Module 3 · About 25 minutes

The new form of materials

Producing and assessing content with AI. In this module we take a single learning objective all the way through: Year 9 History, The Formation of Democratic Government. From visual to podcast, from assignment to rubric, the same topic throughout.

You can also complete this module by listening

The audio summary of this module was produced with the Madlen Podcast tool.

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What the research says

Multimedia is not wasted effort.

The effect of visual and audio materials on learning compared to text alone. In education research even 0.4 is considered significant; look at how the bars cross the threshold line.

Multimedia, average effect Cromley and Chen, 2025 · 181 studies, 591 effect sizes

g = 0.37

Advantage of verbal + visual presentation over text Ginns, 2005

d = 0.72

Effect of animation and video Noetel et al., 2021

g = 0.80

Converting the same topic into visual, audio and interactive formats isn't decoration, it's a measured learning gain. AI's greatest gift to teachers is bringing the cost of that conversion close to zero.

Tool map

Three waves, four years.

Wave 1 · 2022-2023

One tool, one task.

ChatGPT arrived and everyone copied and pasted.

Wave 2 · 2023-2024

Task-focused specialist tools.

Diffit, Curipod, MagicSchool, Gamma, NotebookLM.

Wave 3 · 2025-2026 · now

Integrated assistants inside the workflow.

One conversation, multiple tools. Madlen Assistant is in this wave.

The tools you need to know today.

None of them do everything. Choosing the right tool for the right job is itself a skill.

Tool	What for	Strength	Limitation
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini General chat	General conversation and text	Flexible, fast	Doesn't know your curriculum. Quality varies.
Gamma Presentations	Presentation creation	Fast design	No pedagogical awareness.
NotebookLM Source summarising	Source summarising, podcast	Document-based	Limited non-English support, no curriculum awareness.
MagicSchool Teacher toolkit	Teacher tool bundle	Wide tool set	Limited to English, no local curriculum.
Diffit Levelling	Text levelling	Fast adaptation	Single-task focused.
Madlen UK curriculum-aligned platform	UK national curriculum-aligned teacher platform	Curriculum built-in, natural English support	UK-focused.

Six rows listed. Use the chips to filter by task type.

Interactive · Don't use a tool without weighing it

Before choosing a tool: five criteria.

Run a quick check before bringing a new AI tool into your classroom. Think of a tool you have in mind, mark each criterion "yes" or "no", and see your result below.

Privacy and securityIs it appropriate for school policies and the pupil's age group? Where does the data go?

PedagogyDoes it offer a pupil-centred experience and align with the curriculum?

EngagementDoes it have a design that challenges pupils, is adaptive and visually appealing?

SupportDoes it offer tutorials, FAQs, progress tracking and differentiation options?

Bias and equityAre its outputs accurate and accessible for all pupils?

Interactive · Task map

What tasks can AI help teachers with?

Producing content is just the tip of the iceberg. Select a category, click on tasks; see the concrete equivalent of each one and, where relevant, a starter prompt. The golden rule for all of them: never enter real names or personal data.

Production pipeline

Let's take one topic all the way through.

Subject: Year 9 History · Unit: The Formation of Democratic Government · Learning objective: Pupils will analyse the causes and consequences of the establishment of democratic government from multiple perspectives. Each of the prompts below can be tried in Madlen Assistant; copy them with the copy button and adapt to your own topic. Try to spot the five components from Module 2 inside each prompt.

1 Visual material · Imagination Workshop ›

When? When the stock photos in the textbook aren't enough, when you need a custom visual for a historical moment, when you need to make an imaginary concept concrete, when you need imagery that reflects your class's diversity.

I want an illustration for a Year 9 History lesson showing the atmosphere inside a parliament chamber on the night a new democratic government was declared. Late evening, around 8:30 pm. The speaker is at the podium, members of parliament are standing and applauding, journalists are taking notes, gas lamp light is warm and yellow. It should be historically informed, in a watercolour-textured documentary illustration style, not a comic book. Clear and detailed enough for a class to put on a display board.

2 Audio material · Podcast Creation ›

When? For preparation listening at home, revision on the go, pupils with visual impairments or dyslexia, conveying emotion through tone of voice.

Prepare a 7-8 minute historical interview podcast for the same Year 9 pupils. Scenario: the morning after the declaration, a journalist catches a member of parliament on the street who was present in the chamber the night before and asks what happened. Two voices: an excited young journalist, a tired but proud parliamentarian. The language should be appropriate to the period but simple enough for today's pupils to understand. Let "what does a democratic republic mean, sir?" style pupil questions come through the journalist's voice.

NotebookLMStarts from a source, you need to upload a PDF. Limited non-English support, no curriculum awareness, produces a general two-person conversation.

Madlen PodcastStarts from the learning objective, works without uploading a source. Natural English, UK curriculum-aligned, pedagogy is built in from the start.

3 Interactive material ›

When? End-of-unit consolidation, mental review before a test, building an emotional connection to a topic, an energising moment in class. Madlen's Interactive Material tool converts key concepts into clickable explanations in video format; concepts like "national sovereignty" open up as pupils watch. Remember the effect graph at the start of the module: animation and video have the highest effect on learning at g = 0.80.

Interactive · Build your own pipeline

Run the same pipeline on your own topic.

The three prompts above were built around one history topic. Now type your own subject and topic and the same pipeline rewrites itself for you. Take them with the copy buttons and try them in Madlen Assistant or whichever tool you use.

Year group and subject Topic

Change either field and the three prompts below are rewritten. Use no real pupil names or personal data.

Assessment

Trying to detect it doesn't work.

The answer lies in assignment design, not detection.

Non-native English speakers' original writing is flagged that many times more often

AI detection tools

Simple text changes bring detection rates below this level

Independent tests

Ofqual, TEQSA

Regulators have issued warnings against trusting detection scores

Two routes for assignment design.

A · AI-resistant

Assignments AI can't complete alone

How? Local context, personal experience, oral defence. When? When you want to assess skill, at the end of term.

Design an assignment for a Year 9 pupil who has seen the above materials on democratic government. It should be something ChatGPT can't solve in 30 seconds, rooted in local context and the pupil's own observation. It should include an oral defence component.

B · AI-assisted

Assignments where AI is used openly and the process is also assessed

How? Prompts, outputs, critical reflection. When? During the term, when you want to teach working with AI.

Write an assignment for the same pupil who has seen the materials, this time one where they will openly use AI. I'll also assess how they used the AI. Ask them to submit prompts, outputs and critical reflection together.

Interactive · AIAS tool

What level of AI would you allow in this assignment?

The AI Assessment Scale (Perkins et al., 2023; 2024 revision) has been translated into 30+ languages and is used in hundreds of institutions. Read the scenario, select a level, and see the commentary.

Scenario: You're asking Year 9 pupils to prepare a presentation about the formation of democratic government, including a family member's memory of "life changed by democracy".

Final step

A rubric for the same package.

An open rubric means open expectations. We make the AI-assisted assignment measurable with this prompt:

Create a 4-criterion, 3-level rubric for the AI-assisted assignment above. Criteria: source accuracy, prompt quality, critical evaluation, personal voice.

Criterion	Beginning	Developing	Proficient
Source accuracy	No verification	Partially verified	All claims sourced
Prompt quality	Single generic prompt	Some components present	Five-component framework used deliberately
Critical evaluation	Output taken as-is	Surface-level correction	Errors identified and corrected with justification
Personal voice	No personal contribution	Limited commentary	Original connections and evaluation

Test yourself

Fill in the blanks.

In the age of AI, the answer to the cheating debate should be sought not in detection but in . At the end of term when you want to assess skill, design is recommended; when you want to teach working with AI, design is recommended. On the AIAS scale, the level where AI itself is the learning subject is called .

You want to assess pupils' analytical skills at the end of term. Which assignment design is more appropriate?

For skills assessment and end-of-term work, AI-resistant design is recommended. AI-assisted design comes into play during the term, when you want to teach working with AI. Relying on detection tools is not recommended in either case.

Module 3 complete.

Three questions, three answers: Why AI? How do you talk to it? What do you produce, how do you assess? You can try all the prompts from this module in Madlen Assistant, adapted to your own lessons. The next module draws the boundaries around all that production: which data never goes in, which output gets checked, which rule holds at your school.

Module 4: Responsible and ethical AI use → All modules