Matt Esterman at the AI in Education Conference
Episode description
Matt Esterman is Director of Innovation & Partnerships, and history teacher, at Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta. An educational leader who's making things happen with AI in education in Australia, Matt created and ran the AI in Edcuation conference in Sydney in November 2023, where this interview with Dan and Ray was recorded.
Part of Matt's role is to help his school on the journey to adopting and using generative AI. As an example, he spent time understanding the UNESCO AI Framework for education, and relating that to his own school.
One of the interesting perspectives from Matt is the response to students using ChatGPT to write assignments and assessments - and the advice for teachers within his school on how to handle this well with them (which didn't involve changing their assessment policy!)
"And so we didn't have to change our assessment policy. We didn't have to change our ICT acceptable use policy. We just apply the rules that should work no matter what. And just for the record, like I said, 99 percent of the students did the right thing anyway."
This interview is full of common sense advice, and it's reassuring the hear the perspective of a leader, and school, that might be ahead on the journey.