AI-assisted Lesson Observations
Get lesson feedback within seconds
1. Record your lesson
Save time/money on lesson cover and see your classroom from a new perspective without relying on memory or the availability of colleagues.
2. Get AI lesson feedback
At the click of a button AI Insights will analyze your lesson based on your selected development focus and highlight areas to explore further.
3. Share the recording
Easily share the recorded lesson with a peer or coach for further discussion, using time-linked comments for contextualized feedback.
Ready-made AI Insights on IRIS Connect
Browse a few examples of our ready-made AI Insights available on the IRIS Connect platform below or get in touch for a demonstration of all Insights available.
Rosenshine’s Principles
Rosenshine’s Principles AI Insight
What is the Rosenshine's Principles AI Insight?
This AI Insight identifies where Rosenshine’s principles are being applied in your lesson like Daily Review, Questioning, Modeling, and Guided Practice and provides examples, reflections, and suggestions for improvement.
For instance, it might highlight a recap activity where students review prior learning with a partner, flagging this as strong Daily Review. Or it could identify a moment where you broke down complex content into smaller steps, aligned with Presenting New Material in Small Steps.
Why it matters:
This insight helps you spot evidence-based practices in action and reflect on how to enhance them. It surfaces what’s working well and offers ideas like introducing more peer discussion or varied review methods to take your teaching even further.
Key Moments
Key Moments AI Insight
What is the Key Moments AI Insight?
This AI Insight automatically picks out 3 pivotal moments from your lesson each with a timestamp, a reflective question, and a recommended guide.
For example, it might highlight a moment where you used mini whiteboards for a quiz, noting this as effective formative assessment. You’ll be prompted to reflect (e.g. “How might you adjust questioning to address misconceptions in the moment?”) and offered further reading to build on the strategy.
Why it matters:
Key Moments saves you time and sharpens your professional learning by helping you focus on the parts of your lesson that matter most. Whether you're reflecting solo or preparing for a coaching session, this insight makes it easier to pinpoint strengths, spot areas for growth, and take meaningful next steps.
Questioning Phases
Questioning Phases AI Insight
This AI Insight highlights key moments in your lesson where questioning was used to check understanding, promote recall, and push deeper thinking, linking directly to Rosenshine’s principles.
Using a classroom-based PE lesson as an example, it might flag a rapid retrieval quiz using whiteboards and multiple-choice prompts to check prior knowledge, followed by a Q&A on skeletal functions that connects science content to real-life and sports examples. Questions move from simple recall (“What bone is between the shoulder and elbow?”) to applied reasoning (“Where does blood production happen?”).
Why it matters:
This insight helps you reflect on how questioning shapes engagement and learning. You’ll see where you used quick checks, where deeper probes could be added, and how to build from recall to explanation—so every question becomes a chance to strengthen understanding.
Lesson Index
Lesson Index AI Insight
This AI Insight breaks your lesson into clear phases like Retrieval Practice, Collaborative Practice, Modeling, and Plenary—giving you a structured overview of how the session unfolded.
Using a PE lesson as an example, it might show that the lesson began with a quick partner recall on prior knowledge, followed by a spelling test, a whiteboard quiz, and then a resource-station activity to label bones—all leading up to guided explanations of the skeleton’s functions using real-world sports examples.
Why it matters:
The Lesson Index helps you reflect on your instructional flow - what you spent time on, what came first, and how different strategies supported learning. It’s a powerful tool for evaluating lesson structure and planning even more intentional, impactful sessions.
Responsive Teaching
Responsive Teaching AI Insight
This AI Insight maps key moments where you adapted in real time to meet your students’ needs, highlighting actions like checking for understanding, offering emotional support, personalizing follow-up, and adjusting pacing or methods.
For example, it might capture when you reassured a worried student, offered alternative ways to submit a quiz, or read questions aloud when some struggled. It also spotlights how you encouraged risk-taking (e.g. “imperfect spelling is okay”) and extended learning with optional challenges and deeper questioning.
Why it matters:
This insight helps you reflect on how responsive your teaching was across the lesson—and where you might add more scaffolding or stretch to support every learner. It celebrates the moments where flexibility became a strength and inclusion was built into the flow of learning.
Consolidating Learning
Consolidating Learning AI Insight
This AI Insight highlights how your lesson supported students in strengthening and connecting their knowledge through retrieval tasks, self-assessment, peer feedback, and reflection.
For example, it might show how students completed a spelling test from memory, checked each other’s work, and revisited prior notes—all reinforcing key concepts. A follow-up quiz and whole-class discussion then deepened understanding, while activities like labeling bones from memory and using acronyms (e.g. SSS BMP) helped organize and extend learning.
Why it matters:
This insight helps you reflect on how effectively students had opportunities to revisit, apply, and connect ideas. It shows where learning was reinforced, and where you could further prompt students to explain their thinking and make deeper links across topics for lasting understanding.
Behavior
Behavior AI Insight
This AI Insight highlights how you created a positive, well-managed learning environment, from setting the tone at the door to reinforcing routines and praising participation throughout the lesson.
For example, it might show how you greeted students warmly, gave clear instructions, used humor and curiosity to maintain focus, and managed transitions using structured routines. When attention drifted, you calmly redirected and reminded students of expectations while keeping the atmosphere supportive.
Why it matters:
This insight helps you reflect on how routines, praise, and clarity supported behavior and engagement. It also shows where a simple cue or attention signal could make transitions smoother and keep all students focused and ready to learn.
Feedback
Feedback AI Insight
This AI Insight identifies key moments where in-the-moment feedback helped guide, clarify, and reinforce learning, especially during hands-on activities and student demonstrations.
For example, it might highlight how you clarified a misconception about static electricity, coached students on how to generate a charge, and prompted observation and peer discussion to deepen understanding. You might also see moments where you praised correct vocabulary use or linked the experiment back to real-life experiences to embed the concept.
Why it matters:
This insight helps you reflect on how feedback supported learning as it unfolded and where structured follow-up or re-teaching could help students refine and consolidate their understanding. It’s a chance to ensure feedback doesn’t just clarify, but leads to lasting change.
“It can feel intimidating to ask for feedback from a colleague in an area where you feel vulnerable. Using AI tools to help analyze your own lessons totally removes this fear and allows you to focus purely on the feedback, rather than how you are being perceived.”
– Jess Hunter, Assistant Head, Rosebery School
Custom AI Insights
With our enhanced AI packages, you have the ability to create custom AI Insights for your context.
Here is an example of how Diverse Academy Trust is using them.
Jamie Tegerdine, Strategic Lead for T&L at Diverse Academy Trust identified ‘strong starts’ to lessons as an important focus, and wanted to improve these in his Trust’s classrooms. In conjunction with IRIS Connect, Jamie created a custom AI Insight that analyzed the lesson starts of recorded videos, and measured its success against 5 defined rubrics.
“We applied it to about 10 different lessons… we’ve tweaked the prompt, adjusted how it presents the feedback. The results have been quite bonkers in a good way — really powerful, and teachers found it clear and actionable. Having immediate, detailed feedback on strong starts helped us reflect much faster. It gave us data to discuss as a team and refine approaches without waiting for scheduled observations.”
– Jamie Tegerdine, Strategic Lead for T&L at Diverse Academy Trust
AI Insights Frequently Asked Questions
What is AI Insights and how does it work?
AI Insights is a feature that analyzes classroom videos using AI to generate feedback on instructional practices, classroom management, engagement, and more.
The process: your recorded video is analyzed → the analyzes comes back with time-stamped highlights, suggestions for improvement, and relevant linked resources.
What kind of feedback do I get?
You’ll receive insights related to teaching strategies (questioning, scaffolding, feedback, student engagement, classroom behaviour, and more).
For example, if you analyzed your lesson using the Behaviour AI Insight, you would receive a timeline of the behaviour related interactions during your lesson, timestamped and summarized to quickly review them all. You would receive a behaviour analysis overview where the AI would highlight key reflections and areas for improvement, where it would suggest a Technique Guide or Teaching WalkThru for further reading.
Is AI Insights replacing human coaches or mentors?
No. AI Insights is intended to complement human coaching, not to replace it. It surfaces initial observations so that coaches and teachers can focus their time on high-value discussion, interpretation, and deeper professional development.
Is it accurate and reliable? What are its limitations?
We have spent years developing and refining the AI Insights so the feedback overall is consistent and of great value. However there may be some instances, like with most AI, where it misses context or misinterprets nuance so we always recommend reviewing the suggestions before applying them.
How is my data secured? What about privacy?
Currently, only transcripts are sent to the external AI service – video or images are never shared and the AI service deletes any job-related data once the analysis is complete. While data is transferred, it is sent over encrypted channels and is GDPR / data regulation compliant, with contracts and sub-processor controls. By default, only you or people you explicitly share a video with on the IRIS Connect platform can submit it to AI Insights. You can disable AI on individual reflections via privacy settings.
Will my data ever be used to train or improve your AI models?
No. Video, audio, or transcript data you submit is not used to train or refine the core AI models. Your data remains yours, and we treat it with confidentiality.
How do I control cost and what is the pricing model?
AI Insights works via credits. There are two purchase modes: pay-as-you-go or subscription (weekly allowance). You can view your credit balance, usage history, and purchase credits in the admin section.
Can I customize AI Insights to my needs or school context?
Yes. We can work with you to create your own AI Insights. Please speak to your PD consultant who will talk you through how to do this.
How will AI Insights help me save time and improve coaching?
AI Insights gives coaches a holistic, evidence-based view of a teacher’s practice, helping them move beyond limited snapshots from brief lesson drop-ins. Instead of only seeing a 15-minute segment, coaches can now understand the flow, tone, and instructional decisions across an entire lesson.
By highlighting key moments, questioning strategies, and patterns of engagement, AI Insights allows coaches to focus their expertise where it matters most. This leads to more informed, reflective conversations that strengthen teacher agency and accelerate professional growth.
How do I get started or see it in action?
Click the Request a Demo button to schedule a call with our friendly staff where you can explore AI Insights further and see other features of the IRIS Connect platform.