AI in Education Conference | Teaching Tomorrow: Harnessing AI Tools Today

Western Sydney University is a world-class university with a growing international reach and reputation for academic excellence and impact-driven research. Ranked among the top two per cent of universities in the world, we value academic excellence, integrity and the pursuit of knowledge. We are globally focused, research-led and committed to making a positive impact on the communities we engage with. As a dynamic place of learning, we continue to challenge traditional notions of what a university ‘should’ be by pushing the boundaries of how knowledge is exchanged.

Western Sydney University

Learn how to use AI tools to enhance teaching methods at our event "Teaching Tomorrow: Harnessing AI Tools Today"!

Parramatta South campus

Join us for an inspiring and insightful conference designed exclusively for educators eager to explore the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the classroom! At "Teaching Tomorrow: Harnessing AI Tools Today," you'll connect with fellow teachers who are pioneering the integration of AI into their teaching practices. Discover innovative strategies, practical applications, and real-world examples of how AI can enhance learning, streamline administrative tasks, and personalise education for every student. Themes and workshopsOur theme for this year is Teaching Tomorrow: Harnessing AI tools today with a much sharper focus on practical applications and real life examples.We are thrilled to have Anna Denejkina, PhD as our keynote speaker, highlighting the user experience of AI and how students and others are actually using and thinking about it.From there, we will have a range of concurrent hands-on workshops presented by teachers and school leaders, with topics including:<ul><li>AI and student wellbeing</li><li>AI and literacy</li><li>Growing community buy-in for AI</li><li>Bots and literature</li><li>AI and philosophy</li><li>Student leadership in the age of AI</li><li>Assessment and reporting with AI</li></ul>

Agenda

Arrival and Registration

Welcome 


Dr Anna Denejkina is the Associate Director at The Insight Centre, working to empower for-purpose organisations with evidence and insights to address Australia’s current and future social, economic and public policy challenges. Anna has conducted national research and consultation with youth in sectors including GenAI and technology, health and wellbeing, higher education, government and more.

Her youth-focused research has received national media attention with commentary and publication in The Conversation, The Australian Business Review, Mumbrella, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Prior to joining The Insight Centre, Anna was the Research Director of YouthInsight. Anna is passionate about research innovation, methods and ethics, and achieving real impact through research-informed decision making. She believes that understanding individual human experience and using a human-centric and people-first approach is critical to research, its insights, outcomes and impact.


Keynote Address

This workshop will showcase the work across Catholic Schools Parramatta and CENet in attending to the issue of teacher workload and the impact on staffing. Learn about the key priorities and the existing tools/techniques already being applied that are being used in playing the opportunities further. Key takeaways from the workshop include prompting techniques/scripts that can be used by your leaders/staff/students immediately, assessment samples and how to build your own Gen AI agents/copilots.

Learning & Teaching Time - Direct & Indirect Gen AI tools and techniques 

In this session Dan will demo the free GPT4 copilot with commercial protection and also show how you can make your own for your school using copilot studio.  He will also quickly share the other tools you can use today from Minecraft AI to Imagine Cup Junior a free competition for your students

Copilot not Autopilot

Empowering Student Leadership in the Age of AI: Amplifying Student Voice and Expertise. As AI reshapes the educational landscape, the role of educators in fostering student leadership is more important than ever. "Empowering Student Leadership in the Age of AI" is an insightful workshop designed for educators who aim to harness the power of AI to elevate student voices and expertise. This workshop is ideal for educators dedicated to empowering their students to become innovative leaders in a rapidly evolving digital world. Be at the forefront of educational transformation and inspire the next generation of leaders!

Empowering Student Leadership in the Age of AI: Amplifying Student Voice 

Exploring the potential of generative AI in education: A deep dive with the NSW Department of Education.  The NSW Department of Education is preparing learners and educators for a future where generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is part of everyday life. In this workshop, you'll learn about the department's strategic approach to leveraging GenAI to enhance teaching and learning across our diverse network of public schools. You'll explore the professional learning being developed to empower NSW public school teachers to use GenAI safely and effectively. And you'll see NSWEduChat, our department-built, secure GenAI application, in action. Join us for a unique opportunity to learn more about the future of GenAI in NSW public schools.

Exploring the potential of generative AI in education: A deep dive

This session will explore effective and ethical AI usage in the classroom, with a focus on aligning AI practices with assessment policies. Attendees will learn about the school's implementation strategies, including technology agreements and restorative actions, ensuring AI is utilised to enhance student learning. Discover practical insights for leveraging AI to support educational outcomes and improve teaching methodologies.

AI for Learners

Prototyping Zone 

Assessment in Stage 2 and 3 

Generative AI has empowered many educators and students to experiment, think and act differently.  But much of this relies on consumption. In the true spirit of Grand Designs, this workshop will give you an insight into pursuing a vision, custom-making chatbots for teaching and learning. At the same time, it will highlight how the process of designing and constructing these chatbots can be a highly valuable learning experience but also how useful such custom bots can be in a plethora of ways.

AI Grand Designs

Increasing Teacher Time

AI-informed Pedagogy 

MORNING TEA BREAK

In Term 1 of 2024, the NSW Department of Education started a trial of NSWEduChat, a generative AI (GenAI) app now operational in 50 NSW public schools across stages 3-6. This secure, department-owned application ensures security, privacy, and equity while delivering customised content tailored to the NSW education environment.

In this workshop, two trial schools will provide firsthand accounts of their experiences using NSWEduChat. They’ll discuss how they have used the application as a tool to support great teaching practice, their successes and navigating challenges they faced during the trial. You’ll learn about how these schools have effectively and safely integrated NSWEduChat into their teaching practice, benefiting teachers, students, and school leaders.


Unlocking insights: Trial school’s success stories with NSWEduChat 

Josh is a passionate health and physical education teacher from Emmaville Central School in the New England North West of NSW. His workshop will discuss opportunities to harness GenAI to enhance learning and critical thinking, with a PDHPE-specific lens. The workshop will include practical ideas for using AI technology to bring health and physical education content to life, including ideas for integration with the new ‘Health and Movement Science’ syllabus.

AI and PDHPE

Creative, critical and cultural thinking

Come along to this hands-on session to learn how to create your own chatbots to use with your staff and students. We will unpack some of the secret sauce of what makes for a great prompt, look at some snazzy ideas for AI chatbots and then dive in on how to make your own chatbot to share with your school.

DIY ChatGPT toolkit

This workshop will explore methods to differentiate within the classroom using AI tools such as LLMs and assistive technologies like Tango to help differentiate expediently and meaningfully for all students within your classes. This workshop will discuss effective prompt design to generate differentiated lesson activities and experiment with AI assistive learning tools such as Tango. Ideal for educators interested in learning how AI tools can enhance accessibility and support all learners in the classroom. 

Using AI Tools to Differentiate in the Classroom

Model texts with AI

Leading Innovation: Insights from NSWEduChat trial schools on leading the implementation of generative AI.
NSWEduChat is a secure, NSW Department of Education-owned generative AI (GenAI) application. It ensures security, privacy and equity for users and offers content specifically designed for NSW public schools. The application is currently being trialled in 50 schools across the state.

In this workshop, you’ll hear from leaders in two NSWEduChat trial schools as they share their insights on leading the implementation of GenAI. They will reflect on their experiences in the trial so far, including leading and empowering their teams to explore the possibilities NSWEduChat offers in their schools.

You’ll have the opportunity to learn from your colleagues as they discuss their complex and rewarding roles as leaders of innovation in NSW public schools.


Leading Innovation: Insights from NSWEduChat trial schools 

This workshop aims to guide educators through the CRITIC framework to design effective and inclusive learning experiences using Generative AI. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, creating tailored prompts based on student case studies to address specific educational needs. The workshop will also emphasise the importance of incorporating educational research, including principles from gifted education, to ensure the prompts are research-based and effective.

Enhancing and Evaluating LLM Learning Design with the CRITIC Framework 

Philosophical bots

In a world where AI tools are becoming ubiquitous, students are already integrating them into their learning processes, whether we approve or not. This presentation will explore the intersection of metacognition and AI, emphasising the crucial need to equip students with the skills to understand how they learn. By focusing on metacognitive strategies, we can empower students to be adaptive, self-regulated learners in an AI-driven world.

Metacognition and AI: Navigating the Future of Learning

Discover what deep fakes are and the serious risks they pose. Get practical resources to help teachers, students, and parents detect and combat deep fakes. Understand the importance of addressing these dangers now and the crucial role of AI champions in changing mindsets. Leave with actionable steps to improve digital safety in your school.

The dangers of DeepFake AI

PLENARY CHALLENGE

NETWORKING & DRINKS

Lunch

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