Episode Series 12 Episode 8 AI by Students, for Students In this special episode of the AI in Education Podcast , recorded live at the AIS NSW ICT Management and Leadership conference , Dan and Ray chat with two forward-thinking school leaders about how students are using AI in transformative ways. First up, Thomas Blackwood , Head of ICT at Fahan School in Tasmania , shares how his school built its own AI tool – "Annabelle" – to give students a tailored, ethical, and effective AI tutor. From ex...
Jul 03, 2025•25 min•Season 12Ep. 8
After starting with an existential crisis - " Are we basically doing the AI equivalent of a maths calculator podcast from the 1970s? " - in this news and research update, Dan and Ray unpack the latest developments in AI and education. Starting with China’s decision to shut down AI tools during national exams, they then revisit NSW’s EduChat chatbot, now in widespread use, with compelling data on time savings for teachers and learning benefits for students. The hosts dive into fresh research from...
Jun 26, 2025•34 min•Season 12Ep. 7
We're halfway through Season 12 - the Student one - and in episode 6 you finally get to meet Megan (Year 7) and James (Year 11). Long-term listeners will have heard co-host Dan talking about how his own children use AI, and so now you can hear their perspectives. Dan asks both of them share how they and their friends use AI in school and outside. Enjoy the honest revelations!
Jun 20, 2025•27 min•Season 12Ep. 6
In this news and research-packed episode, Ray and Dan dive deep into the AI highlights from EduTech 2025 in Sydney - reflecting on the vibe, standout presentations, and the surprisingly light AI presence on the expo floor. They unpack major news from the UK’s Department for Education, OpenAI’s model pricing shake-up, and raise serious red flags over Meta AI’s privacy approach. The duo also tackles the big questions educators face: is AI destroying the planet? Can we trust AI with student data? A...
Jun 13, 2025•38 min•Season 12Ep. 5
Students as AI Innovators In this inspiring episode of the podcast, hosts Ray and Dan speak with Brett Moller, Director of Knowledge Services / Head of Creative Industries at St. Andrew’s Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast. Brett shares how his school is flipping the AI narrative — from fear and compliance to student agency, creativity, and real-world problem-solving. He discusses how students are not only using AI tools but building their own large language models, crafting apps that respon...
Jun 05, 2025•44 min•Season 12Ep. 4
In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, Dan and Ray dive deep into how students are really using - beyond the hype. They unpack recent findings from the Anthropic Education Report , exploring how students interact with models like Claude for study, writing, and even problem-solving. They discuss the latest sentiment data from a KPMG/University of Melbourne Business School report, " Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence ", revealing surprising differences in global optimism ...
May 29, 2025•30 min•Season 12Ep. 3
In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, hosts Ray and Dan kick off Series 12 with a powerful focus on students—how they learn, what they need, and how AI is shaping their academic journeys. Joining them is Nina Huntemann, Chief Academic Officer at Chegg , who shares revealing insights from Chegg.org’s 2025 Global Student Survey , which polled over 11,000 students across 15 countries. Nina dives into how students are turning to generative AI tools like ChatGPT more than their professors, ...
May 22, 2025•42 min•Season 12Ep. 2
New Series Alert - all about students In the kickoff episode of Series 12, Dan and Ray set the stage for a deep dive into AI from the student's perspective . Why are students confused about AI? How are they actually using it - and how should they be using it? The hosts explore the idea that AI can act as a tutor, a teacher, or a shortcut (a "cheater") and reflect on how this plays out in real classrooms and learning experiences. They also caught up on plenty of news this week - transdisciplinary...
May 15, 2025•32 min•Season 12Ep. 1
In this special solo-hosted episode, Ray is joined by Dr. Mike Seymour from the University of Sydney, recorded live at the 2025 AI in Higher Education Symposium . You can find Mike through LinkedIn and the University of Sydney Mike shares captivating insights from his work in digital humans - lifelike AI avatars that can support learning, healthcare, and emotional wellbeing. From using VR to train veterinary students with virtual sheep, to exploring how emotionally intelligent digital tutors can...
May 08, 2025•33 min•Season 11Ep. 13
In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, Ray and Dan return from a short break with a packed roundup of AI developments across education and beyond. They discuss the online launch of the AEIOU interdisciplinary research hub that Dan attended, explore the promise and pitfalls of prompt engineering—including the idea of the “Uber prompt”—and share first impressions of the OpenAI Academy. Ray unpacks misleading headlines about Bill Gates “replacing teachers” with AI and instead spotlights th...
May 01, 2025•42 min•Season 11Ep. 12
Series 11, Episode 11 Designing the Future: Learning Designers Meet AI with Minh Huynh and Cory Dal Ponte In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, we bring you two powerful conversations that explore the evolving role of learning designers and their growing impact in the world of AI-enabled education. Together, these two interviews reveal the strategic and practical power of learning design in an AI-driven future. First, we speak with Minh Huynh from The University of Sydney Education Inn...
Apr 10, 2025•48 min•Season 11Ep. 11
This week, Dan and Ray dive into a whirlwind of AI news shaking up the education world. From $40K private schools with AI tutors to universities reporting chatbot-driven grade boosts, they unpack what’s hype and what’s happening. Plus, they explore the ethics of AI image generation, energy use in data centers, and whether GPT-4.5 is now officially more human than human. News Alpha School - AI school in Texas News report: https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-private-schools-use-ai-tutor-rockets-st...
Apr 03, 2025•32 min•Season 11Ep. 10
Yet again, Dan and Ray are the podcast hosts, but Ray’s AI digital twin introduces the episode! This week's guests are: Lee Barrett – Prompt Engineer and AI Advocate at CEnet . Prem Radhakrishnan – AI Technical Manager at CEnet . This episode is a two-level deep dive into the development and deployment of CEchat, an AI-powered chatbot designed to reduce teacher workload and enhance student learning across Catholic schools in Australia. Part 1 of the episode covers the vision, pedagogy, and imple...
Mar 27, 2025•44 min•Season 11Ep. 9
News Stories Covered in the Episode AI Typing Like a Human? – Graham Clay’s LinkedIn post on ChatGPT Operator mimicking human keystrokes https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7292163775963557888/ The Vatican on AI Ethics – “Antiqua et Nova” report on AI, human intelligence, and ethics in education Sacerdotus: Vatican's New Document on AI: Ethical Guidelines and Human Responsibility Australian Government’s AI Study – Treasury report on Microsoft 365 Copilot, estimating it pays for ...
Mar 20, 2025•46 min•Season 11Ep. 8
In this episode of AI in Education, Dan and Ray sit down with Leigh Williams , CIO of Brisbane Catholic Education , to dive into one of the most ambitious AI rollouts in Australian schools . With 78,000 students and 13,000 staff, Leigh and her team implemented Microsoft Copilot at scale—reducing teacher workloads by 9+ hours per week and even boosting teacher recruitment. But it’s not just about efficiency. Leigh shares how AI is reshaping learning, tackling the digital divide, and even reducing...
Mar 13, 2025•51 min•Season 11Ep. 7
Dan and Ray welcome Graham Brown Martin , a seasoned expert in education technology, for a very(!) thought-provoking conversation about navigating education in the rapidly evolving age of artificial intelligence. In this episode: Discover Graham's journey through multiple technological revolutions—from early mainframes and pioneering laser-disc technology to modern-day AI. Hear stories from Graham's past, including his role in bringing together provocative figures like Katherine Birbalsingh and ...
Mar 07, 2025•51 min•Season 11Ep. 6
In this episode Dan and Ray sit down with Dr. Nici (Nikki) Sweaney—founder of “AI Her Way,” gender equality advocate, and globally recognized AI consultant. After a fascinating career journey from butterfly ecology to statistics to AI, Nici now helps schools and organizations create ethical, responsible, and effective AI strategies. She shares her insights on responsible AI adoption, gender equity, bias, and how schools can proactively plan for an AI-driven future. Follow Nici on LinkedIn: https...
Feb 27, 2025•43 min•Season 11Ep. 5
In this episode, Ray and Dan are joined by Danny Bielik, President of the Digital Education Council , to discuss the findings of a global AI faculty survey. With insights from 52 institutions across 28 countries, Danny shares how higher education faculty are adopting AI, the biggest concerns around academic integrity and assessment, and why AI literacy is still a challenge for many. Key topics include: 🔹 The real impact of AI on teaching and learning 🔹 How universities are using AI for teachin...
Feb 20, 2025•31 min•Season 11Ep. 4
Book Club Podcast? Before we even got to the News and Research, this week we discussed the AI-related books we're currently reading: Dan's reading: Where Good Ideas Come From , by Steven Johnson ( TED Talk ) Why Data Science Projects Fail , by Douglas Gray and Evan Shellshear ( An interview with Evan ) Ray's reading The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence , by Kate Crawford ( Wikipedia page ) News Links Links to the reports and news we discuss in the ...
Feb 13, 2025•54 min•Season 11Ep. 3
This week we get to catch up with Katie Ford of Microsoft Australia , who tells us about the projects that have been happening in AI in Education around Australia, and shares some of the lessons learnt from the projects as well as what she is learning through her own research focus. The examples Katie discusses are: Tasmania Department of Education : Collaborated with Microsoft to enhance their data estate and prepare for AI applications aimed at identifying vulnerable children during COVID, hel...
Feb 06, 2025•39 min•Season 11Ep. 2
And we're back! After a relaxing summer holiday Down Under (the school year finishes late December and doesn't restart until after the end of January in Australia) we've made it back to the studio to talk again. In this first episode of the 2025 'AI in Education' podcast, hosts Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming reflect on the major events and developments in AI during 2024. They discuss the importance of continuously addressing the adoption gap, the evolution of AI tools, and the pace of change in AI te...
Jan 30, 2025•32 min•Season 11Ep. 1
We look back on the highlights of 2024, and the mass of stories, challenges and inspirations we had throughout the year. And what a year - AI in education has been moving so fast we even invited two digital AI podcasters to take over half the episode. And, worryingly, they did an amazing job - listen for yourself... We're going to take a break over the Australian school holidays, but then we'll be back with at the end of January 2025. If you miss us, then please go and give us a rating or review...
Dec 20, 2024•46 min•Season 10Ep. 11
A heap of news stories this week means we didn't cover any research at all! AI isn’t a tool, it’s an environment by Josh Thorpe https://wonkhe.com/blogs/ai-isnt-a-tool-its-an-environment/ Australian Senate report into Adoption of AI https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Adopting_Artificial_Intelligence_AI/AdoptingAI/Report Ethan Mollick's course on Coursera: "AI in Education: Leveraging ChatGPT for Teaching" https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-ai-in-education-leverag...
Dec 13, 2024•36 min•Season 10Ep. 10
This week's episode discussed the new AI toolkit for generative AI strategies from Australia's Higher Education regulator, TEQSA The full toolkit is available here: https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/resources/corporate-publications/gen-ai-strategies-australian-higher-education-emerging-practice During the episode we referenced some of the podcasts when we'd had the chance to interview some of the people from The University of Sydney who were used as case studies in the toolkit, and here'...
Dec 05, 2024•31 min•Season 10Ep. 9
Everybody or Nobody is using AI - News and Research Series 10, Episode 8 We explore quite a lot of news related to AI in Education that arrived this week, which meant we didn't get to cover nearly as many academic research papers as we'd hoped. Oh well, there's still 4 episodes left this year to catch up 😊 News Open AI released a course for teachers https://www.commonsense.org/education/training/chatgpt-k12-foundations The AI Art Turing Test Overview: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/how-did-yo...
Nov 28, 2024•36 min•Season 10Ep. 8
This week's episode is a discussion of the Australian Parliamentary report on AI in Education, " Studdy Buddy or Influencer? ". The report highlights both the opportunities and challenges GenAI presents, focusing on student and teacher perspectives, ethical considerations, regulatory approaches, and potential solutions. The report makes many recommendations, with the very first being significant on many levels: "The Committee recommends that the Australian Government: consider making the use of ...
Nov 21, 2024•31 min•Season 10Ep. 7
Another News & Research episode this week, and lots of interesting links and research discussed. Here's the weblinks for everything! News Deception and Deepfakes - How genAI is Changing Cyber Safety Course: https://spsc.thinkific.com/courses/take/deceptionanddeepfakes/ Leon Furzes online course, where he made a free course about deepfakes hosted by a deepfake, with deepfake content about deepfakes https://leonfurze.teachable.com/p/this-course-is-ai-generated McKinsey surveyed 1363 working pr...
Nov 15, 2024•24 min•Season 10Ep. 6
In September, the Toddle team organised " AI for AussieEd ", a week-long series of professional development sessions for teachers, which had thousands of attendees for the virtual sessions. This episode "Driving Innovation in Australian Schools" was part of the week, and brings you the experiences of three educators, in conversation with podcast hosts Dan and Ray The guests are: Rachel Saunders , Primary School Learning Leader at Concordia College in Adelaide Ryan Elwell , Director of Digital Pe...
Nov 07, 2024•44 min•Season 10Ep. 5
This week's episode has a lot more news than research. But the research that we spend a bit of time on is the insights on how students in Australian universities are using AI. Really good insights for any educator or leader! News AI Detectors Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating—With Big Consequences https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-18/do-ai-detectors-work-students-face-false-cheating-accusations Empowering Education Leaders Toolkit https://tech.ed.gov/education-leaders-ai-toolkit/...
Oct 31, 2024•27 min•Season 10Ep. 4
Series 10, Episode 3 This week's episode is an interview with Dr Anna Denejkina , who's an interdisciplinary researcher and Associate Director at The Insight Centre . We discuss her research on youth engagement with generative AI. The conversation explores the multifaceted impact of AI technology in education, addressing benefits such as upskilling and accessibility, as well as concerns related to academic misconduct, job displacement, and misinformation. Key themes include gender disparity in c...
Oct 24, 2024•37 min•Season 10Ep. 3
