As educators, our most precious resource is time. In the video "Education in the AI Era: Northern Ireland Teachers Save Up To 10 Hours a Week with Gemini," eLearning Consultant Chynel McCrink and Interim Locality East Lead Eamon McAteer share insights from a 6-month pilot program in Northern Ireland.
Here are three key takeaways for bringing AI into the classroom:
The 30 minute conversation covers a lot of helpful information about how to run a large scale, supportive pilot. Here are three key findings from eLearning Consultant Chynel McCrink and Interim Locality East Lead Eamon McAteer:
There was significant relief from administrative workload
The central finding of the pilot was that generative AI can save teachers up to 10 hours per week. By automating or accelerating routine administrative tasks—such as drafting communications, generating differentiated lesson materials, and structuring rubrics—educators reclaim valuable hours that can be reinvested directly into student mentorship and classroom engagement.
Thoughtful, paced training helped to tackle 'tool fatigue'
Successfully adopting AI across schools isn't just about granting tool access; it requires deliberate scaffolded training and clear guardrails. Taking an entire region along through structured pilot phases helps teachers build digital literacy, share peer-tested prompt strategies, and feel confident in using AI safely and ethically. Working groups were created, each led by a ‘champion’. Teachers met weekly, and were able to share what worked and what didn’t in a safe space, collaborating with fellow educators.
AI tools can help students see the 'bigger picture'
One of my favourite anecdotes from chatting with Eamon & Chynel was around how a teacher used the ‘mindmap’ feature in Gemini Notebook, to help a senior school student see the ‘bigger picture’ of tricky scientific concepts. Seeing how everything was interconnected allowed the student to understand how various disciplines interrelated with one another -- with the student ultimately declaring that ‘Notebook helped me to pass my GSCE exam’.
Watch the conversation to hear more about how this robust pilot was thoughtfully approached, iterated on in-flight, and what the EdIS team plan to do next.
Education in the AI Era: Northern Ireland Teachers Save Up To 10 Hours a Week with Gemini
