Welcome to day sixteen of the 2024 Appvent calendar where today we will focus on Parlay Genie.

Parlay is a platform for creating dynamic tech-driven classroom discussions. Recently, Parlay incorporated Parlay Genie, an AI assistant to help teachers automatically generate discussion questions, assessments, and follow-up questions.

AI tool of the day: Parlay Genie

Today we are delighted to share Parlay, a fab tool for promoting 21st-century skills.

Many students dread classroom discussions as they are nervous or uncomfortable talking in front of a group. Dominant characters often take control of social situations. The team at Parlay has created a solution that provides teachers with tools to create more equitable and systematic discussions whilst using AI to do the heavy lifting.

Educational Benefits:

Oracy education is a hot topic in education right now and Parlay’s verbal roundtable is just the ticket.

The platform has been designed to ensure that teachers receive meaningful real-time insights during discussions. This helps teachers maintain focus and use subtle methods to encourage reluctant speakers to contribute.

So where does AI come into this?

It’s no secret that busy teachers are time-poor. Parlay’s AI Genie provides a set of great tools to save teachers time when setting up roundtable discussions and also in following up discussions and providing feedback. Here is a list of the main AI-powered features:

Create New Discussions

Teachers can either start from scratch or upload existing content (YouTube links, slides, or PDFs) and Parlay Genie will automatically generate higher-order questions.

Provide Feedback on Writing

In a written roundtable students can click the genie to have their responses checked by AI. They will receive a summary of strengths and ideas for improvement.

Summarise RoundTable

When a discussion is over, Parlay Genie can be used to generate a concise summary as can be seen in the image below:

Create Follow-Up Questions

This feature is available when the written roundtable format is used and basically serves as an extension activity as can be seen here:

Teacher Feedback

At the end of a written discussion, the teacher can generate feedback for each student using AI. This is another great timer saver.

Practical Application:

Parlay is a versatile tool that could be used in most subject areas across a wide age range.

When you log in you will see lots of examples created by other teachers which already contain discussion questions to help you get going quickly.

Once you have finished a discussion you have access to lots of data in the form of visuals and word clouds which can inform future planning and assessment.

Parlay also integrates with Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom making it easy to onboard students.

Considerations and Tips:

Parlay offers a freemium option though if you become a regular user you will undoubtedly encounter some limitations. This page provides a full breakdown of all the options.

Many professional development options are available here including a pathway to becoming a Parlay Certified Educator. Other options include virtual PD sessions for staff and virtual classroom visits.

As is the case for all AI tools, teachers are encouraged to check any Ai-generated content for bias and accuracy. Teachers should also consult their school’s data protection officer to check compliance if planning to use this tool in an educational setting.

Learn more about Parlay by visiting their website here or by checking out their YouTube channel here.

Written and reviewed by Ronan McNichol.

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