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5 ways that AI can help students and useful free AI tools
6 minute read

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the world, and education is no exception. AI can be a helping hand for students worldwide, so they can learn more effectively and efficiently.
Here are five ways that AI is changing how we learn, and how you can embrace the power of artificial intelligence in your studies.
1. Use AI to write stand-out essays
Brand new AI tools like Chat GPT and Bard are game-changers when it comes to essays. Use them to help you brainstorm ideas by generating a list of related topics, concepts, and examples.
This can help you to come up with a unique and interesting angle all of your own. They’re also handy for organising your thoughts if you’re in a bit of a muddle.
Remember though, AI is not a replacement for human creativity. So while tools like Chat GPT can be a great starting point, they can’t do all the work for you. You still need to come up with your own ideas, do your own research, and come to your own brilliant conclusion.
Transform your essays with these AI tools
- Chat GPT: ChatGPT is a powerful language model from OpenAI that can communicate and generate human-like text. It uses ‘deep learning’ to understand and respond to questions, making it super useful for getting quick answers to complex questions that might take you hours to find with Google alone.
Cost: Free
- Bard: Another AI powered writing assistant, Google’s Bard can help students by offering topic suggestions, outline structures and brainstorming ideas to help kickstart the essay writing process. Bard can also help students strengthen their arguments by offering relevant examples, counter-arguments and supporting evidence from its vast knowledge base.
Cost: Free
- Grammarly: Grammarly is a great tool to help with long answer exam questions. Grammarly doesn’t just check spelling and grammar; students can paste their practice exam answers into Grammarly and it will suggest alternate phrases and sentence restructuring to help improve their writing overall.
Cost: use Grammarly for free, or upgrade to Premium for £10 a month
Download Grammarly on iOS and Android
2. Get a headstart on your exam prep
Now students can be more prepared than ever to take on exam season with simulated assessments powered by AI.
Forget learning from the mark schemes, now AI can help students study by creating challenging questions that simulate those they might face in their exams. This can help them identify areas where they might need extra practice while developing the test-taking skills they need to keep calm and sail through their assessments.
Prepare for your next exam with these AI tools
- Khan Academy: An AI-powered simulated assessment platform that helps students prepare for exams in a variety of subjects, including maths, science and history. Khan Academy uses machine learning to build personalised tests that are tailored to each student. It even provides feedback on areas where students might need more practice.
Cost: Free
Download Khan Academy on iOS and Android
- Cram.com: An AI-powered interactive flashcard system that helps students study for tests. Using flashcards, Cram tests students at various levels of difficulty using methods like multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and exam question simulation so they can make the most out of their study sessions.
Cost: Free
**Download Cram on iOS or Android
3. Give your study a personal touch
AI can help students learn in the best way for them. By tracking progress and identifying areas that need more work, AI can help students learn at their own pace and in their own way.
By delivering lessons through different types of activities such as videos, quizzes, and games, AI-powered learning platforms can help students stay engaged and motivated. They can also help students with learning differences, such as dyslexia and ADHD, by teaching them in different ways.
Personalise your learning with these AI tools:
- Alta by Knewton: An AI-powered adaptive learning platform that helps students learn at their own pace and in their own way. Alta by Knewton uses machine learning to personalise lessons for each student, creating structured courses to help accelerate your study.
Cost: $9.95 per month (cancel anytime)
**Download the Knewton Academy app on Android
- Speechnotes by Chrome: Google Chrome’s Speechnotes add-on is probably the best free speech-to-text dictation software out there. Dyslexic students, or those that struggle with writing, can use Speechnotes to transcribe lectures instead of taking notes, or can even dictate essays and exams. Speechnotes is available on desktop or as an exclusive Android app.
Cost: Free (not yet available on iOs)
**Get the Speechnotes app on Android
4. Accelerate your research
AI can also be used to help students find relevant sources and information with ease. This can be especially helpful for students working on research for a paper or project, or who need to examine sources from across the globe.
AI-powered search engines can be used to find relevant articles, books, and websites. They can also be used to translate documents into different languages.
Start researching with these AI tools:
- Elicit: Elicit is an AI-powered literature review tool. Students can type in a query and Elicit will gather all the relevant papers and a small summary of each one. Elicit uses semantic similarity as well as keyword match, so typing ‘mindfulness’ will also bring up results for ‘meditation’ and ‘wellness’.
Cost: Free online
- EndNote: EndNote is an excellent AI tool for students to organise their citations and references. Students can tag each individual reference with their own category to personalise the organisation and make it easier to learn. EndNote also interfaces with Google Docs and can automatically create in-text citations.
Cost: Free online
- Google Translate: Some of the most valuable resources for students can be in a different language; that’s where Google Translate comes in. Students can translate text, images, documents and entire websites into any language offered by Google Translate, and it also comes with a speech translation option.
Cost: Free!
Download Google Translate on iOS or Android
5. Lose yourself in VR learning experiences
VR can help students learn in a more engaging way. This can be especially helpful for students who are studying subjects like history, archaeology, and anthropology, enabling them to experience historic or far-flung environments ‘first-hand’.
Journey into your edu-future with these free VR tools
- Google Expeditions: Google Expeditions is an AI-powered VR learning platform that allows students to explore historical sites, natural wonders, and other places around the world. It uses machine learning to create immersive experiences that are educational and engaging.
Cost: Free online
- VR Museum of Fine Art: Powered by Steam, the VR Museum of Fine Art lets students get up close and personal with some of the most famous artworks in the world. The use of AI means students can touch the artworks and see them without crowds of people or glass panelling.
Cost: Free online
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