AI in Education Podcast

Who gets to decide how AI is used in education? Government decides what happens to assessment. Google decides whether Gemini appears by default. OpenAI and parents decide controls for teenagers. Universities and unions decide workplace AI arrangements. Regulators decide expectations around consent. And schools are trying to work out what they should decide.
In this episode, Dan and Ray explore that question through a packed week of AI in education news. They look at Australia's response to AI and take-home assessment, the arrival of parental controls in ChatGPT for Teens, and why Ray is uncomfortable with Google enabling Gemini by default for students.
The conversation moves from the classroom to the workplace, with Adelaide University putting AI transparency, human oversight and staff consultation into its enterprise agreement, while new ASQA guidance raises important questions about consent and the use of student data in AI systems.
They also unpack new Australian eSafety research into children's use of AI assistants and companions, and tackle the increasingly heated debate about data centres, energy and water use.
As Ray puts it, "We're building this plane as we fly it." The challenge is making sure education still gets a say in where it's going.
Here's the links to go deeper into our topics:
Watch: Moment robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m record in China
How education departments across the country are cracking down on students using AI to cheat
Education Minister Jason Clare says AI must support learning, not replace it
Revealed: The NSW universities using AI in lectures and as 'study buddies' 
AI labs begin to muscle in on $6tn education market
Datacentres: The New NSW Regulations
ChatGPT for Teens
Google turns on Gemini AI for students using its classroom app
An Australian first: Adelaide University's new enterprise agreement has explicit provisions on the use of AI in the workplace.
Australia's Vocational Education regulator starts to catch up with responsible AI
Talking to machines: Children's experiences with AI assistants and companions
As discussed, good stuff on this from Tim kitchen
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-ai-becomes-someone-talk-tim-kitchen-3vznc

What does the research actually tell us about when generative AI helps learning, and when it starts to replace it?
Ray and Dan are joined by Dr Natasha Arthars and Dr Hongzhi (Veronica) Yang from the University of Sydney, and Dr Matthew Hill from the Barker Institute, to explore the new "Young People, Learning and Generative AI" report.
Drawing together a huge body of research, the report moves the conversation beyond whether AI is simply "good" or "bad" for education. Instead, it identifies the conditions that determine whether AI supports genuine learning.
The conversation explores the learner at the centre; the design of the AI tool; the learning task; who else is involved; and the wider cultural and institutional context. Ray learns the difference between cognition and metacognition, and we discuss strategic cognitive offloading, and a crucial new skill for students: deciding what to delegate to AI and what thinking they need to retain themselves.
Ultimately, the question for educators becomes: is AI supporting the learning goal, or replacing the learning?
The Young People, Learning and Generative AI report is online at:
https://doi.org/10.25910/89n4-a383  
For more project information, and webinar recordings, head to:
https://bit.ly/GenAILiterature-Launch

This week, Ray and Dan end up discussing a fundamental question: what is education actually for in the age of AI?
They explore new EU AI Act transparency requirements and the emerging role of AI watermarking, including what this could mean for the often-unreliable world of AI detection.
The conversation then turns to assessment. With Australian policymakers questioning take-home assessment and universities rethinking assessment for an AI-enabled world, Ray and Dan discuss why the goal isn't simply to make assessment "AI-proof", but to ensure students are still developing knowledge, judgement, creativity and critical thinking.
They also examine major new research into young people's use of generative AI from the Barker Institute and University of Sydney. Across 271 peer-reviewed studies, the evidence suggests AI can improve students' immediate performance and engagement - but better performance doesn't necessarily mean better learning.
Finally, they explore "hybrid reading": how students are using AI to orient themselves, clarify difficult concepts, translate academic language and check their own understanding.
Mentioned in this episode:
Matthew Wemyss' guide to EU AI Act transparency requirements
Information on Claude's watermarking of AI text - and a geeky read about how it does it
New education plugins in ChatGPT Edu
Jason Lodge on AI and assessment
NSW's news on 'take home' assessments
South Australia's Royal Commission into AI
Kelly Ilich on teaching standards in the age of AI
Danny Liu & Adam Bridgeman's "What Should Education Look Like in the Age of AI?"
Barker Institute's research paper "Young People, Learning and Generative AI"
Research from Deakin University's CRADLE team on hybrid reading practices

The Hidden Gender Gap in AI Education, with Juliana Peloche
 
In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, we welcome Juliana Peloche to explore one of the most important (and often overlooked) conversations in educational AI: the gender gap.
Juliana shares how a Year 5 student's curiosity about AI sparked her own research journey, leading to a PhD and, ultimately, the co-founding of Women in AI Australia. Together, we discuss why representation matters (see Will Artificial Intelligence Get in the Way of Achieving Gender Equality?), the barriers women continue to face in AI (see HBR's Women Are Avoiding AI. Will Their Careers Suffer? and Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI Over Time) and what educators, institutions and industry can do to create more inclusive opportunities.
The conversation hears about new research into how female university students are using AI, revealing surprising findings around ethics, trust, academic integrity, and confidence with AI tools. We also explore AI bias, the importance of visible role models, and practical ways schools and universities can encourage more women to lead in the field.


Links and resources:
Women in AI Australia
Learn more about the Women in AI Australia upcoming events
Connect with Juliana Peloche on LinkedIn

Two Free AI Resources Every Teacher Should Download
Lee Barrett joins Ray to unpack the biggest AI in education news and research.
This week, while Dan enjoys the Pacific Northwest, Ray is joined by returning guest Lee Barrett (from CEnet) for a wide-ranging discussion on the latest AI in education news and research.
The episode explores why one of the world's leading law schools is restricting technology in first-year classes while embracing AI later in the course, what Anthropic's new Claude for Teachers initiative could mean for educators, and why headlines about AI "writing" university assignments deserve much closer scrutiny.
The conversation also dives into five new research papers covering AI-assisted teaching, student feedback, assessment reform, learning analytics, and how students are really using AI in higher education.
Along the way, Ray and Lee discuss why assessment - not AI detection - is becoming education's biggest challenge; why productive struggle still matters; and why good teaching remains at the heart of meaningful learning.
This week's free resources
Show Your Work: Assessment in the Age of AI – a practical collection of ideas for designing assessment in an AI-enabled world.
The Science of Learning and Generative AI: A Practical Guide for Secondary Teachers – a research-informed guide from La Trobe University that connects learning science with practical classroom use of AI.

News mentioned
Chicago Law School's first-year technology changes
Anthropic's Claude for Teachers
More than 50% of Australian university assignments used AI - and Turnitin's Learning Integrity Insights Report


AI in Education Research Reports
Generative AI can harm teaching
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7007339 


Artificial intelligence and feedback in university education: effectiveness and student perceptions
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2026.2697962


Grading in an age of assessment reform: the elephant in the room
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2026.2694451#d1e187


Interactive learning dashboards: rethinking learning visualisations as engagement tools
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-026-14082-1


Illuminating complex student realities of artificial intelligence through an entangled pedagogy framework
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-026-01730-1 
Just one of the papers from the excellent https://aiinhe.org/ project