These activities don’t replace teaching students interview techniques or basic communication skills. However, they add a fun element so that students become more engaged and hopefully learn more. Apart from content and communication, they will learn empathy and digital citizenship skills as well.
- Interview a long dead historical figure. Students write the script, and animate the historical figure with AI (for example Tokkingheads). They record their bits as the interviewer. They edit the interview for example in Flipgrid so that they can easily show their work to the world.
- Animate your drawing/photo and make it speak. Students can use their own drawings or photos and make them talk in a fun way with Blabberize. As a teacher use this opportunity to practice job interviews, descriptions, creating a hook, starting a youtube video and so much more. If you click on the Blabberize link, you can watch a llama talk. Animating the animal is quick – so the students can concentrate on content.
- Animate a famous painting to practice perspectives and empathy. With either Tokkingheads or Blabberize, you can animate a painting as well. Students can make the painting talk and tell everyone about how they felt when they were being painted, the circumstances in which the painting was made, or how boring Mona Lisa finds the tourists around her. This technique will help students take a different perspective and empathize with others. As a bonus, take a painting with multiple figures, and groups of students animate different figures from the painting to have a debate.
You can use these activities in various subjects: students can interview Pythagoras about his theorem or draw a cell and make it speak. Students can have two famous historical figures talk to each other or improve their speaking skills in the foreign language classroom. Don’t forget though to teach respectful and responsible behaviour. AI can be used in a demeaning way and we don’t want to bring up bullies in our classroom. This is, therefore, the perfect opportunity to teach elements of digital citizenship.
🔧 Resources. Browse this collection for more AI resources, or this blog post for more ideas.
What ideas do you have? Have you tried any of these activities in this format? Share with us in the comments section.
