A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing Engaging Lesson Plans with AI 

Are you spending countless hours to write lesson plans that still fail to captivate your students? You’re not alone. Many educators grapple with time-consuming designs, struggle to personalize lessons for diverse learners, and lack real-time insights to make effective adjustments.

But what if AI (artificial intelligence) could revolutionize your lesson-planning process?

By automating tasks, generating SMART objectives, and generating tailored content, an AI lesson planning tool can be the ultimate game changer in helping you create effective lesson plans. This way you can turn the whole process into a faster, more efficient, and personalized experience.

In this article, we’ll guide you through integrating AI at each stage of lesson planning, with prompts to help you maximize AI’s potential. Plus, we’ll share a list of AI-powered lesson plan generators worth exploring.

How to Create AI-Generated Lesson Plans [with Example Prompts]

The step-by-step guide below provides a streamlined approach to help you create lesson plans that are effective, detailed, and meet educational standards, delivering high-quality results in a fraction of the time it usually requires.

Each step simplifies the process with tailored prompt suggestions, enabling you to craft engaging lessons that align with your learning goals and objectives as well. Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Create SMART Learning Objectives with AI

We’ve all been there—lessons that drift aimlessly because the objectives weren’t clear (e.g., students will understand social media AI can help you transform such objectives into focused, structured goals.

Following the SMART framework to goal setting —Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, or aligning those objectives with Bloom’s Taxonomy, a framework that categorizes educational goals into levels of cognitive skills, can be easier than ever.

AI can support you in ensuring deeper learning and better outcomes by utilizing a lesson planning tool that enables you to create customizable and editable lesson plans.

AI Prompts

Feel free to adjust the prompts to suit your particular subject matter, teaching style, audience, and grade level.

Prompt 1: Create Learning Objectives

Act as a digital marketing instructor creating a professional development course for small business owners on the topic of social media marketing. Create learning objectives for the introductory module of the course, following the SMART framework and aligning with Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Prompt 2: Assess and Improve Existing Objectives

As an expert in instructional design, critique and assess the following learning objectives for a course on project management aimed at new team leaders, ensuring they are SMART and aligned with the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. Rewrite the objectives based on your analysis.

Here are the learning objectives:

• Understand project management principles
• Learn about project planning
• Be familiar with risk management

Prompt 3: Generate Objectives from Content

Based on the pdf [attach pdf] create learning objectives that align with the ABCD framework. Each objective should clearly define what the learner will do, the context, and how success will be measured. Use this format as specified. Ensure the verbs align with appropriate levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, targeting mid-level managers in a professional development course.

Step 2: Design an AI-Driven Course Outline

We’ve all struggled with creating a well-structured course outline, where each lesson flows naturally into the next. A disorganized outline can feel like disconnected rooms in a house, leaving students lost. Designing a cohesive roadmap, especially following frameworks like ADDIE, is time-consuming and overwhelming.

With the assistance of AI, you can transform and expand your course outline to include essential details. The revised outline can be more comprehensive and effective, ensuring that each module is built upon the previous one to facilitate better learning outcomes and create engaging lesson plans.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Designing a Course Outline Using Instructional Design Models

Act as an experienced instructional designer, tasked with creating a course on ‘Digital Marketing Strategies’ for small business owners. Use the ADDIE model to design a comprehensive course outline on digital marketing strategies for small business owners.

Prompt 2: Creating an Outline Based on Provided Materials and Objectives

As a curriculum developer, use this eBook on ‘Introduction to Cybersecurity’ [attach pdf] to create an outline for a course on cybersecurity fundamentals aimed at undergraduate IT students. The outline should align with the following learning objectives:

• Explain key cybersecurity concepts—including confidentiality, integrity, availability (CIA triad), authentication, and encryption—and illustrate their application through real-world examples.
• Identify and describe at least five common cyber threats—such as phishing, malware, ransomware, social engineering, and denial-of-service attacks—and analyze their potential impact on digital assets.
• Apply at least three cybersecurity strategies—such as implementing strong passwords, enabling firewalls, and regularly updating software—to protect digital assets within a simulated environment.

Prompt 3: Expanding and Improving an Existing Course Outline

Your task is to expand and improve this course outline:

• Basics of Photography
• Camera Settings
• Taking Good Photos

for a course on ‘Fundamental Photography Skills’ aimed at beginner photography enthusiasts. The course has 5 modules. Provide a detailed structure for each module.

Step 3: Enhance Your Course Resources with AI

One of the most time-consuming aspects of course design is finding and creating learning materials—We’ve all faced the struggle. Hours can be lost searching for reliable videos, readings, and quizzes, and even when found, making them engaging is another challenge. On top of that, ensuring alignment with learning objectives adds complexity.

AI can revolutionize this process by quickly transforming traditional content into rich, multimedia experiences. For example, AI tools can convert a textbook chapter into an interactive video lesson featuring a virtual avatar presenter. This not only saves you time but also helps you create engaging and effective lessons tailored to your teaching style and your students’ needs.

Additionally, AI can generate customized fill-in-the-blank exercises or create flashcards, providing your students with a comprehensive learning experience without the usual time investment.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Educational Video Script Creation

Act as a course creator. Write an engaging video script for high school students about the basics of renewable energy. Limit the video length to 5 minutes. Use a friendly and motivational tone of voice. Include some jokes to keep it engaging. Structure the script as follows: Introduction, Explanation of Key Concepts, Real-World Applications, Conclusion. Break the script down into scenes and suggest visuals for the main points.

Prompt 2: Fill-in-the-Blank Worksheet Generation

Act as a fill-in-the-blank worksheet generator for intermediate English language learners. Your task is to create a worksheet with 8 sentences, each missing a word related to environmental vocabulary. Provide a word bank with options. Use this text as a source: [pdf/url/text]

Prompt 3: Creating Flashcards with Key Information

Act as a history teacher and create flashcards about significant events of the American Civil War. For each event, include the date, key figures involved, the outcome, and its significance. Summarize this information to fit the limited space of a flashcard. Suggest visuals for each flashcard.

Step 4: Leverage AI-Assisted Teaching Methods

Choosing the right teaching method can be challenging. You might wonder, Should I use more interactive methods or stick with lectures? This decision can make or break your course’s success.

AI can simplify this process by analyzing student data to suggest the most effective strategies.

For instance, if AI identifies low engagement during lectures, it might recommend adding case studies or group discussions. In that way, AI can help you engage in informed decision-making regarding this step of the lesson-planning process, ultimately leading to more effective lessons.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Recommending Teaching Methods Based on Engagement Data

Act as an instructional designer. The course has the following learning objectives:

• Understand the basic concepts and terminology of Machine Learning (ML).
• Differentiate between supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning.
• Implement simple ML models using Python and popular libraries (e.g., Scikit-learn).
• Evaluate ML models based on performance metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, etc.
• Develop critical thinking in selecting appropriate ML algorithms for specific problems.
• Analyze the ethical implications and limitations of Machine Learning.

The course outline is the following:

• Week 1: Introduction to Machine Learning and Basic Terminology
• Week 2: Supervised Learning: Linear Regression and Classification
• Week 3: Unsupervised Learning: Clustering and Dimensionality Reduction
• Week 4: Introduction to Neural Networks and Deep Learning
• Week 5: Performance Evaluation and Model Tuning
• Week 6: Ethical Considerations in Machine Learning
• Week 7: Capstone Project: Building and Evaluating a Real-World ML Model

Consider the learning objectives, course outline and student engagement data from the previous semester [attach dataset] and suggest the most effective teaching methods for a course on ‘Introduction to Machine Learning’.

Prompt 2: Comparing teaching approaches considering students’ personas

Compare project-based learning versus traditional lecture-based methods for an introductory course on digital marketing strategies and recommend the best approach based on the students’ personas:

1. Aspiring Freelance Writer (Beginner)
   • Age: 20s-30s
   • Goals: Learn digital marketing basics to attract clients and promote services.
   • Challenges: Limited marketing knowledge, overwhelmed by jargon.
   • Learning Style: Hands-on, practical tasks with real-world examples.
2. In-House Content Writer (Intermediate)
   • Age: 25-35
   • Goals: Improve SEO, content strategy, and analytics to enhance content performance.
   • Challenges: Gaps in digital strategy knowledge, limited use of data-driven insights.
   • Learning Style: Structured lessons with case studies and practical applications.
3. Blogger/Influencer (Advanced Beginner)
   • Age: 18-30
   • Goals: Grow audience and monetize content through SEO and digital marketing.
   • Challenges: Low engagement, struggles with follower conversion and visibility.
   • Learning Style: Interactive tutorials and practical growth strategies.
4. Corporate Communications Specialist (Experienced)
   • Age: 30-45
   • Goals: Strengthen brand storytelling, optimize content, and track ROI.
   • Challenges: Balancing creation with strategy, limited analytics experience.
   • Learning Style: In-depth analysis, data-driven strategies, expert insights.

Prompt 3: Suggesting teaching approaches and strategies

Suggest teaching methods and strategies to achieve each learning objective for a course titled “Briefing an Animation” targeting beginner graphic designers. These are the learning objectives:

• Identify the essential elements of an animation brief, including target audience, objectives, and key messages.
• Explain the role of an animation brief in guiding the creative process for a successful animation project.
• Create a basic animation brief that outlines the visual style, timeline, and deliverables for a hypothetical client project.
• Critically assess the effectiveness of an animation brief in terms of clarity, feasibility, and alignment with client goals.

Step 5: Create AI-Powered, Student-Centered Learning Activities

We’ve all faced the challenge of designing activities that truly engage students and support deeper learning. When activities don’t connect with students’ needs or previous knowledge, they can feel like isolated tasks, leaving learners disengaged. Crafting meaningful, student-centered activities that align with objectives is time-consuming and can feel overwhelming.

With AI, you can design activities that resonate with your learning objectives and your students’ needs, including those of advanced learners. For example, AI can assess your student’s progress on a course or activity and generate learning activities that adapt to their progress level.

Further, you can leverage AI to better understand your learner’s previous experiences or misconceptions on a topic and design activities that can either integrate the experiences or tackle the misconceptions.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Input Student Data and Criteria for Activity Generation

Act as a learning designer. According to the student’s progress report, 50 students completed successfully 90% of the algebra problems, 68 students made calculation errors 60% of the time, while two students in 80% of the time were mistaken on word problems related to ratios and proportions. Take into account the report results and generate three different activities one for each group of students according to the following criteria:

• For students who have successfully completed 90% of the algebra problems, design a new activity that includes more challenging algebra problems that introduce new concepts, such as quadratic equations, while keeping the learning goal focused on developing problem-solving skills in algebra.
• For students who made calculation errors 60% of the time, generate a remedial activity with simpler problems focused on reinforcing foundational algebra skills and step-by-step guidance for solving equations.
• For the students who showed conceptual misunderstanding in solving word problems related to ratios and proportions, create a series of word problems with real-world contexts that gradually increase in complexity, along with detailed explanations after each question.

Prompt 2: Using learners’ backgrounds and experiences for a branching scenario

Act as instructional designer preparing a training course for CEOs on time management. These are the learning objectives of a branching scenario activity:

• By the end of the scenario activity, CEOs will make decisions to effectively prioritize 5 key business tasks, achieving at least an 80% success rate based on scenario outcomes.
• During the scenario, CEOs will implement time-blocking strategies, allocating at least 20% of their time to high-priority tasks, evaluated through post-scenario performance metrics.
• By completing the scenario, CEOs will identify and mitigate 3 common time-wasters in decision-making processes, with a 90% accuracy rate in selecting efficient solutions.

First, identify the experiences and stories that CEOs have in relation to time management. Then, craft a branching scenario using the experiences and stories of the CEOs. Align the scenario with the learning objectives.

Prompt 3: Identifying and tackling students’ misconceptions

Act as a course creator tasked with creating an online course on effective parenting strategies for parents and caregivers. List the misconceptions of parents and caregivers about effective parenting strategies. Provide a short analysis of each misconception. Then, use the misconceptions and write refutation texts.

Follow the next steps for each text:

• State the misconception
• Acknowledge that the misconception is wrong
• Provide a simplified scientific explanation appropriate for parents and caregivers
• Conclude the text by stating explicitly the scientific idea
• Structure the refutation texts as a one-paragraph text
• Limit the text to 150 words

Step 6: Streamline Course Timelines with AI

We all know how crucial timing is when delivering a course. Go too fast, and students feel overwhelmed; too slow, and they lose interest. Finding the right balance is key to keeping engagement high and ensuring content is absorbed, but it’s not easy.

AI could analyze the content and indicate which lessons might need more time and which might need to be shortened. This adjustment would create smoother pacing, and better engagement, and ensure students have enough time for complex topics without feeling rushed.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: AI-Generated Microlearning Modules

Act as a microlearning specialist. Break down the course on Communication Strategies for small business owners into bite-sized microlearning modules. Suggest optimal durations for each micro-module to enhance retention and accommodate busy schedules.

Prompt 2: Predictive Course duration based on Student Engagement Data

Act as an educational data analyst. Using previous student engagement data [attach dataset] from a course on ‘Advanced Data Science’ predict optimal lesson durations for each module in a course aimed at graduate students. Provide a timeline that maximizes engagement and retention based on the analysis.

Step 7: Automate Assessments with AI

Crafting assessments can be overwhelming, especially when trying to provide timely, personalized feedback for every student. Often, feedback comes too late, and in larger classes, it feels nearly impossible to keep up. AI offers a solution by automating quiz generation and delivering instant feedback.

For example, AI can quickly generate from your own materials tailored quizzes, or create skills assessment rubrics. Of course, AI can provide personalized feedback to students based on their responses to quizzes or assignments. This approach not only saves time but also enhances student progress by providing timely, effective guidance.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Generate quizzes tailored to your materials

Create a diverse quiz for my beginning students attending a course on “Sustainable urban design”. Use the provided course materials [PDF/URL/text]. Include:

• 5 multiple-choice questions ranging from basic recall to advanced application
• 3 true/false statements
• 2 short-answer questions requiring an explanation of core concepts
• 1 scenario-based question that tests the practical application of skills/knowledge
• 1 question involving the interpretation of a visual element (chart, diagram, or graph) from the materials
• A final problem-solving question based on a case study or example from lectures

Ensure questions progressively increase in difficulty and cover all major subtopics within the course materials. Incorporate specific examples, data, or case studies from my course materials where appropriate. Aim to assess various levels of understanding, from basic comprehension to critical analysis and practical application.

Prompt 2: Create skills assessment rubrics

Think as a course creator selling a course on time management. Build a rubric to evaluate time management skills. Define time management subskills. For each subskill, provide at least three indicators to measure performance. Performance should be categorized into three groups: “Below expectation,” “Meets expectation,” and “Exceeds expectation.” Format the output in a table.

Prompt 3: Provide personalized feedback to students

Analyze Alex’s problem-solving approach in their recent assignment. In your response consider commenting on the following points:

• Logical progression of steps
• Application of relevant concepts
• Accuracy of calculations
• Clarity of explanations
• Identify one area where they could improve their problem-solving strategy.

Make sure that the feedback is positively reinforcing them. Use a motivating and encouraging tone of voice in your feedback. The length of the feedback should be up to 200 words.

Here is Alex’s assignment: [attach file].

💡Pro Tip: If you don’t use an AI-powered LMS that offers built-in feedback solutions, make sure to ask permission from your students before uploading their answers to an LLM.

Step 8: Use AI for Reflection and Metacognition

How many times, have you supported your students to reflect or engage with metacognitive strategies? Many course creators struggle with understanding these concepts and lack the tools to create meaningful activities. AI simplifies this by suggesting for example reflective journal prompts and metacognitive exercises.

For instance, AI could encourage students to reflect on challenging concepts and how they could apply them in real projects, while also guiding them to evaluate and improve their study habits for better outcomes.

AI Prompts

Prompt 1: Enhancing learning with reflective journal prompts

Create a set of 5 reflective journal prompts for students learning the fundamentals of Product design. These prompts should encourage students to:

• Identify key concepts they’ve mastered and areas they find challenging in design thinking
• Analyze how their understanding of user-centered design has evolved since the course began
• Connect course material to real-world applications or personal experiences
• Reflect on a mistake or misconception they’ve overcome, and what they learned from it
• Identify resources or support they need to overcome current challenges

Prompt 2: Reflective study exercise for the learning journey

Design a metacognitive exercise for students studying data analytics with AI. The exercise should include:

1. A pre-study reflection section asking students to assess their current understanding of data analytics and AI, identify potential challenges they anticipate, and set specific learning goals for their study session.
2. A during-study tracking component where students monitor their comprehension of different subtopics, note questions or confusions as they arise and they record techniques or resources they find particularly helpful.
3. A post-study reflection section prompts students to evaluate the effectiveness of their study strategies, compare their actual progress to their pre-study goals, and identify areas that need further review or clarification.
4. A strategy adjustment component asks students to analyze which study methods worked best for different types of content, plan how they’ll modify their approach for future study sessions, and create a personalized “study strategy toolkit” for data analytics and AI.

Transform Your Lesson Planning Using an AI Lesson Plan Generator

While you can harness the power of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Claude to assist with various aspects of lesson planning through the prompts we’ve provided, there are specialized AI tools (enter: AI lesson plan generator) designed to take your course creation process even further.

These platforms seamlessly integrate AI into their services automating the lesson planning process. By utilizing these AI-powered tools, you can transform your content into engaging multimedia, streamline video production, create learning objectives and course outlines, and automate tasks like assessment creation and personalized feedback.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the best AI tools that can work as the perfect AI lesson plan generators in your toolset simplifying your workflow.

Synthesia

What it does: Synthesia is an AI-powered platform that generates video content using virtual avatars. It also allows you to convert text-based materials into engaging video lessons.

How it’s used: During the Enhance Course Resources step of the lesson planning process, Synthesia can help you quickly generate interactive video lessons, saving hours of production time and elevating the learning experience through visual and auditory engagement. Imagine turning your textbook chapters into bite-sized, avatar-led video presentations.

Veed

What it does: Veed is an intuitive video editing platform powered by AI that simplifies the process of creating and editing videos. It offers automatic subtitles, templates, and user-friendly editing features, enhancing your lesson-planning skills.

How it’s used: Veed is ideal for refining video content during the Enhance Course Resources step of the lesson planning process. It allows you to easily add captions, split videos into micro-learning modules, and polish the final product to ensure students can digest the content smoothly.

Auto Classmate

What it does:Auto Classmate is an AI-driven tool that simplifies lesson planning and enhances classroom engagement. It predicts outcomes of lesson activities, generates interactive teaching strategies, and offers instructional feedback, helping you optimize lesson plans and adapt them for better student outcomes.

How it’s used: Input your lesson ideas into Auto Classmate, which then generates tailored predictions about potential positive and negative outcomes. This allows you to refine activities before implementation. The tool also provides interactive tools, such as contextual activity generators and lesson plan forecasts.

ElevenLabs

What it does:ElevenLabs offers AI-generated voices to create high-quality audio, allowing you to turn written text into spoken lectures, podcasts, or audio lessons.

How it’s used: Use ElevenLabs during the Enhance Course Resources step to create audio versions of course content or recorded lectures. This can provide a more immersive learning experience, particularly for auditory learners, and make your course accessible to students on the go. For example, you can use it to narrate a lesson plan that utilizes a world map, helping students visually and audibly connect geographical concepts with their locations.

MindSmith

What it does: Mindsmith.ai is an AI-powered tool designed to help course educators and instructional designers rapidly create online learning modules. It allows you to transform traditional content into engaging, bite-sized learning experiences that are easy to distribute and update.

How it’s used: Mindsmith creates the course outline (step 2 of lesson planning) and then generates the content along with the activities (step 5 of lesson planning). With this ability, this software can help you create interactive, digestible learning activities appropriate to your students’ needs. Whether you’re designing a quick quiz, flashcards, or a short interactive lesson, Mindsmith makes the process fast and effective.

LearnWorlds

What it does: LearnWorlds is an all-in-one AI-powered course platform that is highly customizable and designed to assist course creators in generating content, quizzes, assignments, and even entire course outlines.

How it’s used: Throughout all stages of lesson planning, the LearnWorlds AI Assistant can simplify your workflow. Whether it’s generating SMART learning objectives, outlining a course based on problem-based learning, generating activities, like dilemmas or Socratic dialogues, creating quizzes, or setting feedback mechanisms, or reflection exercises, our platform can save you time while ensuring educational effectiveness.

💡Learn more about LearnWorlds AI Assistant.

Ultimately, the AI tool or lesson plan generator you choose must meet your specific needs as an instructor and those of your students. Make sure you check out what features and capabilities each one offers, as well as their pricing and customer support.

Ready to Use AI to Automate Your Lesson Planning?

In this article, we saw how easily you can create AI-generated lesson plans. We provided AI prompts for LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude, helping you craft personalized learning objectives, content, and activities more efficiently.

However, with the extra support of AI-powered tools like LearnWorlds, the entire lesson planning process—from setting objectives to creating materials, assessments, and student-centered activities—can be fully automated, allowing you to save time and effort.

AI’s transformative potential is already a reality for innovative course creators like you. Start using LearnWorlds today to automate your process and focus on what truly matters—creating impactful learning experiences for your students.