Every teacher needs a Sidekick…
Get your evenings and weekends back by supercharging your productivity!
Which task types can Sidekick help me with?
How do I use it?
When you open an Assignment, Quiz, Spelling test or Lesson plan, you will see the Sidekick toolbar has been added for you, as part of the standard task form.
Before you can use the Sidekick feature, you'll need to enter the usual key information required i.e. the title, subject and class group you'll be setting this task to.
Sidekick will then ask you for some specific information it needs to generate your task:
For Assignments, you'll be asked to enter a topic.
For Spelling tests, you'll be asked how many words you'd like to include and be prompted to enter a topic; you can then choose to add context and definition for each word, if desired.
For Quizzes, you'll be asked how many questions you'd like and prompted to enter a topic.
For Lesson plans, you'll be asked to enter the lesson length (minutes) and a topic.
You can click the 'Options' button to see a drop-down menu, giving you more granular control of the content that will be generated and allowing you to add in preferences for your desired outcome. Tick any, and as many, you'd like to be included!
When you're ready and happy with your choices, please click the 'Create' button.
You'll receive a pop-up box to tell you that Sidekick is generating your task.
After a few moments, your task will appear as if by magic!
Please review the content that has been generated to ensure that it is relevant, accurate and appropriate for your audience. You'll be asked to confirm that you have reviewed and accepted the generated content, before publishing.
And just like that, you have saved a significant amount of time. Thanks, Sidekick!
FAQ
Why was Sidekick created?
The generative AI used in Sidekick has the potential to greatly enhance teacher productivity across a wide range of tasks. Teachers are empowered to better manage their time and be more efficient, contributing to a richer and more fulfilling professional experience.
How does it work?
Our Product team adopted a trial and error approach to create a generative AI module that gives teachers relevant, useful results. We added this module directly into Satchel One to reduce the product learning curve and further streamline the homework setting experience.
How do the fields I fill out on my task affect the outcome of my Sidekick request?
Class Group let's Sidekick know the age of the students in your class
Estimated completion time helps guide Sidekick on how long the task should take
Subject is used to give context to the topic
Language is used on Spelling Tests to dictate what language the vocabulary should be in
Do you share any personal data?
While using third party tools, such as OpenAI, we may pass some contextual information (eg. a subject name or an appropriate age range) but we never pass on identifiable information regarding the user or school/district. We do not allow third parties to train their models on the data that is sent and all data is deleted by the third party after a maximum of 30 days (unless otherwise required by law).
Do I need to check the suggestions from Sidekick?
Generative AI, while powerful, may occasionally produce misleading information due to its lack of real-world understanding, data bias and inability to verify accuracy. For this reason, we always prompt teachers to confirm they have read and approve of the task being created before they use it.
Do I have to use Sidekick to create tasks in Satchel One?
Not at all! This service is optional and will not take away anything you already have access to. Any generative AI features are clearly marked to avoid confusion. Your Satchel One account also now comes with free trial credits for each Sidekick feature, so you can explore and test it out before you subscribe.
Will I have access to Lesson Plans?
Lesson plans are linked to timetables and will therefore only be available to schools with the Timetables feature enabled in Satchel One.