AI course for teachers: plan lessons faster

A practical AI course for teachers shows you how to use ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to plan lessons, write worksheets and draft feedback faster, while keeping learner information out of the tools and checking content against your curriculum. You do not need to code, and you can start with a free weekend workshop.

This guide is for school teachers, college and university lecturers, and trainers who prepare and deliver lessons.

Key facts about our free AI workshop

• Free, live on Zoom, every weekend
• 3 hours, 12:00-15:00 SAST (10:00-13:00 UK, 11:00-14:00 CET), on Saturday or Sunday (you pick one)
• ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini on your own work
• No coding needed

What can teachers use AI for?

AI helps most with the preparation and admin that happens outside the classroom:

• Lesson plans. Turn a topic and an outcome into a structured lesson with an opening activity, main task and check for understanding.
• Worksheets and quizzes. Create practice questions at different levels of difficulty, with a memo you then check.
• Differentiation. Rewrite the same reading passage at a simpler level, or add extension questions for learners who finish early.
• Examples and explanations. Ask for three different ways to explain a concept, using everyday South African examples.
• Feedback banks. Draft general comments for common strengths and mistakes, which you then personalise.
• Letters and admin. Write parent letters, meeting agendas and department notices.

No coding needed. Join live: the questions and breakouts only happen live, and you leave with something you can use on Monday. Save my free seat.

What learner data should stay out of AI tools?

Learners' information deserves extra care, especially for children. Keep these out of public AI tools:

• Learner names, ID numbers and contact details
• Marks and reports tied to a named learner
• Health, learning support or family information
• Photos of learners or their work with names visible

If you want help with a learner's essay or a class's results, remove names first or use a tool your school or institution has approved. In South Africa, personal information, and especially information about children, is protected by the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). This is general information and not legal advice, so follow your school's or institution's policy and confirm your obligations with an attorney. Our guide to POPIA and AI at work explains more.

How do I check AI-made lesson content?

1. Match the curriculum. AI does not know exactly what your syllabus or assessment guidelines require. Compare every lesson and question with your own documents.
2. Check every fact and answer. AI makes errors in maths, science, dates and spelling conventions. Work through memos yourself.
3. Check the level. Make sure the vocabulary and difficulty suit your learners.
4. Check the context. Replace examples that do not fit South African learners or your community.

Should I worry about learners using AI to cheat?

It is a fair concern, and banning the tools rarely works for long. Many teachers are redesigning tasks so the thinking is visible: more work done in class, oral explanations, drafts submitted along the way and questions that ask learners to reflect on their own experience. Learning the tools yourself is the best way to know what they can and cannot do, and to teach learners to use them honestly. Follow your school's or institution's policy on AI use.

Can AI mark work for me?

Use AI to help you build rubrics, draft comment banks and spot common mistakes across anonymised samples. Do not let it give final marks to real learners. It can be inconsistent and it cannot see the context you know, so the final judgement and the responsibility stay with you.

Which AI tool should a teacher start with?

Start with whichever of ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini your school allows, or the free version of one. The prompt habits are the same in all of them. Our ChatGPT course guide and Claude AI course guide explain those habits in more detail.

What should I bring to the workshop?

Bring a lesson you are planning for the coming weeks, plus the outcome it needs to meet. You will build the plan, a worksheet and a memo live, and leave with prompts you can reuse for every lesson.

What does the free workshop cover?

Over three hours on Zoom you work through choosing the right tool, writing prompts that work, researching and drafting quickly, getting answers from your own documents, making images and slides, building your own AI assistant, automating a repetitive task, making a simple web app without code, and understanding AI agents. You leave with a 30-day plan. Our hosts have taught more than 12,000 people.

It runs every weekend, on Saturday and again on Sunday, so you can pick the day that suits you. The times are set for South Africa, and the UK and Europe times above work for learners there too.

No coding needed. Join live: the questions and breakouts only happen live, and you leave with something you can use on Monday. Save my free seat.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free AI course for teachers?

Yes. Upskill in AI runs a free live workshop on Zoom every weekend where you practise ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini on your own lessons.

Can I put learner work into ChatGPT?

Only with names and identifying details removed, or in a tool your school has approved. Learner information is protected by POPIA.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The tools work in plain language.