Midjourney 5 – In the Classroom

Midjourney 5 is the latest in AI image generation, and if you haven’t played around with it or seen it, it is truly incredible. In today’s blog, I want to explore ways in which we could potentially use this extraordinary tool in the classroom. Like some other forms of artificial intelligence, it has the potential to be an absolute game-changer. No longer do you need to be a talented artist to create truly breathtaking images. If you can imagine it and write it, you can bring it to life.

In my opinion the only downside to Midjourney 5 is that it only operates inside of Discord. Discord is currently blocked in some schools.  However, I understand that will be changing when they bring out Midjourney 6 later in 2023 where it will have it’s own standalone app.

How would this look in the clasroom
However, before we get into this, I want you to keep in mind that this is just a tool and you need to have an authentic purpose. Otherwise, it is very easy to fall down the rabbit hole of creating images for the sake of creating images. I may be speaking from experience here.

Who’s line is it anyway

One of a teacher’s favourite writing tools is Pobble 365 with their beautiful and creative images to inspire your writers.. With Mid journey you can take prompts from children to create your very own surreal images for them to write about. What better way to give students agency of their own writing, than by collectively creating that inspirational image? 

Here’s an example I tried with a class. 

Name an animal = Walrus. 
Name a location = The beach
Name an activity = Sitting in a chair eating a burger.

Once the image has been rendered (about 60 seconds), it’s time for the students to write their narrative.