Universal Teachers Academy To Train Chennai Educators On Creating AI Classroom Games

The Universal Teachers Academy, a Tamil Nadu-based teachers' collective, is hosting a free online workshop this Sunday to train more than 1,200 educators in Chennai on how to use Large Language Models to design educational video games. The initiative aims to transform classroom pedagogy by helping teachers create interactive learning tools for primary school students.

The upcoming workshop focuses on empowering teachers to build games tailored for students in Classes I to III. Through simple coding assisted by Large Language Models (LLMs), educators can develop games that cover fundamental topics such as basic mathematics, letter identification, picture patterns, and word memorisation.

Once developed, these educational games are saved as HTML files. This format allows students to access and play the games on mobile phones without requiring an active internet connection. Additionally, teachers can display and run these games on smartboards directly inside their classrooms, ensuring that technology remains accessible to students regardless of connectivity.

According to the organisers, the initiative stems from a belief that AI tools like LLMs should be used for more than just administrative tasks or serving as mere information platforms. Instead, the collective believes that the technology should be leveraged to change classroom pedagogy and make daily classroom sessions more engaging and effective for young learners.

Symon Peter Paul, one of the seven organisers of the Universal Teachers Academy, highlighted the practical impact of game-based learning. He explained that children are much more likely to retain concepts, such as identifying vowels, when they interact with a game where they must catch moving letters, compared to conventional teaching methods.

The Universal Teachers Academy is a platform dedicated to equipping educators with essential digital learning skills. The collective currently has a membership of 28,000 teachers, with over 1,200 of them set to participate in Sunday's online training session to learn game creation.