What educators and students value
There are clear themes in what users say they most value about AI instructional tools.
Teachers and students value feedback that is fast, specific, and gives them a chance to try again.
Feedback that arrived quickly, was specific to students' work, and could be used right away supported engagement. When feedback was slow, generic, or directed students to supplemental resources (e.g., videos), students tuned out. Teachers often indicated that products gave students more feedback than previous education technology products offered and than they possibly could themselves.
Teachers and students value individualized feedback.
The products that users valued most adapted feedback to the students, addressing their specific misconceptions—the same task could generate different feedback for different students based on what each needed next. Teachers noted this level of individualization was something they could not deliver to 25+ students at once.
Teachers and students value feedback that pushes students to keep thinking, rather than handing them the answer.
Teachers and students value the products that facilitate productive struggle (e.g., prompt a student to return to a text, rethink their reasoning, or try another approach) instead of just marking work right or wrong.
Teachers value immediate, actionable insights into student work.
AI-powered products often offer insight across student responses that teachers could not get easily in a paper-pencil lesson. Teachers valued insights that they could act on while the lesson was still live and nudges that prompted them to support individual learners' needs rather than only class averages. Teachers preferred tools that suggested next steps, which they could modify or override based on their knowledge of students and professional expertise.
Teachers value getting time back to do the work only they can do.
Teachers valued features that made their complex job easier (e.g., giving students more independence in working through questions, speeding up grading). They reported that the products they valued allowed them to spend more time working with small groups, conferencing one-on-one about learning needs, and personally connecting with students.
Teachers highly value the way AI can offer support and access for multilingual learners.
Teachers value AI-powered translation features that allow students to access the problems and demonstrate their thinking in their home language. Several teachers described this functionality as filling a gap they couldn't otherwise staff. Some products let students respond in their home language and give the teacher an English version to read, so a teacher who didn't speak the student's language could still follow the thinking and respond to it. Teachers said this let them connect with students they had struggled to reach.