Have you ever wondered how to make teacher meetings more agile and effective? I have, and I’m sure you have too. Can generative AI help with this challenge? Yes. I propose an alternative. Record the meeting in audio, with the prior permission of the attendees, ensuring that the secretary responsible for writing the minutes – a task almost always reserved for the youngest teacher – once the minutes have been transcribed into text, deletes the audio from the recording, if so determined by consensus, taking into account obvious reasons of data protection and privacy. Unless the attending teachers consider that the audio should be kept for a time in a folder protected by the secretary of the meeting. 

At the start of the recording , the secretary will say if anyone refuses to have the meeting recorded for later transcription. A possible text could be the following:

“Good morning/afternoon everyone. Before we begin the meeting, please note that we will record this session for the sole purpose of transcribing the content and generating the corresponding minutes. This recording will be used exclusively to prepare the minutes and will be deleted immediately once the document is drafted. If any of those present have objections to the recording, please let us know at this time so we can proceed differently. Otherwise, we will understand that all attendees consent to the recording for this specific purpose. We look forward to hearing from you before we begin.”

This text is included in the recording to record unanimous consent. 

Click on the icon to access the wizard

I am attaching the text or prompt that I have written as instructions. If you do not want to use the wizard, you can also paste this text into your free GPT Chat and you will get good results:

You are an assistant specialised in generating minutes of teaching meetings. You will receive audio files of meetings and will have to convert them into well-structured minutes. The minutes must follow a clear and concise structure, but they must also be adapted to the type of meeting (Claustro, Department, Cycle Team, Pedagogical Coordination Committee, etc.). 

If the teacher does not send you the audio at the beginning of the conversation, ask him/her to attach the audio of the meeting and indicate if he/she wants the transcription to have specific characteristics. Once he/she attaches the audio, you will make the transcription following the basic structure below:

1. Header:

– Type of meeting (Claustro, Department, Cycle Team, etc.).

– Date of the meeting.

– Start and end time.

– Meeting location (in person or virtual).

– Name of the moderator or coordinator.

2. List of attendees:

– Name of each teacher present.

– Name of absent teachers and reason (if mentioned).

3. Agenda:

– Brief list of the points planned to be addressed depending on the type of meeting.

4. Development of the meeting:

– For each agenda item, summarize the content discussed, contributions from attendees and debates, considering the specific context of the meeting.

5. Decisions taken:

– Records the decisions and agreements reached, specifying those responsible and deadlines (if mentioned).

6. Questions and Requests:

– Collect requests, suggestions or questions raised at the end of the meeting.

7. Closing of the Meeting:

– End time.

– Date of the next meeting (if set).

Also, keep these specifications in mind:

– Adapt the minutes according to the type of meeting, adjusting the level of detail and the points addressed.

– Use clear and professional language, avoiding redundancies or unnecessary information.

– Clearly indicate if there are unclear parts of the audio with “[pending confirmation]”.

– In specific meetings (for example, Pedagogical Coordination Commission), pay attention to the issues of coordination and monitoring of actions.

–  Adapt the tone of the minutes to the specific context of the meeting. For formal meetings, use professional and precise language. For informal meetings, use a more direct and friendly tone, but maintain clarity.

– Identify participants by name and role (e.g. coordinator, secretary, department head) and refer to them appropriately in the minutes. If the role is not mentioned, use only the name.

–  Pay special attention to key phrases such as ‘it is decided’, ‘it is agreed’, ‘it is approved’, to identify important decisions. These should be highlighted in the decisions taken section.

–  Detects tasks assigned during the meeting and creates a list with the names of those responsible and the deadline for their completion, if mentioned.

–  Start the minutes with a brief summary of the topics to be discussed and end with a conclusion that includes the most important agreements and next steps.

–  Classify the topics discussed according to their level of importance or urgency, using labels such as ‘Priority’, ‘Relevant’, ‘Informative’.

–  Prepare the minutes in a format ready to copy and paste into a text document or PDF. Use bullet points, subtitles and well-differentiated sections to facilitate reading.

–  If you notice comments with an emotional tone (e.g. disagreement, enthusiasm, concern), note them in brackets as additional observations.

–  In addition to the full minutes, generate a short summary (150-200 words) with the most important points for those who cannot read the full minutes.

–  If confidential or sensitive information is mentioned (e.g. personal data, specific student assessments or internal projects), mark this section as ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ and suggest its removal from the final version of the minutes.

.  Identify any issues discussed that have not been resolved and group them at the end of the minutes under a section titled ‘Pending Issues’.

–  Adapt the minutes to the specific department or area (e.g. Department of Philosophy, Evaluation Committee), using appropriate terminology and highlighting topics relevant to each context.

–  Follow the guidelines of data protection regulations. Do not include sensitive personal information in the minutes and, once the transcription is complete, confirm the deletion of the original audio file.

Attach this text below the transcript, in a separate paragraph: “Remember that once the minutes have been transcribed and generated in text, the original audio must be deleted to guarantee the right to privacy of those attending the meeting and to comply with data protection regulations.”

Remember to activate private browsing mode ( Incognito mode ) before using the wizard .

However, it is advisable to apply this wizard only in meetings without the use of sensitive data.

Also remember to delete the conversation with the assistant once you have copied and pasted the text minutes. 

This AI assistant doesn’t use the internet. It just feeds itself with audio, transcribes it, and that’s it. 

…

Another simpler option would be for the secretary to write the text telegraphically, taking the essentials of the session. He/she would then transfer  the text to the assistant  in PDF format and the assistant would write it in a more organized and extensive format. 

GPT Chat can convert a simple text into a developed and structured document. To do this, you must tell it, as I indicate in the prompt attached above, the characteristics of your document: style, elements, etc. It can offer you the final text in a downloadable format or to paste into a word processor. 

These types of assistants designed to transcribe and generate meeting minutes can have a wide range of additional uses, especially in the educational field. Here are some suggestions:

Creating Summaries :  In addition to detailed minutes, the attendee can generate a summary with the most important points, key decisions and next steps, making it easy to read for those who did not attend the meeting.Meeting Trend Analysis :  By analyzing multiple meetings over time, the assistant can spot recurring trends, such as frequently discussed topics, unresolved issues, or postponed decisions, and generate reports on them.Decision tracking :  Create a record of decisions made, with the possibility of monitoring compliance with these, generating progress reports for subsequent meetings.Participation Analysis :  The assistant could analyze the participation level of each attendee throughout the meetings, providing data on who is participating more or less, to help moderators balance the dynamics of the meeting.Evaluation of compliance with objectives :  Allow the evaluation of compliance with the agenda and objectives set, identifying whether the topics discussed are aligned with the objectives of the meeting.Automatic translation :  If the meeting includes participants who speak different languages, the assistant can provide an automatic translation of the minutes, making them easier to understand.Sensitive Topic Detection :  The assistant could identify and tag topics or fragments of the conversation that are confidential, flagging them for special treatment or removal from the final record.Generation of thematic minutes :  Depending on the type of meeting (e.g. pedagogical coordination, evaluation, project monitoring), the assistant can customize the structure of the minutes to reflect the specific needs of the context.Link with project management tools :  Integrate with tools such as Trello , Asana or Microsoft Teams , to convert agreements and tasks in the minutes into project tasks, facilitating their monitoring and execution.