Canva Launches AI Tools for Education, Free for K-12 Students and Teachers
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Australian startup Canva recently launched 'Classroom Magic,' an AI tool designed specifically for teachers and students to improve efficiency and creativity in education. This tool is part of Canva's educational product line and is offered free to K-12 students, teachers, and school districts. This move signifies Canva's active push into the educational technology (edtech) sector, aiming to meet the demands of this field.
Canva's 'Classroom Magic' introduces a range of AI features, including 'Magic Write,' a generative AI tool that allows students and teachers to quickly select actions from a dropdown menu, such as summarizing text, expanding short text into longer formats, rewriting text, and altering tone. Additionally, 'Magic Animate' enables students and teachers to transform static text into dynamic text and automatically add transitions to presentations.
Another feature, 'Magic Grab,' can automatically detect different elements and objects in images, allowing users—teachers or students—to move, resize, and reposition them, even if they were not initially separate elements. There's also 'Magic Switch,' which allows users to convert projects across formats, such as turning documents into presentations, saving time. To improve accessibility, Canva's 'Classroom Magic' also provides automatic 'alt text' suggestions to help visually and hearing-impaired individuals better understand displayed elements.
The edtech market is often overlooked, partly because school districts and schools typically have strict requirements regarding the content and software/services allowed in classrooms. To address this, Canva introduced the 'Canva Shield' program, which aims to ensure the safe use of AI tools in education. This program includes advanced educator controls, automatic moderation, blocked terms, and reporting options to ensure content safety. This initiative responds to concerns from educators and school officials about AI entering classrooms.
Despite some concerns about the use of AI technology in classrooms, Canva's survey shows that educators are highly interested in AI and eager to incorporate it into teaching. The survey revealed that most educators are excited about AI and willing to integrate it into their teaching (78% of respondents), though a knowledge gap limits broader adoption (93% admitted they don't know where to start with AI tools). Educators believe AI can improve student productivity (60%), creativity (59%), reduce administrative burdens (56%), and support personalized learning (67%).
Canva's 'Classroom Magic' introduces a series of AI tools aimed at improving efficiency and creativity in the education field. By providing safety controls and educator support, Canva strives to meet the needs of educators and students while promoting the widespread application of AI technology in education.