You don't need to revolutionize your teaching to benefit from AI. You don't even need to change how you use it in the classroom. These five strategies are about using AI to save you time on the work that happens before and after class—the administrative and prep work that eats into your evenings and weekends.
Each of these takes less than 10 minutes to try. Pick one and start today.
1. Generate Discussion Questions from Your Readings
You've assigned a chapter or an article. Now you need 5-8 discussion questions that go beyond comprehension and push students toward analysis and evaluation. AI is remarkably good at this.
Try this prompt: "I'm teaching [course name]. Students have read [title/topic]. Generate 6 discussion questions at Bloom's analysis and evaluation levels. Include one question that connects the reading to current events and one that asks students to challenge the author's argument."
You'll still want to edit—maybe one question doesn't fit your class dynamics, or you want to reframe another to connect to last week's discussion. But starting with a solid draft beats staring at a blank page at 10 p.m.
2. Create First-Draft Rubrics
Writing rubrics from scratch is tedious. AI can generate a detailed rubric in seconds that you can then customize to your specific expectations.
Try this prompt: "Create an analytic rubric for a 5-page argumentative research paper in a college composition course. Include criteria for: thesis clarity, evidence quality, source integration, counterargument, organization, and mechanics. Use 4 levels: Excellent, Proficient, Developing, Beginning. Include specific descriptors for each cell. Format as a table."
The AI-generated rubric won't perfectly match your standards on the first try, but it gives you a complete structure to modify rather than building from zero. Most faculty report this saves 30-60 minutes per rubric.
3. Draft Feedback on Student Work
This one requires care, but it's powerful. You can paste a student's paragraph or section into AI and ask for feedback suggestions—then review and personalize them before sharing with the student.
Try this prompt: "A first-year student wrote the following paragraph for an argumentative essay on climate policy. Suggest two specific strengths and two areas for improvement. Frame feedback as questions, not directives. Keep the tone encouraging and specific. [paste paragraph]"
Important: Never send AI-generated feedback directly to students without reviewing it. The AI doesn't know your student, their growth trajectory, or the specific goals of your assignment. Use AI feedback as a starting point for your own professional judgment, not a replacement for it.
4. Build Practice Problems and Study Guides
Need 20 practice problems for an exam review session? A study guide that hits the key concepts from the last three weeks? AI can produce these in minutes, across difficulty levels.
Try this prompt: "Create 15 practice problems for an introductory statistics exam covering descriptive statistics, probability, and hypothesis testing. Include 5 easy (calculation-based), 5 medium (application), and 5 hard (interpretation and analysis). Provide an answer key with brief explanations. Format each problem clearly with space for student work."
This is especially useful for STEM courses where creating novel problem sets is time-consuming. You'll want to verify the solutions—AI occasionally makes calculation errors—but the structure and variety save significant prep time.
5. Differentiate Materials for Different Learners
You have students at different levels in the same class. Creating multiple versions of the same material is ideal but usually impractical. AI makes it feasible.
Try this prompt: "I have a reading on [topic] written at a college level. Rewrite the key concepts at a high school reading level, preserving accuracy but simplifying vocabulary and sentence structure. Add a glossary of 5 key terms with plain-language definitions."
You can also go the other direction: "My advanced students need additional challenge. Based on this topic, create three extension questions that require synthesis with concepts from [related topic] and application to a real-world scenario."
The Key Principle
Notice that none of these five strategies involve AI in the classroom or in student assignments. These are all about making your workflow more efficient so you can spend more time on what matters: connecting with students, providing personalized guidance, and doing the deeply human work that AI can't do.
Start with one. Try it this week. If it saves you even 20 minutes, imagine what all five could do across a semester.