As AI continues to reshape the world around us, I’ve compiled this selection of free, high-quality resources to help teachers build their own AI literacy and to support them in guiding students through this new landscape.
Investing in your own professional development, as I always argue, is one of the smartest moves you can make right now, especially knowing how slowly most school systems respond to emerging technologies. AI is evolving rapidly, and our students are already embracing it with open arms.
Yes, there are challenges and risks, and yes, it raises tough questions but the opportunities for teaching, learning, and creativity are too important to ignore. This technology offers us powerful AI tools to reimagine what education can look like.
The resources below are designed to help you explore that potential in practical, informed, and responsible ways.
1. OpenAI Academy
OpenAI has created this valuable platform dedicated to helping users build and enhance their AI literacy skills. The platform offers a wide variety of educational resources suitable for every level—from AI basics to advanced integrations for developers and strategic use cases for business and education.
The academy is open to everyone and free to join. Some of the resources it offers include:
- Live and on-demand sessions with OpenAI staff and industry experts
- Quick tutorials and demos showing how to use ChatGPT for research, planning, coding, and more
- Local and virtual events to connect learners, educators, developers, and leaders
- Community groups for peer exchange and collaboration
2. Claude AI Academy
For those of you who use Claude, Anthropic has recently introduced Claude AI Academy which offers a dedicated space to help users understand and make the most of Claude’s capabilities. The platform supports learners at all levels—whether you’re exploring Claude for personal productivity, creative tasks, or more technical and collaborative projects.
Claude AI Academy is free to access and offers a range of helpful resources, including:
Guidance on using Claude for everyday tasks, writing, and research
Step-by-step tutorials on creating and managing content through Claude’s Artifacts feature
Tools and integration tips to connect Claude with your existing workflow
Project-based learning for organizing work and solving complex problems collaboratively.
3. Generative AI for Educators
Google, in collaboration with MIT RAISE, has created this practical, self-paced course designed to help educators build essential AI literacy skills. It’s focused specifically on how generative AI can support teaching and learning in meaningful ways.
The course is open to all educators and completely free. Some of the key features include:
- A clear and accessible introduction to generative AI and how it works
- Practical examples of how teachers can use AI to personalize instruction, save time, and enhance lessons
- Strategies for ethical and responsible classroom use of AI tools
- Step-by-step walkthroughs and reflection prompts to apply what you learn right away
4. MIT RAISE
MIT RAISE has developed a rich collection of open-access AI literacy resources tailored for K–12 education. The initiative focuses on empowering students and teachers to engage with AI critically, creatively, and responsibly.
All resources are available under Creative Commons licensing and are free to use, adapt, and share. Highlights of what MIT RAISE offers include:
- A growing library of AI literacy units designed for classroom use, from beginner-friendly activities to hands-on coding projects
- App Inventor tutorials that teach students how to build AI-powered mobile apps using visual programming
- Creative and interactive tools like the RAISE AI Playground and Dancing with AI, which encourage exploration through play and design
- Professional development opportunities for educators who want to bring AI literacy into their schools
5. Common Sense Education – AI Literacy Lessons
Common Sense Education offers a free collection of short, ready-to-teach lessons that introduce students to the fundamentals of AI and its real-world impact. Each lesson takes 20 minutes or less and encourages critical thinking around AI’s social, ethical, and educational implications.
These lessons are freely accessible and suitable for students in grades 6–12. Some of the key features include:
- Nine bite-sized lessons covering topics like AI bias, facial recognition, plagiarism, and chatbot behavior
- Videos, discussion prompts, and dilemmas that spark thoughtful conversations
- A self-paced training course for K–12 teachers on AI basics
- Additional articles and webinars to support ongoing professional learning
6. CRAFT by Stanford
Stanford’s CRAFT initiative provides free, co-designed resources to help high school teachers introduce AI literacy across a wide range of subjects. Built by educators and researchers, these materials are designed to help students not just understand AI but question, critique, and explore it from multiple perspectives.
CRAFT resources are free to use and adaptable to different classroom settings. Here’s what it offers:
- Flexible integration designed to fit into limited classroom time without disrupting core curricula
- Lesson plans and activities that range from 15-minute tasks to full units
- A multidisciplinary approach that brings AI into English, history, science, math, and the arts
- Human-centered content focused on the societal, ethical, and personal dimensions of AI
7. AI Pedagogy Project – metaLAB (at) Harvard
The AI Pedagogy Project is an open-access initiative designed to help educators explore AI critically and ethically. Created by metaLAB (at) Harvard, this project supports teachers across disciplines, especially in the humanities and social sciences, in guiding students to question, interpret, and engage with AI in meaningful ways.
The platform is free to use and constantly evolving. Some of the key features include:
- A growing library of assignments and learning materials created by educators for real classrooms
- An AI Guide offering accessible explanations and contextual resources to help educators get started
- A focus on critical reflection and social impact, including bias, surveillance, and labor issues
- Resources for both K–12 and higher education, with dedicated sections for high school teachers
8. Prompt Engineering Guide
This comprehensive, open-access resource is dedicated to teaching the principles and techniques of prompt engineering—a key skill for working effectively with large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and many others. Developed by DAIR.AI, this guide is ideal for educators, researchers, developers, and anyone interested in going deeper into how prompts influence AI outputs.
The guide is free to explore and regularly updated. Key features include:
- Detailed tutorials and examples of prompting strategies like zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought, and meta prompting
- Model-specific guides covering tools such as GPT-4, Claude 3, Gemini, LLaMA, and more
- Insights into advanced use cases, including reasoning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and multi-step agents
- Additional materials like papers, datasets, and open notebooks to support continued learning and experimentation
9. AI 101 for Teachers
AI 101 for Teachers is a free, foundational learning series designed to help educators understand the core concepts of artificial intelligence and how it can support and transform teaching and learning. Developed through a collaboration between Code.org, ETS, ISTE, and Khan Academy, the series features engaging sessions led by well-known experts in the field.
The program is open to all teachers and includes a variety of high-quality, accessible content. Some of the key features include:
- Video sessions covering AI fundamentals, educational applications, and ethical considerations
- Fireside chats with leaders like Sal Khan and Hadi Partovi discussing the big questions around AI in schools
- Companion guides offering ready-to-use AI prompts for educators and classroom activities
- Additional resources like AI curricula for grades 6–12, tools for student writing support, and Khan Academy’s AI-powered assistant, Khanmigo
10. AI Resources for Teachers and Educators – Facebook Group
I created this public Facebook group as a space for teachers and educators to stay updated on the latest developments in AI and how they relate to education. It’s a growing community where I share curated reviews of AI tools, practical guides, news updates, and useful tips to help educators make sense of AI in their daily work.
The group is open to all and free to join. Here’s what you’ll find:
- A community space to ask questions, share resources, and connect with like-minded educators
- Regular reviews of AI-powered tools tailored for classroom and professional use
- Step-by-step guides on how to apply AI tools for lesson planning, grading, student engagement, and more
- Education-focused AI news and policy updates to keep you informed.
Final thoughts
These are only a sample of the many helpful resources you can draw on to enhance and develop your AI literacy. Whether you’re just starting out or already experimenting with AI in your classroom, I believe taking charge of your own learning is essential. Schools may be slow to catch up, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait.
AI is moving fast. Your students are already using it. The tools are here, the opportunities are immense and the best way forward is to stay informed, be intentional, and explore what’s possible. Start small, keep learning, and share what you discover.
