AI in Education Podcast

Most Australian students won't graduate into global tech companies. They'll build careers in small and medium businesses. So are schools and universities preparing them for that reality?
In this episode, Dan and Ray are joined by Amanda Rose - Co-founder and Director of Women in AI Australia and Founder & CEO of Entrepreneurial & Small Business Women Australia (ESBWA) -to explore what education can learn from the businesses driving Australia's economy.
Amanda shares practical advice on introducing AI without losing critical thinking, why educators should partner with local businesses to bring authentic problem-solving into the classroom, and how simple AI policies can help schools and organisations move from uncertainty to action. The conversation also tackles AI equity, bias in AI systems, and why students need to develop their own voice and judgement before relying on AI tools.
If you're a teacher, school leader, university educator or anyone interested in preparing learners for an AI-enabled workforce, this episode offers practical strategies you can put into practice straight away.
Find out more about:
Women in AI Australia

Entrepreneurial & Small Business Women Australia (ESBWA)

This week, Ray and Dan dive into a mountain of new AI in education research, so you don't have to.
They unpack major reports from around the world covering how students are really using AI, why schools are still struggling to provide clear guidance, and what the latest AI literacy and education readiness frameworks mean for teachers and leaders.
Along the way they discuss Norway's AI restrictions in primary schools, student concerns about AI data centres, new guidance on AI in assessment, and the growing importance of the human skills that AI can't replace.
If you're trying to make sense of where AI in education is heading, this episode brings together the latest evidence, trends and practical insights in one conversation. And hopefully you won't have to read all the reports below, but our conversation has given you a head start to find the right one(s) for you!
Power Toys (to turn your Copilot button into a shortcut for any AI)
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard-manager 
EU: Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary schools
https://www.reuters.com/technology/norway-imposes-near-ban-ai-elementary-school-2026-06-19/ 
Australia: Sunshine Coast students push back as Australia positions itself as a global AI leader
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-23/students-protest-ai-amid-growing-national-concerns/106808776 
UK: Navigating AI in Education - Pupils' perspectives on the role of AI in the classroom
https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/research-reports/Navigating_AI_in_Education_Research_Report_June2026_v05.pdf 
US: Common Sense Media Census: AI use by Teens and Tweens
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/a-comprehensive-report-on-teens-tweens-and-ai 
Australia: Learning First School Research
https://learningfirst.com/s/Learning-First_AI-use-in-schools-Taking-action-now_FINAL.pdf 
Global: AI Literacy Framework from OECD & EC
https://ailiteracyframework.org/ 
Global: New WEF report: Shaping the Future of Learning: Education Readiness for the Age of AI
https://www.weforum.org/publications/shaping-the-future-of-learning-education-readiness-for-the-age-of-ai/ 
Australia: AI in Higher Education Research in Australia
https://aiinhe.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-hedx-conference-260617_0114.pdf 
US: Lumina Foundation/Gallup - "AI in Higher Education: Widespread Use, Unclear Rules"
https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Lumina-Foundation-Gallup-SOHE_AI_Report.pdf 
Australia: TEQSA's new guidance on detecting AI use in student assessments
https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/protecting-academic-integrity/academic-integrity-toolkit/risks-academic-integrity-ai/detecting-plagiarism-ai-generated-text-student-assessments-and-securing-take-home-written-assessments 
Global: Preparing students for the future of work from Microsoft 
https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-preparing-students-for-the-future-of-work.html
Global: QS World Future Skills Index
https://www.qs.com/world-future-skills-index/2027

AI systems are increasingly being used in education, but what happens when those systems introduce hidden bias into learning, feedback, assessment and career advice?
In this episode, we're joined by Victoria Hedlund (AKA The AI Bias Girl), founder of GenEd Labs, former physics teacher, consultant and researcher specialising in AI bias in education.
Victoria shares practical examples of how AI tools can produce different outputs based on gender, names, backgrounds and other personal characteristics. From explanations of how a light bulb works to career guidance and assessment, we explore how seemingly small biases can compound over time and influence attainment, wellbeing and opportunity.
The conversation covers AI tutors, safeguarding concerns, assessment risks, the importance of keeping humans in the loop, and why educators need to adopt a more experimental mindset when working with generative AI.
This is a thought-provoking discussion about fairness, agency and what every teacher needs to know as AI becomes increasingly embedded in education.
For more background, here's two bits of Victoria's writing:
Deep dive on using AI for marking
https://victoriahedlund.substack.com/p/bias-bytes-special-edition-evidence 
Deep dive on Squishmallow Top Trumps
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoriamhedlund_biasgirl-biasaware-chatgpt-ugcPost-7452959849623220225-bIWG 
And finally, free downloads from Victoria, including 8 bias-mitigating prompts for teachers, and a growing set of other resources on AI bias in education.
https://genedlabs.ai/downloads

What happens when AI helps students earn more A grades, and also contributes to more failures when it's taken away?
In this episode, Ray and Dan explore new research on AI's impact on student performance, assessment integrity, and learning. They discuss studies linking AI to rising grades, the risks of over-reliance on AI, and growing evidence that AI tutors may support learning better than general-purpose chatbots.
The conversation also covers AI detectors, AI humanisers, teacher workload, Microsoft's latest Copilot updates, and a new tool for measuring the environmental footprint of AI use.
AI in Education Research Papers
Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/80x8d3qd 
ps WSJ wrote an article on this https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/a-grades-are-suddenly-everywhere-since-the-arrival-of-chatgpt-845baae7 
Failing grades soar as professors see greater AI usage, dwindling math skills in UC Berkeley computer science classes
https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/academics/failing-grades-soar-as-professors-see-greater-ai-usage-dwindling-math-skills-in-uc-berkeley/article_16fad0bf-02cb-4b8c-8d88-888ffd9f8608.html


Building AI Companions that Prioritise Learning over Performance
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04816


Effective Personalized AI Tutors via LLM-Guided Reinforcement Learning
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6423358


Law Professors prefer AI over peer answers
https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/salinas_et_al.pdf


Fixing teachers' problems? exploring teachers' repair and maintenance work around generative AI technologies
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01596306.2026.2657793\


Dramaturgies of Deception: AI Humanizers and the Performance of Legitimacy in Higher Education Assessment
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02649


Homogenizing effect of large language models (LLMs) on creative diversity: An empirical comparison of human and ChatGPT writing
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S294988212500091X 
AI Detectors Fail Diverse Student Populations: A Mathematical Framing of Structural Detection Limits
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.20254
 
AI News 
Copilot Cowork released
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/06/16/copilot-cowork-is-now-generally-available/ 


Copilot notebooks released for all free copilot chat basic accounts
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/educationblog/copilot-notebooks-and-study-guide-now-available-to-copilot-chat-users/4527320


Andy Masley's Carbon footprint calculator|
https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/ 

Mazenod College: Year 12 students caught using AI to cheat
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-09/year-12-students-in-melbourne-caught-cheating-using-ai/106777700

What does it mean to put humans first in the age of AI?
Recorded at the Flourish Conference, this special episode brings together three school leaders who are using AI in very different ways, and with a common focus on human agency.
You'll hear how students are designing their own learning agents, how AI can help teachers make better use of student data while keeping information secure, and how one school is using AI-powered coaching tools to support professional learning and culture change.
Across all three stories, a clear message emerges: the most effective AI initiatives aren't replacing people - they're helping students and teachers flourish.
Featuring:
Alison Perosin (Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Broken Bay Diocese)
Hamish Jefferies (John Therry Catholic College)
Renée Williams (The Cathedral College, Rockhampton)
A practical look at how schools are building capability, trust and innovation with AI.