A brief overview of useful AI platforms for Tutors and Lecturers

Tools That Support Effective Planning

ChatGPT (Free / Premium)

ChatGPT can support lesson planning, generate differentiated tasks, and suggest extension questions or activities. It’s particularly useful for curriculum mapping, literacy tasks, or when planning under time pressure.

Note: AI-generated content should always be reviewed for accuracy and alignment with course requirements.

Diffit (Free / Premium)

Need to differentiate reading materials quickly? Diffit turns any text, topic, or question into tailored reading resources at different levels, complete with questions, summaries, and vocabulary lists. Ideal for mixed-ability groups or supporting learners with additional needs.

Education Copilot (Premium)

Built with educators in mind. It produces full lesson plans, handouts, and learning objectives. Great if you’re in a rush and want structure fast, but it comes at a cost, so you’ll want to weigh the price tag against how often you’ll use it.

ClickUp (Free / Premium)

Originally designed for project management, ClickUp’s “lesson plan generator” and “syllabus tracker” features are surprisingly handy for FE. Organise schemes of work, link them to resources, and even collaborate with department teams in the same dashboard.

Reducing Administrative Workload

Trello + AI add-ons (Free / Premium)

Use Trello for planning, add AI integrations like Zapier or Butler, and suddenly it’s not just a digital to-do list, it’s automating recurring tasks, organising meeting notes, and prepping parent emails.

Google Workspace + Gemini (formerly Duet AI) (Free with account / Premium AI tools)

Docs, Sheets, Slides, most Tutors and Lecturers are aware of Google Workspaces capabilities. But paired with AI (via Gemini or extensions), you can summarise long meeting notes, draft reports, or analyse student data in seconds. Useful for course leads juggling a million things at once.

Notion AI (Free Trial / Premium)

If you already use Notion, the AI upgrade is worth exploring. It can take messy notes and turn them into action plans, generate lesson outlines from bullet points, or reformat materials to different reading levels.

Enhancing the Classroom Experience

Quizizz (Free / Premium)

Quizizz provides interactive quizzes with automatic feedback and grading, making it useful for regular formative assessment. The platform supports engagement through gamified learning while giving educators insights into student progress.

Kahoot! (Free / Premium)

Kahoot! remains a go-to for creating engaging lessons. Whether it’s a quick knowledge check or a revision quiz, it encourages participation and brings energy to the classroom.

Diffit (Again? Yes!)

Alongside planning, Diffit is great in the classroom. It lets you quickly adapt reading materials on the spot, making it easier to support learners working at different levels, complete with ready-to-use questions and visual supports.

Canva + Magic Write (Free / Premium)

Creating posters, slides, or infographics? Canva’s AI tools speed things up massively, from generating content to formatting it beautifully. Brilliant for making visual resources without needing a design degree.

AI won’t replace Educators, but those who use AI well will have an advantage, the right tools can lighten your workload to focus on more on your own professional development.

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