Welcome back, TECHxas Toast readers!

Many of you will remember the “App Smashing” craze from the early days of iPads in the classroom. The idea was simple but revolutionary: instead of relying on one app to do everything, you’d use multiple apps, each for its specific strength, to create a final, more polished, or more functional product. Think recording a video in one app, editing it in another, and adding music from a third.

Well, guess what? The spirit of app smashing is alive and thriving in the world of Artificial Intelligence! With so many incredible, specialized AI tools available (many of them free!), the real magic happens when you start combining their powers. This isn’t just about using AI; it’s about orchestrating a team of AI assistants to create truly supercharged educational outputs.

Let’s dive into AI App Smashing and see how combining tools can elevate your teaching and learning products.

The Power of AI App Smashing

Just like with traditional app smashing, AI app smashing leverages the unique strengths of different AI models. No single AI tool is perfect for every task. Some excel at content generation, others at design, others at research, and some at specific pedagogical tasks. By chaining them together, you get:

• Higher Quality Outputs: Each AI contributes its best, leading to a more refined final product.
• Increased Efficiency: Automate different stages of a project with specialized AI tools.
• Enhanced Creativity: Spark new ideas and formats by experimenting with various AI capabilities.
• Personalization: Tailor each step to specific needs, from initial content to final presentation.

A Walkthrough: Smashing AI for a Stellar Rubric

Let’s illustrate with a common educator task: creating a rubric.

The Goal: A clear, comprehensive, and visually appealing rubric for a 5th-grade persuasive writing essay.

The AI App Smash:

1. AI Assistant 1: Content Generation (MagicSchool AI)
   • Task: Generate the core rubric content.
   • Action: Go to MagicSchool AI (or ChatGPT/Gemini) and use a prompt like: “Create a rubric for a 5th-grade persuasive essay. Include criteria for thesis statement, evidence and reasoning, organization, word choice, and conventions. Use a 4-point scale.”
   • Output: You’ll get a well-structured text-based rubric, complete with descriptors for each score level. This saves you significant time brainstorming and drafting.
2. AI Assistant 2: Design & Presentation (Canva’s Magic Studio)
   • Task: Turn the text-based rubric into a professional, engaging, and easy-to-read document.
   • Action: Copy the rubric text generated by MagicSchool AI. Head over to Canva.
     • Option A (Manual Design): Find a pre-designed rubric template in Canva, paste your AI-generated text into it, and customize colors, fonts, and graphics to match your style or classroom theme.
     • Option B (AI-Assisted Design – Magic Design): Use Canva’s Magic Design feature (part of Magic Studio). With a general prompt (e.g., “design a rubric for a 5th-grade persuasive essay”) and potentially pasting in some of the key rubric text, Canva can often suggest layouts and designs you can then fine-tune with your full AI-generated content.
   • Output: A visually appealing rubric document that’s easy for students and parents to understand, ready to be printed or shared digitally.

The Result: You’ve gone from a blank page to a perfectly structured and beautifully designed rubric in a fraction of the time it would have taken using traditional methods.

More AI App Smashing Ideas for Educators:

• Lesson Plan Blitz:
  1. ChatGPT/Gemini: Generate a lesson plan outline and objectives for a topic.
  2. MagicSchool AI: Expand on specific activities, generate warm-ups, or create exit tickets based on the outline.
  3. Canva: Design eye-catching slides or activity handouts based on the content.
• Multimedia Project Creation:
  1. ChatGPT/Gemini: Brainstorm a story idea or script for a historical event.
  2. Suno: Generate an original background song or jingle based on the story’s theme.
  3. Canva’s Magic Studio: Create visuals or short animated scenes to accompany the audio and script.
  4. Synthesia (Trial): Generate an AI avatar to narrate part of the script for a polished explainer video.
• Differentiated Reading Comprehension:
  1. Perplexity.ai: Find and summarize a current event article, with sources.
  2. Diffit: Adapt that article to three different reading levels.
  3. MagicSchool AI: Generate comprehension questions tailored to each reading level.
  4. Speechify: Create an audio version of each adapted text for auditory learners.

The New Frontier of Efficiency and Creativity

AI app smashing isn’t just a clever trick; it’s a strategic approach to leveraging the specialized intelligence of different tools. By combining their powers, educators can achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and create educational resources that are not only high-quality but also highly engaging and differentiated for every student.

So, open up those browser tabs, pick your favorite AI tools, and start smashing! You’ll be amazed at what you can create.

What are your favorite AI app smashing combos? Share your ingenious workflows in the comments below!

Note: This blog post was written with the assistance of Gemini, an AI language model.