Will AI Make Our Education System Smarter?

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Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our lives and work, as well as the schools and universities that students are educated in. In particular, ChatGPT and related platforms have posed risks to integrity of student assessment and how students may be exposed to misinformation. But AI-supported edtech is not necessarily new either, with schools already using platforms that help with assessing students’ learning needs, opportunities for practice, receiving feedback, and even providing extra instruction to students when needed. Yet, some education unions have also resisted AI based on the possible threat of ‘robo-marking’ undermining the professionalism of teachers.

Join us for this online webinar on Tuesday 5 September to hear from Daisy Christodoulou and Leslie Loble on this topic. 

Over recent months, Australian education ministers have set up an AI taskforce, a framework for use in schools, a parliamentary inquiry, and regularly discussed implications of AI for schooling systems. With AI likely here to stay, it’s now expected that bans on tools like ChatGPT will be overturned in favour of strategies to use them more constructively. Meanwhile, in the UK, the government has released a white paper that promotes a “pro-innovation approach” to AI regulation, including in education.

What are the risks and opportunities of AI to education? Are there limits to when and how AI is used for education? Have we got the balance right in risk prevention and supporting technological innovation? Do teachers and schools have the right tools to make smart decisions about what AI products to use, how, and how to ensure students benefit? What do policymakers need to do? What does the future hold for AI in education?

Daisy Christodoulou is Director of Education at No More Marking (NMM), an online resource that helps teachers with writing assessment, and she was previously head of assessment at Ark Schools, the network of academies across the UK run by Ark, an international children’s charity. She is author of three books about education: Teachers vs Tech, Making Good Progress, and Seven Myths about Education.

Leslie Loble is an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and a Paul Ramsay Foundation Fellow. Her recent research includes the report, Shaping AI and Edtech to Tackle Australia’s Learning Divide. In addition to governance roles at the Centre for Policy Development and Australian Education Research Organisation, Leslie has also served as Deputy Secretary in the NSW Department of Education, Schooling Policy Group of the Australian Education Ministerial Council, and she established the awards-winning Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, Centre for Learning Innovation and Catalyst Lab. Prior to coming to Australia, Leslie served in President Bill Clinton’s Administration.