VR/AR and AI

Before this week’s module readings and lecture, I had not considered the uses of VR or AR in the library.  My children play with a VR system at home and love it.  Librarians are central to the concept of instituting VR/AR systems and teaching fellow educators about AI tools.  Young (2020) highlights that librarians must assess the need for a VR or AR system in the school, evaluate its usefulness in different classrooms, and then educate the teachers on how to use the system.  Through this type of professional development, librarians are satisfying a critical need in the school (Young, 2020). 

Diffit

The Diffit application is an AI tool that can assist with reading proficiency. Diffit provides texts to students at different reading levels and can also offer alternative languages for texts.  Diffit is user friendly and it is free.  A user can search by topic, a specific article, or a text excerpt (Malespina, 2024). I used Diffit to search for a general topic on ‘volcanos’ and selected the reading proficiency at a 2nd-grade level.  The search provided me with text regarding volcanos, key terms, a summary, teacher activities and worksheets, and questions to ask students, all geared towards a 2nd-grade reader.  The search provided results in under 2 minutes.  It was astounding to me, the amount of resources that were provided in that limited time.   It is not a new concept that educators are busy and tired of trying to reinvent the wheel.  Diffit can help teachers make detailed lessons and teach text that is geared toward the students’ reading levels (Breisacher, 2024).  As a kindergarten assistant, I witness the varying levels of students’ reading capabilities.  I can see the effectiveness of Diffit in the classroom by creating lessons that are geared towards individual learners.  The following two blog posts highlight how to use Diffit in the classroom and also why you should be using the application.

https://elissamalespina.substack.com/p/diffit-for-teachers

https://www.studentcenteredworld.com/diffit/

References

Breisacher, J. (2024, January 16). Diffit for teachers: Differentiated with an AI tool. Student-centered world. https://www.studentcenteredworld.com/diffit/

Malespina, E. (2024, January 8). Diffit for teachers. The AI school librarians newsletter. https://elissamalespina.substack.com/p/diffit-for-teachers

Young, L.J. (2020, April 7). Get the most from AR/VR technology without breaking the budget. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/get-the-most-from-ar-vr-technology-without-breaking-budget-library