Control Alt Achieve: EdTech Cool Tool

This post is Day 18 of my "Cool Tools 2023" series where we are exploring some of the year's best tools for teaching and learning.

This year we are focusing on artificial intelligence tools and how they can be used in schools.

You can access all of the cool tools in the series as they come out at bit.ly/cool-tools-23 and in this Google Slideshow.

For this entry in the series we are taking a look at: Mizou

See below for details, directions, uses, and links for this artificial intelligence resource. If you have used this tool, please consider sharing your experiences, how you have used it, tips, tricks, and more.

▶️ Video Demo (17 minutes)

💬 Mizou

mizou.com

Mizou is is a free tool that allows your students to have safe, monitored interactions with educational Ai chatbots.

In short, here is how Mizou works:

As a teacher you set up a free account for yourself.
Next you select a premade AI chatbot or create one of your own.
You then share the invite link with the students so they can participate in the AI activity.
Note: Students do not sign in or get an account.
While the students engage in the activity, you can monitor their interactions.
At the end of the activity the AI provides a grade for the student based on their interactions with the chatbot and the rubric you set up.

Using a Pre-Made Chatbot

Mizou provides dozens of pre-made chatbots to choose from. You can simply browse down through the list of chatbots, or you can narrow down the selection by choosing the grade level, from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Some examples of pre-made chatbot include:

Adventures in Adding with Addie - Discover the wonders of adding numbers through interactive challenges, fun games, and colorful visuals.
Zoom the Zoologist's Guess the Animal Adventure - In this delightful virtual journey, children join Zoom, a friendly zoologist, in a game where they guess the names of various animals through fun hints and engaging pictures.
Rhyme Ranger Rosie's Word Wonderland - Through exciting games, friendly challenges, and creative activities, young learners will discover the magic of words that sound alike.
Mummification: Become an Embalmer - In this creative assessment, students will engage in a role play, completing training to become an embalmer. They will explain the process and function of each step of mummification, sequencing the events in order.
StoryWorld - A Muse that guides students through creating their own story, helping them choose characters, settings, and plot twists to craft a unique tale.
Flight: Lift & Weight - You learn from an Aeronautical engineer about the forces of weight & thrust.
Math Quest: Area & Perimeter Edition - Meet Professor Geo, your friendly guide on this thrilling adventure. Join us as we embark on an interactive journey to uncover the secrets of area and perimeter.
Anne Frank: What Really Happened to Me - In this role play assignment, you will be interviewing Holocaust survivor, Anne Frank.
DEBATE: Are Cats Better Than Dogs? - In this assignment, you will review articles and narratives about cats and dogs. You will prepare relevant evidence and reasoning for whether cats are better than dogs.
Journey Through the Human Heart - An interactive guide that takes students on a virtual tour of the human heart, explaining the different parts and functions of the circulatory system.
The Misinformation Maze - Students navigate through a series of scenarios involving synthetic media. They must make decisions based on their media literacy skills to advance, helping them understand the impact of misinformation.
Abigail Adams Debate: Women's Challenges in the US Constitution's Creation - This debate helps students learn about the struggles and contributions of women like Abigail Adams during a crucial period in our nation's past.
Meet Robert Frost - In this assignment, students will interview the poet, Robert Frost, to learn about his poems, his life, and his opinions about the world.

When you find a chatbot that looks interesting, click the "Try Now" button to test it out.
If you want to be able to use the chatbot with your students, click "Add to library" to add it to your list of chatbots to use later.

Create Your Own Chatbot

Instead of using one of the pre-made chatbots, you can create your own to meet the needs of your students. When you click the "Create Chatbot" button you will get two choices:

Al-Generated - Mizou will create the prompt based on your learning objectives.
Custom - You will create the prompt from scratch

We will look at both of these options below...

Create Your Own Chatbot with AI

If you choose to have AI assist you with creating the chatbot, you will get a screen where you need to add just two items:

Grade Level - Specify the grade level to adapt the interaction appropriately.
Learning Objectives - Describe the specific skill or knowledge that the student is expected to acquire by the end of the interaction.

After you enter those items, click "Get Ideas" to have the AI generate several possible scenarios for the chatbot.

Simply select the idea that you like best, and the AI will now finish building the entire chatbot.
If you wish, you can edit any of the details for the final chatbot.
These details include Title, Grade Level, Learning Objectives, AI Instructions, Rules, Knowledge, Picture, AI Name, Welcome Massage, Timer, Audio, Grading Rubrics, Short Description, Instruction for Student, and more.
You can also test out the chatbot in the preview window on the right to see if it is doing what you need.

Once everything looks good, click "Publish" to save the chatbot for use with your students.
You can choose to have the chatbot only accessible to you (and your students) or you can publish it so that anyone can find and use it.

Create Your Own Chatbot from Scratch

Another option is to create the entire chatbot from scratch. This gives you the most control over the experience for your students, but will also be the most amount of work. If you choose the option to create a custom chatbot from scratch, these are all the fields you will be able to edit...

Standards Section

Title - Add a title to represent the chatbot experience. It should be explanatory and engaging for the student to motivate them to start.
Grade Level - Specify the grade level to adapt the interaction appropriately.
Learning Objectives - Describe the specific skill or knowledge that the student is expected to acquire by the end of the interaction.

Format Section

AI Instructions - Clearly define the roles and responsibilities for both the chatbot and the student, including what they should do, how they should do it, when these actions should take place etc.
Rules - Delineate the guidelines for actions that the chatbot and student should or should not undertake.
Knowledge - By uploading files, you enable the chatbot to use the content from these files. The Chatbot automatically decides when to retrieve content based on user interaction.

Customization Section

Picture - Add an image that the chatbot should use to represent itself for chatting.
AI Name - Provide a name for the chatbot that matches your instructions.
Welcome Message - Add a welcoming message that the chatbot should always start with.

Tools Section

Timer - Specify the duration of the interaction between the student and the chatbot.
Audio - Enabling audio lets students talk to the chatbot and have the chatbot speak aloud, useful for language practice or those who prefer speaking. The chatbot can speak with two voices, either John or Emma.
Grading Rubrics - Provide all the grading criteria that the AI should consider when evaluating the student's performance.

Details Section

Thumbnail - Add a thumbnail to represent the entire chatbot experience. It should be engaging for the student to motivate them to start.
Short description - Provide a concise yet informative description that introduces and defines the chatbot's experience and purpose to the student.
Instruction for the student - Provide the instruction for the student that they can follow before to starting.

Mizou has provided a detailed set of directions and recommended text that you can copy and edit as needed for creating your own chatbot from scratch. You can access that helpful document below:

Mizou Bot - Copy Paste Tweak- PDF link

Starting a Session for Students

When you are ready to have your students interact with the chatbot, go to your list of chatbots and click the "New Session" button.

This will open a pop-up window with a link to access the session.
Click the "Copy" button to copy the link.
Now simply give this link to your students so they can join the session.
You can share the link through Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, email, or whatever method works best for you and your students.

Student Session

When a student clicks the link they will be taken to screen where they will enter their name to begin the activity.
Note: The student does not create an account or sign into an account.

From here on out the student will simply chat with the AI to work through the guided educational activity.

The AI will share information and ask questions.
If audio is enabled for the activity, the student can click the play button to have the AI's text read aloud.
The student will then respond to the AI's questions.
If the student does not know an answer, it is ok to simply say so, as the AI will adjust to meet the student where they are at and help bring them along.
If audio is enabled the student can click the microphone button to dictate their answers rather than typing if they wish.

When done with the activity, the student can click the exit button in the top right.
If the activity had a timer set, then it will end when the time runs out.

Reviewing Student Sessions

You can review the student sessions to see exactly what each student has typed, as well as see the grade given to the student from the AI.

Go to "My Chatboots" then click on the "Sessions" link for the chatbot you are using.
Choose the session you wish to open.
You will now see a list of all the students who have joined this session including:

Student names
AI Suggested Grade - Based on your rubric
Duration - How long the student was in the activity
Submitted - How long ago the student completed the activity
Status - When the student is still in the activity or if they have exited it

You can click on a student to see more details including:

A detailed narrative from the AI explaining the rationale for the grade the student was given and how the student interacted during the session.
The exact transcript of the chat between the AI and the student.

💰 Pricing

Mizou is currently free for teacher and students to use.

🧰 Resources

Mizou website - mizou.com
Mizou Facebook Community Group - facebook.com/groups/mizouteachers

Be sure to check out the other blog posts in the "Cool Tools 2023" series at bit.ly/cool-tools-23 and in the Google Slideshow.

For additional AI videos, resource documents, blog posts, and more, be sure to check out my main AI resource page at:

www.controlaltachieve.com/ai

And if you are looking for AI professional development, please consider bringing me to your school, organization, or conference. I have a wide range of AI-related training sessions which you can see in my PD catalog here:

bit.ly/curts-pd

Post by Eric Curts

📮 Join the "Control Alt achieve" email discussion group

💬 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" Facebook group - bit.ly/caa-fb

🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

📰 Sign up for my email newsletter

🐦 Connect on socials: Threads - Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Instagram - Mastodon - Bluesky

▶️ Subscribe to my YouTube channel

📧 Reach out through email - ericcurts@gmail.com

📗 Check out my "Control Alt Achieve" book

🔗 See my "EdTech Links of the Week" - bit.ly/caa-links

🏫 Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 70 PD sessions to choose from