How can artificial intelligence support vocational education in practical ways? A useful starting point is an everyday teaching need: giving clearer feedback, understanding learning difficulties, or helping students explore course materials more actively.
Within AI4VET, we are developing the Edu-AI Tools Navigator to connect different categories of tools with concrete educational purposes. We want educators to understand how a tool could fit their lessons and support their learners. Two examples illustrate this approach: Gradescope for assessment and NotebookLM, now called Gemini Notebook, for interactive work with learning materials.
Gradescope supports the assessment of paper-based and digital assignments. Shared grading criteria and feedback can help educators approach marking more consistently, while question-level statistics can highlight topics that deserve further attention.
For supported questions in fixed-template PDF assessments, its AI can suggest groups of similar answers for teachers to review and grade. This feature requires an institutional licence.
In a vocational lesson, a teacher could use the results of a business costing exercise to identify calculations that need another explanation. Those findings could inform a follow-up activity, an additional worked example, or a discussion about how students approached the task. Teachers interpret the results and decide what support is appropriate.
NotebookLM, now Gemini Notebook, offers another starting point. By adding PDFs, notes, or other supported teaching materials, educators can explore summaries, ask questions about the content, and generate study guides. Source references help users return to supporting passages and check answers in context.
For example, marketing students could work with a teacher-selected campaign brief, ask about key concepts, and compare the generated explanations with the original document. A teacher-reviewed study guide could also help structure revision before a practical assignment.
These possible activities connect AI use with clear learning goals. Educators select the materials, guide the discussion, and help learners explain their reasoning. Personalisation and engagement depend on those pedagogical choices.
Through the Edu-AI Tools Navigator, we aim to make such choices easier to understand and explore. Start with one teaching need, consider a suitable tool, and reflect on how it supports learning.
Which would be more useful in your practice: support with assessment or a new way to explore course materials?
Explore the tools:
Gradescope
Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM
