Once upon a time, school students would submit an essay, and teachers would mark it. Job done.<\/p>\n
Enter \u201cThinking Mode\u201d. Now, in some Australian schools, once a student finishes an assignment an AI chatbot will interrogate them about it: put them on the spot in a two-way dialogue, to make sure they really understood what they wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you explain this a little bit more?\u201d the chatbot might say, or, \u201cWhat do you mean by that word?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about hammering in the lesson. It\u2019s also a way to ensure students do their own thinking, and haven\u2019t resorted to plagiarism or ChatGPT.<\/p>\n
At Hills Christian Community School in Adelaide Hills, the technology is just one way teachers and students are using artificial intelligence and other brand-new tech to further learning.<\/p>\n
Students also use sensors, drones and coding to learn about natural ecosystems, from rivers to pollinators and bushland habitats. Students with disabilities, including limited speech, are accessing Meta AI glasses with inbuilt speakers that explain what is happening without disrupting the classroom.<\/p>\n
Hills Christian Community School is integrating artificial intelligence into its curriculum in innovative ways. Photograph: Hills Christian Community School<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s leader of digital innovation, Colleen O\u2019Rourke, says they have a philosophy: \u201cAI tools are used by educators to amplify great practice, not dilute it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe human element cannot be lost in this,\u201d she says. \u201cAI is the co-collaborator in the triad of the teacher and the student.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n But while AI is being rolled out at Australian schools in innovative ways, it is not coming to all of them, and not equally.<\/p>\n The peak body for independent schools is urging the federal government to take up a national AI pilot or risk creating a \u201ctwo-speed system\u201d and widening educational divide.<\/p>\n The Independent Schools<\/a> Australia (ISA) paper, released on Monday, analysed how schools across the nation were integrating generative AI into teaching and learning, three years after the release of ChatGPT.<\/p>\n It found schools were adopting AI at widely varying speeds<\/a>, depending on their geography and resources.<\/p>\n Just two jurisdictions, New South Wales and South Australia, have rolled out AI programs to public schools, after a ban on the technology<\/a> was overturned<\/a> in late 2023.<\/p>\n The chief executive of ISA, Graham Catt, said Australia was at a critical point in determining whether AI became a tool for equity or inequality.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t act deliberately now, we risk creating a two-speed system,\u201d Catt said. \u201cSome schools will surge ahead, while others struggle to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n The paper called on the federal government to launch a national, sector-blind pilot AI program, to provide a pathway on how to ethically adopt the technology and where to direct funding.<\/p>\n