Professor is curious about how teachers use AI in the classroom and creates popular online platform to improve learning

By Matthew Cimitile, University Communications and Marketing

A new online platform with more than 640 tools aims to help educators integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into the classroom to improve learning.

Developed by Zafer Unal, a professor of education at USF St. Petersburg, TeacherServer provides free AI tools to assist with planning, assessment, preparation, research, and more. There are currently more than 61,000 users of the site, mostly K-12 teachers and college faculty.

The development of the platform stemmed from a simple question that interested Unal and his colleagues: How are educators currently using generative AI in the classroom? They assumed that many were reluctant to use this new technology because they feared it would ultimately lead to job losses.

A survey they conducted of 140 K-12 teachers from Florida and Georgia showed something quite different: teachers were already using AI to improve their teaching methods and streamline work.

“Overall, AI is helping teachers in many areas, from language learning and assessments to writing support, presentation skills, grading and lesson planning,” said Unal.

Although this group of educators used AI and were optimistic that it could improve student learning, they mainly used it before and after class to assist with presentations or grading. They did not use it directly in the classroom due to concerns about student privacy and a lack of formal training on this new technology.

“Based on that feedback, I thought, ‘Well, I have a computer science and education background, let’s see what I can do to solve this problem,'” Unal said.

Using the survey results, he spent several months coding to create dozens of AI-generating tools that teachers said would be useful in the classroom and make them more effective educators. Each tool was installed on a local server and instructed not to collect data. Privacy and security concerns were addressed by not sending any data to the cloud.

While developing tools for K-12 teachers, Unal received requests from colleagues to expand the platform to include AI resources for college professors.

Therefore, he developed a dedicated section for teachers and researchers that focuses on finding research topics, formulating research questions, selecting appropriate methods for data collection and analysis, and more. In particular, this section offers a research simulator tool that can be used to refine and prepare research designs before actual implementation.

Unal and the team then designed a two-day professional development workshop embedded in the online platform – with online modules and instructional videos – to provide training on these generative AI tools.

During the summer, the College of Education on the St. Petersburg campus also hosted professional development workshops with educators, program directors, and administrators from K-12 school districts in and around Tampa Bay. TeacherServer was introduced during these workshops.

“They loved the platform and quickly realized how well it was suited to teaching their field, such as quickly creating classroom activities,” said Richard Rho, program director of the Educational Technology Labs at USF St. Petersburg, who led these workshops. “They were exposed to many different technologies in these workshops, but this particular platform was the most relevant to their profession.”

Both the virtual and in-person workshops provided a basic introduction to AI and machine learning, as well as ethical AI practices. They also included more advanced training on integrating AI into the curriculum and using technology to improve lesson plans or outcomes.

“AI will change the way we learn. The earlier we use it in the classroom, the sooner students will be exposed to it and learn how to use it properly,” Rho added. “For educators, it provides an expert system that can access incredible amounts of information that can be used to help our students deepen their learning experiences and truly understand topics.”

Given the overwhelming response, Unal is applying for grants to fund a larger server to host and expand the online platform, and is developing additional tools for the platform to be added to students who want to pursue a teaching career. The goal is to help even more educators integrate AI tools into the classroom.

“I’m really fascinated by how AI technology has been used so far and how it can best be used in a learning environment,” said Unal. “I see AI as another tool like the calculator or the computer, and my hope is that by providing this platform, teachers will become more comfortable with this technology and be able to use tools that will really advance education.”