Introduction

New technologies often find their way into the classroom. From printed textbooks and blackboards to television and computers, and now virtual reality, robotics, and AI, educators adopt the technologies of their time to support teaching and learning. This does not mean that newer technologies are inherently better or that all tech adoptions are broadly successful (remember MOOCs and synchronous virtual instruction?). Instead, every tool has unique capabilities and limitations, but how a new tool fits within your school's context and instructional needs is not always readily apparent. For instance, the needs of a 1st-grade teacher are not the same as those of a 10th-grade Biology teacher. As educators and school leaders, we want to choose effective tools, but in so doing, we often face constraints of time, budgets, attention, and support.

To make well-informed EdTech decisions, educators need objective comparisons of their options grounded in classroom experience, evidence-based practice, and transparent evaluation criteria that they can share and adapt for independent verification. However, to be clear, product comparisons only go so far, and the need for rigorous evaluation of a technology's effects on teaching and learning outcomes cannot be overstated. A technology that purports to support teaching and learning does so atop a bundle of propositions and assumptions that become the basis for action in the classroom. Educational technologies and the ideas they amplify, therefore, warrant rigorous evaluation.

These concerns are especially acute when considering the role of Generative AI in education—a technology in which the jargon and modes of practice are already finding their way into many school's daily work. There are already many popular tools built atop generative AI models, and they all have features and use cases that may help teachers in various circumstances. To name but a few for illustration:

• Curipod is a tool for designing interactive and engaging multimedia instruction.
• Diffit is an application for differentiating instructional materials to meet diverse learner needs.
• Brisk Teaching automates many aspects of a teacher's workflow through a Chrome Extension.
• SchoolAi provides diverse student-facing opportunities using AI chatbots as learning partners.
• Magic School AI integrates most of the above-listed features (lesson planning, multimedia, differentiation, a Chrome extension, and student-facing capabilities) to create an overall solution for teachers and students.
• Eduaide.Ai focuses on the intersection of evidence-based teaching, generative AI, and user interface to create a workspace for instructional design and educational resource creation.

Thus, in-depth product comparisons can be helpful in a field with such robust offerings. The following article, however, will compare only two tools from our list: Magic School AI and Eduaide.Ai. These are in no way the only two viable options, but they will be the focus of this specific article for precision and clarity. In future posts, we'll compare other solutions. The comparison will evaluate each platform's core features, functionality, user experience, and cost. Such a comparison is only a cursory glance at each platform's capabilities and limitations. It is in no way a substitute for testing the applications yourself and making decisions based on your unique needs. In other words, the usefulness of AI tools like those listed will be found in the practical difference they make in the lives of students, teachers, and administrators.

Disclosure: This comparison is written by the Eduaide team. While we strive for objectivity, readers should independently evaluate all options. We hope this article may serve as a resource in your decision-making since it suggests both Magic School and Eduaide for different use cases and explores their limitations. However, beyond a mere comparison, we cannot stress enough the need for more thorough and rigorous testing of AI tools to ensure they are fit for purpose in the classroom and align with evidence-based instructional practices.

As you can see, there are various contexts in which Large Language Models may assist the work of the teacher or provide additional personalized guidance for student learning (Wang et al., 2024).

Magic School Overview

MagicSchool is an AI-powered education platform explicitly designed for teachers to streamline their workload and enhance students' classroom learning experiences. By helping teachers with various tasks, from lesson planning and differentiation to assessments, workplace communications, and student-facing AI literacy, MagicSchool can automate workflows and purports to save teachers up to 10+ hours a week (MagicSchool.Ai, 2024).

Target Audience:

Pre-K through Post-Secondary Teachers and Students

Deployment:

Web Application & Chrome Extension

AI Specifications:

MagicSchool uses Adobe Express for image generation. For the other tools on the site, the company states, "[t]he platform can be powered by various models such as OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 and GPT 4, Anthropic’s Claude models, Google’s Gemini, and others (and is currently powered by multiple models)" (MagicSchool.Ai FAQ, 2024).

Key Features

Teachers have access to various tools to design comprehensive lesson plans, create differentiated instruction strategies, and integrate standards-aligned content. We suggest checking out the site to learn about the full range of planning resources (you can check out their complete list here), but we'll highlight a few that we feel Magic School does quite well.

Lesson Planning & Teacher Preparation

• Conceptual Understanding: Generate strategies to deepen student understanding of an objective or standard's core concepts. This tool works so well because it addresses a foundational concern in teaching and learning: the scaffolding of prior knowledge between concepts learned earlier in the course and those novel ones that require conceptual leaps from students.
• Group Work Generator: Specify the number of students participating, time for group work, and topic or objective to create a group work protocol aligned to your specific criteria.
• Magic School for Students Ideas: A clever integration between the teacher-facing and student-facing aspects of the platform. You can brainstorm ideas on how best to use the MagicStudent tools offered on the site.

Content Generation

• Image Generator: Use Adobe Express to create and edit AI-generated images to support instruction. More work will need to be done to evaluate AI-generated images against principles of effective multimedia instruction (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014). Still, these are solid foundations upon which MagicSchool will likely build further multimodal opportunities.
• Worksheet Generator: Create worksheets on any topic with an introductory explainer and various question types—a foundational component of drills or deliberate practice when used appropriately.

• Math Spiral Review: Generate review questions for math standards or topics. In the image below, you’ll see one of our tests of the platform’s math capabilities with the following standard:

  Common Core State Standard Math HSF.IF.B.4 For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship.

Assessment Questions

Generate assessment questions aligned with curriculum standards. These tools help create various question types, from multiple-choice to open-ended questions, supporting diverse assessment strategies.

Communication Supports

Access resources and templates for AI-assisted communication through tools like "e-mail family," "class newsletter," "report card comments," and "teacher observations."

Student-Facing Resources

Through the Magic Student interface, teachers can facilitate student use of AI. The platform engages students in teacher-monitored rooms to:

• Learn how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively.
• Engage in learning experiences enhanced by generative AI.
• Build practical skills in using AI to support their education.

Raina (Chatbot)

An AI assistant with an instructional coach persona. This tool is fully integrated into most aspects of the MagicSchool workflow. The model is trained on "best practices for educators" and denies non-educational requests. It may be more fit for purpose than ChatGPT or some other foundational model chatbot that lacks fine tuning or retrieval augmentation.

Chrome Extension

The extension allows teachers to access features like lesson planning, quiz generation, and communication tools with a single click right in their browser, aiming to save time and streamline the workflow for creating classroom materials.

Eduaide.Ai Overview

Eduaide.Ai is an application for AI-assisted lesson planning—a workspace that integrates evidence-based instructional design principles with the power of generative AI. Eduaide is teacher-facing and gives educators access to over 100 different teaching resources and learning objects to be freely revised, reused, remixed, and stacked together to create unique sequences of instruction that the teacher can control and customize through a built-in editor and a suite of personalization tools.

Target Audience:

Pre-K through Post-Secondary Teachers

Deployment:

Web Application

AI-Specifications:

GPT-4o, GPT 4o mini, and the Claude 3 class of models as redundancy. Additionally, Eduaide uses a technique called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to provide models with a corpus of instructional research and examples to enhance the relevance and accuracy of generated texts. Another resource to understand Eduaide's approach to AI deployment would be the literature on Large Language Models for prompt optimization (Yang et al., 2023).

Key Features

Content Generator

A collection of over 75 generative educational resources for teachers to create, reuse, revise, remix, and differentiate. The tools are organized across a taxonomy of instructional acts.

Lesson Planning

1. Align Instruction with Learning Goals: Tools like Learning Objectives + Success Criteria and Rubrics help teachers unpack state standards and define expected outcomes and assessment criteria.
2. Lesson Planning Frameworks: The lesson seed tool enables educators to explore various methods and techniques. Frameworks like the 5 E's and Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction provide research-based approaches to organizing lessons.
3. Assess Student Progress: Assessment Measures, Evidence Statements, and Rubrics provide tools for systematically evaluating student learning over time.
4. Differentiate Instruction: Prior Knowledge + Scaffolding tools help teachers identify students' existing knowledge and provide appropriate support, allowing for instruction that meets diverse learner needs.
5. Plan Structured Units of Study: Unit Plans with distributed practice protocols help teachers organize instruction over extended periods, ensuring coherence and deliberate progression in learning.

Information Objects

1. Scaffold Learning: Tools like Sentence Stems and Notes Outlines provide structured frameworks that support students in organizing their thoughts and expressing ideas.
2. Visualize Complex Concepts: Anchor Charts, Elaborated Analogies, and Demonstrations help students create mental models and visual representations of abstract ideas.
3. Reinforce Essential Information: Vocabulary Lists, Informative Texts with Questions, and Acronyms provide concise, organized overviews of essential information for quick reference or deeper review.
4. Facilitate Structured Instruction: Direct Instruction Scripts and Slide Outlines provide teachers with tools to develop engaging direct and explicit instruction.

Independent Practice

1. Problem-Solving and Reasoning: Tools like C.E.R. (Claim-Evidence- Reasoning), "Assignment With Mistakes," and Source Analysis Questions challenge students to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments, promoting higher-order thinking skills.
2. Differentiate Instruction and Support Diverse Learner Needs: Resources such as Leveled Readings, Choice Board Assignments, and Extension Worksheets allow teachers to design practice around individual student needs, ensuring an appropriate cognitive challenge for all learners—placing students in that zone of proximal development.
3. Abstract Concepts to Real-World Applications: "Real-world" Examples, Mock Budgets, and Scenario Assignments help students bridge theoretical knowledge and practical application.
4. Language and Communication Skills: Tools like Phonetics Sentences, Mad Libs, and Tongue Twisters offer engaging ways to practice language skills, supporting development in phonological awareness, vocabulary, and verbal fluency.
5. Metacognition and Self-Reflection: Journaling outlines, Portfolio Assignment protocols, and Exemplar Essay Reviews encourage students to think about their learning processes, promoting self-awareness and metacognitive skills crucial for independent thinking and lifelong learning.

Cooperative Learning

1. Social Cognition & Perspective-Taking: Tools like Role-Play Scenarios, Social Situation Skits, and Mock Interviews allow students to engage in simulated real-world interactions. This will enable students to practice and develop their interpersonal communication skills and their ability to understand and navigate diverse social contexts and solve problems within those contexts.
2. Collaborative Problem Solving & Argumentation: Debate tools, Compass Conversation Pieces, and Think-Pair-Share activities encourage processes related to forming and articulating arguments, considering multiple perspectives, and engaging in constructive dialogue.

Gamification & Questions

Active Learning and Engagement: Tools like Quest-Based and Interactive Review Games promote active participation, problem-solving, and collaboration.

Scaffolding Higher-order Thinking: Deep Questions, Scenario-Based Questions, and Taxonomy Scaffolding tools help teachers guide students from lower to higher levels of complexity.

Reinforce Knowledge through Varied Retrieval Practice: Gamification tools like Jeopardy Style, Bingo, and various question types (Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, etc.) offer diverse ways for students to recall and apply information.

Assistant:

A comprehensive suite of AI-enhanced resources to support various aspects of their professional duties, accessibility efforts, wellness initiatives, and administrative tasks

Communication and Documentation:

1. Create class announcements, newsletters, and email outlines.
2. Generate report card comments and student updates.
3. Develop syllabi, letters of recommendation, and substitute plans.

Accessibility:

1. Research evidence-based interventions, accommodations, and inclusive strategies.
2. Outline IEP, S.M.A.R.T. goal, and behavioral intervention plan templates (these are broad structural documents to be downloaded for later offline use).

Wellness and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL):

1. Design conversation circles, empathy prompts, and SEL activities.
2. Create digital citizenship lessons, team-building activities, and school improvement projects.

Feedback Bot

Provide students with timely, specific, and actionable feedback using one of Eduaide's stock feedback reports or by importing your rubric.

1. Typographic Feedback: Identify spelling and grammar errors and provide corrections and explanations.
2. Syntactical Feedback: Evaluate sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, syntax, and overall writing mechanics and cohesion.
3. Semantic Feedback: Argumentation, logical structure, reasoning, and rhetorical skills in academic writing.
4. Custom Feedback: A place for you to bring in your rubric for GPT 4o to use as the basis for its feedback to students.

Eduaide Chat

Chatbot is optimized to draw from a corpus of learning sciences literature on such varied topics as cognitive load theory, early childhood language learning, and multimedia instructional principles to effective learning techniques, classroom management strategies, and subject-specific methods.

Assessment Builder

Create assessment items tailored to specific outcomes, measures, or standards and export them to the Eduaide workspace for refinement and personalization.

Comparison

Differentiation Between Magic School and Eduaide.Ai

Regarding features and functionality, both products have diverse offerings for teachers in various contexts. At Magic School, all tools are offered to all teachers, while at Eduaide.Ai, there is variation in instructional materials tailored to specific subjects and grade levels. Both platforms enable you to sort and order tools and save your favorite tools to the top of your workspace, with only Magic School offering search capabilities.

Both platforms keep an output history for you to reference your created materials. On Magic School, free users can access their five most recent generations, while Magic School Plus users have unlimited access. Eduaide.Ai provides both free and Pro users unlimited access to their output history.

In comparing Magic School AI and Eduaide.Ai, it's clear that both platforms offer a range of AI-powered tools to support teaching and learning. Both platforms share a common goal—to use generative AI to enhance the teaching and learning experience—their approaches, founding philosophies, and feature sets have notable differences that may make one better suited for specific contexts.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the "best" choice between these platforms will depend on each school or educator's specific needs, existing tech ecosystem, pedagogical philosophy, and budget. This comparison provides only a starting point for considering these tools and is no substitute for hands-on evaluation. Regardless of the platform chosen, the successful implementation of AI in education requires ongoing monitoring, teachers in the loop, rigorous evaluation, refinement, and professional development. As the field rapidly evolves, educators must stay aware of emerging best practices and be willing to iterate on their use of these tools. Sharing experiences and data across school communities will be foundational to building our collective understanding.

Comparative analyses like this can play a valuable role in shaping the development of educational AI tools. While this comparison focused on Magic School AI and Eduaide.Ai for clarity, readers should also explore other notable platforms like Curipod, Diffit, and Brisk Teaching to find the best fit for their needs. By clearly articulating educator requirements and rigorously evaluating the efficacy of different approaches, we can guide the technology to deliver on its transformative potential for learning. With thoughtful implementation guided by empirical evidence and educator insight, AI has the potential to meaningfully support the work of teaching. Still, its practical impact will vary based on the specific tool and context.