable with new technology and is a good stepping stone for someone like me who was terrified of AI. Technology isn't scary, so AI isn't scary. Maybe a block of class where the AI resources are maybe listed up and it's like take an hour and format something about your favorite movie or your favorite topic and just play with it and get familiar with it because I think that would take the fear factor out of it a little bit too. I know there's only so much time in the program too, though.(Interview E)
I feel like we were pretty comprehensive in trying some different tools. I think as always because AI is progressing so quickly and it's ever evolving. I'm sure that there's going to be new and better tools next year too. So maybe exploring some of the variety that's out there. I'm pretty stuck on Chat GPT because I'm familiar with it now, and I know how to use it, and I've always been pretty happy with the results because I think I'm good at making prompts. (Interview F)
Recommendations for the EDUC3326 Course
Peer learning
I think I learned a lot from my peers in �that class and also from sharing our �assignments. For example, when we �shared our coding lessons. I think learning from peers and doing more peer sharing was really helpful for me. �(Interview C)
And another benefit of it was having people in the class with different levels and being able to connect with them and get help from them. I liked that part too. It brings out a different skill set that someone might have that they can kind of focus in on and show. And yeah, it's really cool. (Interview E)
Next Steps
Next Steps
Key Take-Away
Shared Metacognition (Co-learning)
Teacher candidate: mentor teacher
My mentor teacher also provided me a few new resources, such as Magic School Ai, which is amazing! In return, I was able to teach her Canva AI and get her set up on a teacher account! It was great being able to share resources together and collaborate in the world of technology! (76)
Teacher candidate: practicum students (children)
I taught my students how to responsibly �research using ChatGPT, and learned �from them that you can ask the model to �provide you with references for scientific �and academic research! (32)
Key Take-Away
The mind is like a parachute; it only works when it’s open!!
Key Take-Away
It takes an entire program to prepare a teacher candidate for future practice!!
The more technology around us . . . the more the need for the human touch (MRU ACCN, 1997)
Questions?
References
Bae, H., Hur, J., & Park, J. (2024). Pre-service teachers' dual perspectives on generative AI: Benefits,
challenges, and integrating into teaching and learning. Online Learning, 28(3).
https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/4543
Baskara, F.R. (2023). Navigating Pedagogical Evolution: The Implication of generative AI on the reinvention of
teacher education. Seminar Nasional Unigha, 2
https://journal.unigha.ac.id/index.php/SemNas/article/view/1923
Fundi, M., Sanusi, I.T., Oyelere, S.S., & Ayere, M. (2024). Advancing AI education: Assessing Kenyan
in-service teachers' preparedness for integrating artificial intelligence in competence-based curriculum,
Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100412
Hong Cheah, Y., Jingru Lu, J., & Kim, J. (2025). Integrating generative artificial intelligence in K-12 education:
Examining teachers’ preparedness, practices, and barriers. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence
(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100363
MacDowell, P., Moskalyk, K., Korchinski, K., & Morrison, D. (2024). Preparing educators to teach and create
with generative artificial intelligence. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 50(4), 1–23.
https://doi.org/10.21432/cjlt28606
Mishra, P., Oster, N., & Henriksen, D. (2024). Generative AI, teacher knowledge, and educational research:
Bridging short- and long-term perspectives. TechTrends 68, 205–210.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-00938-1
Nyaaba, M. (2024). Transforming teacher education in developing countries: The role of generative AI in
bridging theory and practice. Computer Science: Computers and Society. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10718
Searson, M., Langran, E., & Trumble, J. (2024). Exploring new horizons: Generative artificial intelligence and
teacher education. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.
https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/223928/