Episode 1, 2026: John Dolman, The AI English Teacher – 5 Ways Students Can Use AI to Learn
In this episode, we sit down with John Dolman, The AI English Teacher, who shares five practical ways students can use AI to enhance learning rather than shortcut it.
Take 1: Have the Dialogue Start by simply talking with students about their AI use. Focus groups and surveys help uncover whether students are using AI effectively or not. Avoid assumptions—understanding their habits gives you data to guide discussions and teaching.
Take 2: The Socratic Tutor Use AI as a guided tutor. LLMs can walk students through topics, answer questions, and summarize learning. The key is crafting prompts that position the AI as a Socratic tutor, e.g., “Explain this topic with questions and answers and summarize in 3–4 bullet points.” This encourages dialogue, comprehension, and active learning rather than passive reading.
Take 3: The Quizmaster AI is excellent for quizzing and memorization—key for building knowledge schemas. Students can create flashcards, interactive quizzes, or even games like Jeopardy. Ground the AI with specific content or exam material, and use it as a sparring partner in groups. This turns study into an interactive, engaging process while reinforcing knowledge.
Take 4: The Essay Explainer Instead of generating essays, students can use AI to analyze structure. Feed in high-quality essays or model answers and have the AI break them down into components, scaffolds, or step-by-step reasoning. This exposes the underlying patterns in good writing, encourages metacognition, and helps students understand how to structure their own work. AI can also show its “thinking” for each step, helping students explore strategies and techniques.
Take 5: The Feedback Loop AI is most effective when used for feedback, not creation. After students write their work, AI can provide critiques and suggestions based on specifications, model answers, or examiner reports. The goal is to identify patterns, understand strengths and weaknesses, and then make improvements independently. Think of AI like a personal trainer: it guides, advises, and critiques, but the learning happens when the student takes action themselves.
Links
Learn more about John Dolman: https://theaienglishteacher.wordpress.com/
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