It was a privilege to spend a full day at Clonard College in Geelong yesterday, working alongside the amazing Matt Esterman to support the school’s thinking around the safe and effective use of AI in education.

The day was designed as a whole-community exploration of Generative AI and its implications for teaching, learning and school policy.

In the morning, we ran a series of student focus groups involving representatives from every year level. Each group participated in a Design Sprint, where students worked collaboratively to design resources their school could use to promote safe, ethical and creative use of Generative AI.

The ideas students generated were thoughtful and insightful, ranging from student-friendly guides and posters to peer workshops and digital resources that could help their community better understand how to use AI responsibly.

Throughout the day we also met with the school leadership team to explore how emerging insights from students and teachers could help shape future school policy and guidelines around AI use.

In the afternoon, we ran professional learning sessions for the teaching staff, split into two streams:
– An AI foundations session for teachers beginning their journey with AI.
– An advanced workshop designed to help experienced teachers move to the next level in their use of AI to support teaching, learning and assessment.

The evening concluded with a parent information session, where we discussed many of the questions and concerns families currently have about AI from academic integrity and learning impacts to how students can develop the human skills that matter most in an AI-enabled world.

What stood out most during the day was the thoughtfulness of the students and the openness of the school community to engage with these important questions.

Clonard College are showing that the best way to approach AI is not through fear or avoidance, but through dialogue, experimentation and community involvement.

A big thank you to the Clonard team for their leadership in this space and to Matt Esterman for a fantastic collaboration.

If your school is looking for a similar experience, don’t hesitate to reach out via – https://timkitchen.net/ctl/