As teachers begin to use ChatGPT (and other AI tools) to generate course materials using AI, a common question that pops up is: can the AI add images to this?

The current crop of publicly released large language models (LLMs) and their associated chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard are text-based. This means that while they produce excellent text content that can be a basis for class materials, it lacks images and other visual elements.

A common suggestion that is brought up often is to use AI-based image generators, such as DALL-E 2 and Midjourney. The problem with those is that they are good at creating art and photorealistic images, but lack the ability to create accurate diagrams and drawings that are needed for educational purposes.

For example, here is what you get when you ask DALL-E 2 to create a line drawing of a human neuron:

While stylistically relevant, it is not accurate enough to be used in the classroom.

How to create worksheets with images in Almanack

Considering the limitations of AI-generated images in educational applications, we decided to go a different route.

If an image is needed, Almanack inserts a placeholder and asks you, the user, to pick an image:

You can then click on the placeholder to select an image that would work:

This is a small step towards making Almanack more useful as a resource generator and as we add more visual elements, we’ll be keeping you up-to-date through this blog and through our social channels, so don’t forget to follow us!

We just completed Almanack’s integration with the Australian curriculum and thought it would be a good opportunity to delve into why curriculum integration with AI Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, is important.

Australian curriculum integration with Almanack

Australian curriculum integration has been in the works for over a month and we’re excited to announce that it is now ready for teachers to use in the Lesson Planning module.

This means that Almanack now supports the following curriculums:

• Australian Curriculum
• UK National Curriculum
• Cambridge Curriculum
• Ontario Curriculum

Why is curriculum integration with AI important?

Before making a significant investment towards integrating curriculums with Almanack, we took a step back and thought long and hard about whether the investment would be worth it. The answer, fortunately, was a resounding yes. Here are the top benefits that convinced us of the value of curriculum integration:

First, curriculum integration ensures that the course materials that Almanack creates are aligned with the learning expectations outlined in the curriculum. This makes it easy for a teacher to ensure that they are meeting curriculum objectives.

Second, curriculum alignment gives the AI well-defined confines to operate within. This makes it less likely for it to hallucinate. With hallucinations being one of the major problems associated with large language models (LLMs), anything that helps reduce them gets our thumbs up.

Third, curriculum integration equips the AI to evaluate student-submitted work against curriculum standards. This is how we see Almanack’s Grading module evolve, where it automatically creates rubrics based on the curriculum and evaluates student work based on those.

Calling early adopters in Australia!

We are working directly with teachers to develop features specific to Australia and the Australian curriculum. If you have any suggestions or ideas, we would love to hear from you. Please use the “Send Feedback” button on Almanack or send an email to feedback@almanack.ai.