Diffit

Diffit does a great job of quickly putting together resources on just about any topic you can think of—though there is a focus on English, social studies, science, and art. You can input a prompt for a specific topic, upload a link to a website or video, or drop in your own text, and the AI backend will create a series of resources you can use in your classroom. These resources are in printable and digital formats. This is where the tool shines: It can create PDFs, Google Forms quizzes, bubble maps, workbooks, vocabulary choice boards, character analysis sheets, interactive slides, and so much more. These resources can be used  to introduce new topics, recap work already taught in class, organize thoughts on a larger research project, and more. It also stores past resources and searches to your account so that you can reference them later. Keep in mind that some of the resources and text the tool creates can be the same for all grades under fifth grade.

Diffit provides a number of resources for helping teachers understand how the tools work and how the content can be implemented in class. It also provides lots of options to personalize and edit the content to meet a class's needs. This is especially important given that all of the content is AI generated and needs to be reviewed for accuracy and appropriateness before it's presented to students (for example, the generator recommended that grade 11 students be asked to reflect on "when your own fatal flaw lead to a tragic event in your own life," which may not be appropriate for all students). 

However, the base materials provided can be a real timesaver for teachers and provide a starting point for discussions and engagement. The other advantage of Diffit (and one of its main marketing points) is the ability to take the same base content or topic and differentiate it for students at different reading levels. For example, you can put in a topic like "the water cycle" and have it generate materials at a second grade reading comprehension level (along with appropriate questions) and at an 11th grade reading level. Another great feature: The tool can display footnotes with sources upon request, which makes it stand apart from less reliably sourced AI tools. Again, though, it's important for the teacher to double-check the materials provided before giving them to students. 

Overall, Diffit does a good job generating base resources for teachers, but teachers need to take care before assembling the final product. While the tool is promising, it's still in beta and missing some of the features you'd expect to see in a tool made for education, such as feedback and reporting options. The free version is quite powerful and provides all but a few of the functions from the premium version. It's also worth noting that Diffit is most appropriate for language-based instruction, though it was able to handle some math questions as well.

Editor’s note: Never input personal, sensitive, or confidential information into a generative AI model. Any information you put in can become publicly available and used as training data for future iterations of the tool. If there is ever any doubt about whether or not to enter particular information, do not include it. Be aware of privacy settings on your device that might be helpful. Keep in mind that these tools often don’t have their own privacy settings.