When to, and When NOT to, use
AI-Generated Media
for Teaching & Learning
Torrey Trust
Professor of Learning Technology �University of Massachusetts Amherst
AI-Generated Media Tools
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This slide deck was last updated July 2025.
AI IMAGE Generators
AI IMAGE Generators
In addition to LLMs, there are digital tools specifically for creating AI-generated images:
There are also AI image generation features in many digital tools, like Canva Magic Studio, Padlet TA, Magic School, and Google Slides.
Prompt Writing DOES Matter
“Create an image of a chihuahua surfing.”
“Create an image of a chihuahua surfing in Costa Rica that looks like it’s a cover of a Beach Boys album.”
“Create an image of a chihuahua reading a magazine at a beach. On the cover of the magazine is a realistic image of chihuahua surfing a wave, wearing a colorful jersey that says 'Pura Vida.' The scene should capture a fun, retro 'Beach Boys' vibe—sunny skies, ocean spray, and a classic California surf aesthetic.”
Prompt Writing DOES Matter
How effective are your prompt writing skills? Test yourself!
Explore these additional resources to learn more about prompt writing for AI-generated media:
Prompt Writing DOES Matter - AI Can Help
GenAI Chatbots can write, revise, improve, lengthen, redesign your prompts for you. Just ask!
Example Prompt #1: “Improve this prompt for me: [insert prompt]”
Example Prompt #2: “Give me 10 strategies for improving this prompt: [insert prompt]”
Example Prompt #3: “Provide 15 revised versions of this prompt: [insert prompt]”
AI AUDIO Generators
To date, most LLMs (with the exception of Gemini) do not generate any audio.
Gemini can produce podcast-style audio overviews of PDFs and other files →
Google NotebookLM also provides AI-generated audio in the form of podcasts.
AI AUDIO Generators
There are tools designed specifically to generate AI audio, including AI Voice Generators (e.g., 6 Best Voice Generators) and AI Music Generators:
Many of these tools have a free limited version (e.g., you can make 10 songs a day with Suno), but require you to purchase a pricing plan for more advanced features.
AI VIDEO Generators
To date, none of the LLMs can generate videos for free.
However, Google (VEO) and OpenAI (Sora) have AI video generators for users who have purchased upgraded (i.e., pro/plus) plans.
AI-generated video from Sora.
AI VIDEO Generators
There are tools designed specifically to generate video (e.g., VEED.io & The 11 best AI video generators in 2025), tools that have AI-video generation capabilities (e.g., Canva AI), and tools for creating AI avatars/talking heads (e.g., HeyGen, Synthesia, Canva AI Avatar Maker).
When NOT to Use AI Media Generators
for Teaching & Learning
When NOT to Use AI-Generated Media for Teaching & Learning
Checklist for When NOT to Use AI-Generated Media for Teaching & Learning
There is an Existing Human-Generated Version of the Media
There are millions of public domain, royalty free, and Creative Commons images, audio files, and videos available on the Internet!
Please use them instead of AI-generated media and make sure to give credit to the humans that created the media!
Places to find images:
The chart was created by Kathleen Morris and is licensed under CC BY NC ND.
There is an Existing Human-Generated Version of the Media
Places to find Music/Audio:
Places to find Video:
There is an Existing Human-Generated Version of the Media
Please don’t waste environmental resources to create an AI image (rather than search for one online) just because it is easy to do!
“For comparison, charging the average smartphone requires 0.022 kWh of energy, which means that the most efficient text generation model uses as much energy as 9% of a full smartphone charge for 1,000 inferences, whereas the least efficient image generation model uses as much energy as 522 smartphone charges (11.49 kWh), or around half a charge per image generation” (Luccioni et al., 2024, p. 6)
There is an Existing Human-Generated Version of the Media
Check out this “What Uses More” app created by Jon Ippolito, Professor of New Media at the University of Maine, to explore the environmental impact of AI-generated media.
You Need an Accurate Image, Audio, or Video
You Need an Accurate Image, Audio, or Video
You Need an Accurate Image, Audio, or Video
LLMs are known for making up information (hallucinations). If you use a LLM to generate an audio overview or summary, it may not be fully accurate!
← This hallucination leaderboard showcases the accuracy of AI-generated summaries by model.
To Portray People, Places, Cultures, or Environments Without Critical Examination
What prompt do you think was used to create these images?
To Portray People, Places, Cultures, or Environments Without Critical Examination
The prompt was “create an image of a doctor treating a poor patient.”
Did you guess right?
If not, why might that be?
To Portray People, Places, Cultures, or Environments Without Critical Examination
Here are two AI-generated board games for the American Revolution in the style of Pokemon.
What do you notice? Who is included? Who is not?
To Portray People, Places, Cultures, or Environments Without Critical Examination
To Replace Student’s Creative Thinking
While these tools might be helpful for sparking creative thinking and/or creating prototypes of student’s inventions, they can also replace student’s creative thinking.
For example, if a student prompts AI to design a prototype for them.
←Or, if the AI offers suggestions for changes/improvements before the student thinks of any on their own.
When The Image Distracts From, Rather Than Supports, Learning
Solve this word problem:
Jordan went to the golf course and played 18 holes. On the front 9 holes, he scored an average of 5 strokes per hole. On the back 9 holes, he improved and averaged only 4 strokes per hole. How many total strokes did Jordan take to complete the full round of 18 holes?
What did you look at first on this slide?
The image, right? The image is cute! But it has nothing to do with the math word problem.
Putting images on slides or worksheets or other materials just because they are fun or cute can actually distract from, or create a barrier, to learning! (Read about the “Coherence Principle” in Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning).
Remember, just because you can create an image of a chihuahua massaging a golfer with AI, doesn’t mean you should!
If Students/Parents/Families Might Mistake It For A Real Image
It is quite easy to mistake an AI-generated image for a real image, just look at this example of an AI-generated video of bunnies jumping on a trampoline that had more than 180 million views on TikTok, with many people not realizing it was fake!
If Students/Parents/Families Might Mistake It For A Real Image
Watch this video to see how easily people are getting fooled by AI-generated images.
Content Warning:
Explicit language is used in this clip.
When Student Privacy Could Be Compromised
This was a heartwarming story that went viral…but consider the fact the teacher uploaded pictures of her students to ChatGPT (without their permission)!
If the teacher was using the free version of ChatGPT, OpenAI states that it collects any personal data “input to our Services (‘Content’), including your prompts and other content you upload, such as files, images, and audio, depending on the features you use” (OpenAI Privacy Policy).
So, now OpenAI can keep/use the photos of the students that the teacher uploaded!
When to use AI-Generated Media
for Teaching & Learning
As previously noted, there are several ethical issues regarding using AI-generated media. However, that does not mean you should not ever use these tools. There may be times that AI-generated media can improve, enrich, or aid teaching and learning. The key is to make an informed decision about when it is helpful to use AI and when it is not helpful.
Ways to use AI-Generated AUDIO for Teaching & Learning
Provide Multiple Ways to Learn Information (UDL)
AI-generated audio summaries can provide an alternative means of accessing text-based content. This can break down barriers to learning. I have heard several stories from my undergraduates who use Google NotebookLM’s podcasting feature to improve their understanding of complex text.
Language Learning or Fact Memorization (turn it into a song!)
Ever hear a song on the radio that you have not heard in decades but you can immediately sing all the lyrics?
Songs, with their repeating chorus, can be very beneficial for memorizing information!
AI tools can be particularly helpful for generating lyrics or even entire songs.
Personally, I use a LLM to generate the lyrics (they are often more accurate, detailed, and engaging) and then copy and paste those into a music generation tool like Suno.
Spark Creative Thinking
There are several ways to use AI-generated audio to spark creative thinking.
For example, you could prompt an AI tool to create the audio for a realistic scenario…but leave out the ending.
Then, invite students to come up with their own ending and turn it into a book, graphic novel, video, or sketch.
Simulate Real-World Scenarios
AI voice generators can simulate conversations between people, like an interview, conflict with a friend, or a doctor talking to a patient in the emergency room.
With AI tools, you can tweak these conversations to be of interest to your students (e.g., A conversation between an academic advisor and a college student majoring in informatics who lives in the pacific Northwest).
Students can practice active listening and/or critique what they hear as they listen to these audio files.
They can even write their own real world scenario then have a AI tool create an audio version of it. Then, listen to it and revise for authenticity.
Connect the Class Topic to Students’ Interests
“Welcoming interests and identities” is one of the foundational guidelines in the Universal Design for Learning framework.
Designing content and materials that pique student interest can make learning more accessible and inclusive.
AI tools can easily take two different concepts (e.g., dividing fractions and a Taylor Swift concert) and bring them together in a song! Play this song at the start of class or a new unit to capture students’ interest.
Or, better yet, invite students to write their own lyrics for a song about the class topic, then use an AI tool to generate the music for the song.
Critique (analyze the lyrics, rhythm, form, motifs, tempo)
Since AI music generators are prone to hallucinations and are built off of copyrighted work that was taken from artists…these tools lend themselves well to critique!
Here’s a Teacher and Student Guide to Analyzing Music and Songs you can use to examine AI-generated music and songs.
Investigate AI Ethics - Questions to Discuss
Ways to use AI-Generated IMAGES & VIDEO
for Teaching & Learning
When to Use AI-Generated Images/Video for Teaching & Learning
AI Literacy - Is this media AI-generated?
Students need help learning how to identify (if possible) AI-generated media!
Have students play or design their own “Real or AI?” branching Google Form and then “test” their friends and family members!
Media Literacy/Critique
AI image and video generators often replicate or exacerbate existing biases and stereotypes. They can also be used to create deepfakes to trick people.
Encourage students to critically examine AI-generated images/video to learn more about how these tools were designed and how they work.
Use these Critical Media Literacy Guides to conduct a critical visual analysis of AI-generated images/video.
Explore the history and politics of doctored images and compare that to AI-generated political/election deepfakes.
Critically investigate how and why AI-generated media perpetuates and reinforces existing harmful stereotypes and biases (Scientific Article; Blog; Another Blog; Video).
Data Visualizations
Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude can create visuals from data. You can upload a dataset or describe the data in a prompt.
Example 1: Introducing the analysis tool in Claude.ai.
Example 2: Introducing Visualize with Copilot (preview).
Example 3: Data Analysis with ChatGPT.
These visuals provide multiple ways to perceive information (UDL) and, can therefore, break down barriers to learning.
However, keep in mind that these tools may make up or misrepresent or leave out data (read Dr. Philippa Hardman’s “Dropped Details: The Information Leakage Problem”). Therefore, they are best used when students can analyze/critique them, rather than trusting the results.
Simulations
Let’s be honest, you will never find an ostrich riding a bike on the highway in real life (I think?).
But what if a student asks you about the physics of an ostrich riding a bike in your class and you want to explore whether it is scientifically possible…you can use AI to create realistic simulations for students.
You could also use AI to create more realistic simulations like ones for medical training, lab experiments gone wrong, workplace scenarios, etc…
Storytelling
AI-generated media can be used to enhance storytelling.
Take a look at this children’s book about digital citizenship created by one of my undergraduate students. The student wrote the story, then used AI to create images for their book.
AI-generated images and video can be used to turn student’s writing ideas into actual books.
These tools can also be used to spark creative thinking (e.g., giving students the set of AI-generated images and having them come up with their own story to match the images).
Historical “what ifs” (aka Counterfactuals)
AI tools can create images and videos of historical what ifs (“Generate an image of downtown New York as if the British had won the American Revolution”).
Counterfactual images and video can be used to invite students to think critically about what might have happened if an influential event in history had a different ending. And, what might have led to that alternate ending…
Spark Creative Thinking
Students can use AI tools to design a visual prototype of their new board game, the cover image for their class podcast, the video clips for their public service announcement video, and more.
These tools can design anything students want them to; and you, as the teacher, can bring students’ ideas to life using these tools.
Spark Creative Thinking
Want to have your students design a social media campaign to bring awareness to an important issue? Create visually appealing presentation slides to convince the school board to change a policy? Design multimodal open educational resources?
AI tools can help: 1) by creating the images or videos to include in the campaign or materials; and 2) by providing examples of images or videos that students can use as models for their own designs.
NOTE: If you, or students, use AI-generated media in your materials, consider noting that the content is AI-generated!
World Building
Inviting students to build their own worlds (past, present, or future; on this planet or another; etc…) is a way to spark creative thinking.
It can be incredibly helpful for game design, creative writing, and critical thinking and problem solving, exploring scientific and mathematical concepts in fictional contexts, and art & design.
Prototypes of Inventions/Innovations
AI tools can take a hand-drawn sketch and turn it into a realistic image. Excellent for rapid prototyping and designing inventions and innovations.
←Check out these examples.
Investigate AI Ethics - Questions to Discuss
Sample Lesson Plans