Today I was putting the finishing touches on the first presentation in a three-part AI series I’m getting ready to deliver. The first session is called AI Made Simple: From Confusion to Confidence, and it’s designed for people who are still trying to figure out what AI means for them and where tools like ChatGPT might actually fit into their lives.

I had already built the presentation, so I wasn’t asking AI to create the content for me. Instead, I gave the finished presentation to ChatGPT and asked it to review what I had created. We went back and forth on the flow, looked for things that might be confusing, and talked about how this session fits with the other two sessions that will follow it. I made some changes based on that conversation and ignored a few suggestions that didn’t fit what I wanted to accomplish.

Once I felt good about the presentation, I started thinking about what I wanted participants to leave with. My first thought was a notes document that followed along with the slides, but as ChatGPT and I worked through it, I realized that wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted something people could pull out a month later when they had a question about AI and actually find useful information in it.

So we changed directions and started building a reference guide instead.

I think this is a pretty practical example of where AI can be useful for educators because none of this required AI to come up with my lesson or presentation for me. The content, goals, audience, and decisions were still mine. AI helped me look at something I had already created from a few different perspectives and then helped me turn that work into another resource.

Teachers could do something very similar with materials they already have. Take a presentation you’ve used for years and give it to an AI tool. Instead of asking it to make another presentation, ask questions about the experience your students are having with the material.

What parts of this presentation rely heavily on me explaining them? What information would a student need if they were reviewing this three weeks from now? What background knowledge am I assuming students already have? Could this become a reference guide students could use independently?

Those questions are much more interesting to me than simply asking AI to “make a handout.”

There was also a small moment during the process that I think is worth mentioning. ChatGPT found something in my presentation that it thought I should change. I understood the recommendation, thought about it, and decided I liked what I already had better.

I actually want educators and students to have more experiences like that with AI. One of the misconceptions I sometimes hear is that using AI means handing over the thinking. My experience is usually the opposite when I’m using it well. I have to decide whether its suggestion makes sense. Sometimes I need to explain why I don’t like something. Other times its suggestion makes me realize I haven’t thought through something as well as I thought I had. That back and forth is where a lot of the value comes from.

It also gives us a pretty good model for what AI literacy can look like with students. We don’t necessarily need students accepting the first thing an AI tool gives them. I’d much rather see them questioning it, changing it, rejecting parts of it, adding their own knowledge, and being able to explain why the final product looks the way it does.

Today’s finished handout is better because AI was involved, but not because ChatGPT knew exactly what I needed from the beginning. It took several rounds of conversation for me to figure out what I really wanted.

For educators looking for a practical way to experiment with AI, grabbing something you’ve already created and know really well is a good place to start. Give AI access to it and use the conversation to look at your work from the learner’s perspective. Don’t ask it to replace what you’ve made. See if it can help you figure out how to make what you’ve already created more useful.

Try It Yourself: Turn a Presentation Into a Reference Guide

1. Start with something you’ve already created. Upload a presentation, lesson, handout, or other instructional resource to an AI tool that supports files.
2. Give the AI context. Explain who the learners are, what you’re teaching, how you use the resource, and what you want students to understand.
3. Ask for a review before asking it to create anything. Try a prompt like:
   “Review this presentation from the perspective of one of my students. Identify places where the slides rely on my verbal explanation or where a student reviewing independently might need more context.”
4. Talk through the recommendations. Ask follow-up questions. Push back when you disagree. Explain pieces the AI misunderstood. This part of the conversation can be more useful than the first response.
5. Change the purpose of the resource. Once you’ve identified the important content, try:
   “Using this presentation and our conversation, create a reference guide students could use independently several weeks after the lesson. Don’t simply summarize the slides. Include explanations for information that normally relies on me providing context.”
6. Review it using your own expertise. Look for incorrect information, unnecessary additions, missing context, and anything that doesn’t sound like you.
7. Give students the resource that serves the new purpose. You now have your original instructional presentation and a companion resource designed specifically for independent review.