Interactive E-Learning

OpenAI-Based Instructional Design Generator Nolej AI Now Available

French Startup to Announce the New Solution March 30 at BETT with Commercial Launch Set for ASU+GSV

• By Kristal Kuykendall
• 03/29/23

A French generative AI ed tech startup called Nolej (pronounced “knowledge”) has quietly launched a new OpenAI-based instructional content generator for educators, called Nolej AI, ahead of its official introduction at BETT in London on March 30 and a planned commercial debut at the ASU+GSV Summit on April 19, the company's chairman told THE Journal.

The Nolej AI platform, in the works for over three years, is reinforced by the collaboration with OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, DALL-E, and other generative AI tools making headlines in recent months. Before it was made available to the public, Nolej AI was beta tested with more than 2,500 educators, according to a news release. “Hundreds of independent studies have proven that such interactive micro-learnings outperform traditional static formats, improving the completion rate by 85% and the retention rate by 75%,” the company said.

The browser-based Nolej AI allows a user to upload any type of static content (video, audio, text documents, or a website URL); Nolej AI then automatically generates a ready-to-assign interactive "micro-learning package," which is essentially a standalone digital lesson with a content transcript, summaries, a glossary of terms, flashcards, and quizzes — all closely based on the uploaded materials. The user can edit or change formats of each portion of the generated package if desired, and one of the formats available for the AI-generated lesson package created by uploading (or linking to) an existing video is a brand-new interactive video teaching the content that the user uploaded, Nolej Chairman Vincent Favrat said in an email.

Nolej AI is built for both K–12 and higher education, and the grade-level language of the generated lesson package will match the grade-level language of the static content that was input by the user, Favrat explained. 

After a user uploads their static content, the resulting “package” or interactive lesson can be used in teaching in several ways: A user can click “Push to Google Classroom”; the user can download the package as SCORM or HTML5 code and place it on their own or their organization's website; the user can also copy the associated embed code and paste it into most websites’ back ends; or the user can copy the URL to that specific package and have students click the link to complete the assignment on a web browser. 

The embed code will work with most website platforms (see our test module embedded below) and most learning management systems such as Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace and edX, according to Nolej. 

After the commercial launch on April 19, Favrat said, additional integrations are planned via plug-ins within the most widely used LMS platforms. Also planned are demos and webinars for educators interested in learning how to make the most of the Nolej AI platform, how to edit the interactive lesson activities, and more, he said. 

The pre-launch iteration of Nolej AI is currently available as a “free trial” to educators and instructional designers (no identity or education-employment verification is required as of this writing). The free trial includes five “packages,” allowing anyone to generate five interactive lesson packages at no charge. 

Paid subscriptions are also available now but with limited tiers until it after the commercial launch. The pricing currently listed includes a monthly subscription at $39.99 per month, which includes 20 credits to generate 20 “packages” of instructional content. The annual subscription is priced at $399.99 and includes 280 credits per year. Favrat said that once the software is officially launched at ASU+GSV, additional tiers will be available.

Organizational subscriptions for K–12 schools and districts as well as for institutions of higher education also will be available after April 19, he said. Pricing for educational institutions has not yet been finalized, Favrat said, but will likely range from $3,000 to $15,000 per year for K–12 organizations and from $12,000 to $48,000 for IHEs, depending on the size and type of the institution.

Unused package credits will accumulate on the monthly plan, and educators who end their subscription will retain access to the instructional packages they generated as subscribers, according to the website. 

THE Journal tested Nolej AI for this report. Following is the actual package or interactive lesson, embedded using the code provided by Nolej AI. (Editor’s Note: Find a video showing our test and the AI-generated lesson on our YouTube channel, or scroll down to the bottom to watch it.)

For this test, we signed up for a free trial, clicked "get started" then "new module." 

Step 2: Choose your language and give the module or package a title; English is the only option now but more languages beyond English are coming, the company said. 

Step 3: Upload documents, video(s), or audio file(s), or a web URL. (The Nolej AI website states it can process up to 50 pages of documents, or up to 50 minutes maximum of audio or video.)

We chose to enter a URL for a (very lengthy) page from the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas website about the history of the Arkansas Gazette, which published from 1819 to 1991 and won two Pulitzers for its coverage of the Little Rock Nine and the desegregation of Central High School in 1957. (The Gazette’s storied history forms the basis for many high school and college-level courses on the history of Arkansas and is also often used as a primary text in college courses on Arkansas politics.)

Seven minutes later, the following interactive lesson with quizzes was complete and ready to either edit or assign to students:

Alternately, an educator could choose to share or embed only the assessment or quiz portion of the package, shown below:

Nolej said it “plans to further revolutionize AI-powered education by leveraging their expertise in generative learning built on OpenAI's technologies and advanced AI system” and “aims to create new tools that will enhance the learning experience even further and open up new possibilities for educators.”

Learn more at Nolej.io. 

Below, a video showing THE Journal's test module and the various sections of the AI-generated interactive lesson package, all of which was produced automatically in about 7 minutes, after a single URL was entered as the sole source of static content for the interactive lesson package: