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Pilot by VU CTL

Intermediate

The VU Education Lab AI Assistant is a Chrome extension that helps educators transform web content into valuable educational materials using AI. Generate summaries, quizzes, explanations, and teaching suggestions in seconds.

Note: This tool is currently a pilot project by the VU Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). It is available for VU staff to explore and provide feedback.

Transform any webpage into educational content with AI.
Generate summaries, quizzes, explanations, and teaching suggestions.
Works directly in your browser - no extra software needed.
Secure VU authentication - exclusive for VU staff.
Available in English and Dutch.

Installing the Chrome Extension

The VU Education Lab AI Assistant is a browser extension for Chrome, Brave, or Edge. Install it from the Chrome Web Store or follow the guide below for manual installation.

Download Guide

Signing in with your VU account

After installation, click the extension icon and sign in with your VU Google account (@vu.nl). Personal Gmail accounts are not authorized.

Using the AI Tools

Navigate to any webpage, click the extension icon (or the floating VU logo), choose a tool (Summarize, Quiz, Explain, Teaching, Custom), configure options, and click Generate. Copy the result to use in Canvas, slides, or documents.

How to Use Guide

If you cannot find your question here, try to find it in the FAQ.

Effectively use the AI Assistant for Teaching

The AI Assistant supports various educational tasks: creating summaries for lecture prep, generating quiz questions for knowledge checks, simplifying complex concepts for different student levels, and getting practical activity ideas for lesson planning.

AI Literacy Companion: Teaching & Learning with AI

Educational Tools Overview

Summarize: Create concise summaries with learning objectives and discussion questions.
Quiz: Generate multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions with explanations.
Explain: Simplify complex topics at beginner, intermediate, or advanced levels.
Teaching: Get ideas for lectures, discussions, activities, assessments, or essays.
Custom: Ask specific questions or use pre-built educational templates.

Using the AI Assistant on a Wikipedia article

Suppose you are preparing a lecture on climate change. Navigate to the Wikipedia article on "Climate Change" in your browser. Click the extension icon and select the Summarize tool to get a concise overview with key learning objectives. Then use the Quiz tool to generate 5 multiple-choice questions you can use to test student understanding. Finally, use the Teaching tool to get discussion prompts and activity ideas for your seminar.

Creating quiz questions from a news article

Find a relevant article on The Guardian or another news source related to your course topic. Open the article and use the Quiz tool to generate assessment questions. For example, an article about economic policy can be turned into true/false questions about key concepts, or short-answer questions that encourage critical thinking. Copy the questions directly into Canvas or your presentation slides.

Simplifying complex concepts from academic sources

When preparing materials for students at different levels, open an academic article or textbook chapter online. Use the Explain tool and select "Beginner" level to get a simplified explanation suitable for introductory students. Use "Advanced" level for graduate students who need more depth. You can also enter a specific term (e.g., "quantum entanglement" or "regression analysis") to get a targeted explanation based on the text.

Lecture preparation workflow

Before a lecture, find 2-3 relevant online articles or resources. Use the Summarize tool on each to extract key points and learning objectives. Then use the Teaching tool with the "Lecture" format to get talking points and presentation structure ideas. This workflow can save hours of preparation time while ensuring comprehensive coverage of the topic.

Please help us to collect inspiring examples. If you have an interesting example to share, or if you come across an example worth sharing, please tell us by filling out this Contact Form. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Why should I use the VU Education Lab AI Assistant?

The VU Education Lab AI Assistant uses Azure OpenAI, which is enterprise-grade and secure. Your data is processed securely and is not used to train AI models. The tool is exclusively available for VU staff, ensuring compliance with VU privacy policies and GDPR regulations.

What browsers are supported?

The extension works on Chrome, Brave, and Microsoft Edge browsers. Firefox is not currently supported.

Why is the AI response slow sometimes?

The backend server may need to "wake up" if it hasn't been used recently (cold start). If you experience delays, try again in 30 seconds. Longer webpages may also take more time to process.

What is the status of this tool?

This tool is currently a pilot project by the VU Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). It is available for VU staff to explore and provide feedback during the pilot phase.

Can I use this on any website?

Yes, the AI Assistant works on most websites with readable text content. It is particularly useful for news articles, Wikipedia pages, academic journals, and educational resources.

Data Processing and Privacy

The VU Education Lab AI Assistant is built with privacy in mind. Webpage text is sent to the backend solely for processing and is immediately discarded. No page content is stored on servers. All data is encrypted in transit using HTTPS.

Azure OpenAI - VU Amsterdam Agreement

The AI Assistant uses Azure OpenAI services provided through VU Amsterdam's Microsoft Azure subscription. VU Amsterdam has a data processing agreement with Microsoft that ensures your data is not used to train AI models. Data is processed within the European Union (EU) in compliance with GDPR. Microsoft does not access, share, or sell your data for advertising or other purposes.

Google Cloud Platform - VU Amsterdam Agreement

Authentication is handled through Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Google OAuth 2.0. VU Amsterdam has an agreement with Google for the use of Google Workspace (including authentication services) that ensures authentication data is handled securely and is not shared with third parties. Google does not use VU authentication data for advertising or profiling purposes. Only your VU email address is used to verify your identity - no additional personal data is collected.

Authentication and Access Control

The tool uses Google OAuth 2.0 for secure sign-in and strictly enforces VU domain validation. Only users with @vu.nl email addresses can access the service. This ensures compliance with VU Amsterdam's privacy and security policies. To guarantee the privacy and security of teachers, it is important that you sign in with your VU account. Personal Gmail accounts are not authorized.

Open Source Project

This tool is an open source project developed by the VU Education Lab. The source code is publicly available, ensuring transparency in how your data is processed. During the pilot phase, we are gathering feedback to improve the tool and evaluate its suitability for broader deployment. If you have concerns about privacy or data handling, please contact onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl.

View Source Code on GitHub

Do you have a question?

Your faculty has support to help you with everything regarding educational tools. You can find your faculty contact information here.

Ask my faculty support

Rather set up an appointment?

Using a new tool can be challenging and it can take some time to master the new tool. That's why the VU Education Lab offers the possibility to set up your first learning activity using this tool together with an expert, for free. Use this form or send an email to onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl.

Set up an appointment

Troubleshooting

Having technical issues? Check our troubleshooting guide for common problems and solutions.

Teaching at VU Amsterdam