AI in Education Podcast

Podcast Unwrapped: Our 2025 AI in Education Awards

In this special end-of-year episode, Ray and Dan unwrap the biggest moments, ideas, guests, and breakthroughs that shaped AI in education in 2025. From standout tools to unforgettable interviews, they look back at a year defined by rapid change, bold experimentation, and extraordinary people driving meaningful impact. [If you want to see, rather than just hear, this episode, then come over and join us on YouTube at https://youtu.be/IhGwPPuWA4o [https://youtu.be/IhGwPPuWA4o] - this episode is a visual treat with bonus Dad humour] They reveal their AI Product of the Year (NotebookLM), the worst offenders in AI hype, and their most loved - and most hated - research papers. And then they revisit the year's most-downloaded episode, celebrate exceptional system-level leadership from Brisbane Catholic Education, and honour powerful student voices from Caitlin and the All Hallows' cohort. The awards extend to professional learning champions Lee Barrett & Prem Radhakrishnan, Indigenous perspectives with Peta-Anne Toohey, and reflective insights from Carlo Iacono on what it means to stay human in an AI-saturated world. Finally, Ray and Dan name their overall winners of 2025 - and map out the essential episodes to revisit over the holidays. Full Awards list * AI in Education Product of the Year: Notebook LM * Research Paper of the Year: "Heads we win, tails you lose: AI Detectors in Education" from Mark A Bassett et al. * Most downloaded Episode of the Year: "Learning Designers Meet AI" with Minh Huynh & Cory Dal Ponte * K–12 Leadership & Vision Award: Leigh Williams and team at Brisbane Catholic Education * Best AI Professional Development Work: Lee Barrett & Prem Radhakrishnan * Award for "Voices Representing a Billion people": To the students we had in Series 12, especially Caitlin, and Abby, Abby, Miranda, Eloise, Charlotte, Annie * Most Nerve-Wracking Interview / Indigenous Voice Award: Peta-Anne Toohey * Making AI Human Award: Carlo Iacono * Researcher of the Year: Dr Anna Denejkina Runners Up People not on the podcast this year, but who we feel have been influential in the AI in Education community * Community Leaders in AI & Education: Simone Kirsch & Julianne Peloche; Sarah Ratner & the A-I-E-O-U team * Education Leader Runner-Up of the Year: Jason Lodge And finally, Winner of Winners Dan's pick: Leigh Williams from Brisbane Catholic Education Ray's pick: Students in general

AI just changed again - what schools and universities need to know this week

This week delivered one of the biggest waves of AI news in recent memory - and Dan and Ray unpack what it all means for schools, universities and vocational education. From Microsoft's upcoming Copilot upgrades to Google's jaw-dropping Gemini 3 and Nano Banana Pro image model, the landscape for teachers shifted fast. They explore how these tools are already reshaping lesson design, image generation, student support and academic workflows - and why NotebookLM might quietly be the most important education tool Google has ever released. They also break down newly released case studies from the Australian Industry Group, discuss Claude's expansion through Azure, and look at how sectors like health, logistics and vocational training are adopting AI at speed. In the second half, the episode dives into three significant peer-reviewed research papers - including new evidence of gender bias in AI explanations, emerging AI-pedagogy frameworks, and fresh insights into how students actually use (and feel about) AI in their studies. News Microsoft * Microsoft rolling more into the free version of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat https://www.theverge.com/news/822789/microsoft-copilot-chat-outlook-word-excel-powerpoint [https://www.theverge.com/news/822789/microsoft-copilot-chat-outlook-word-excel-powerpoint] * Microsoft and NVIDIA invest $15 billion in Anthropic - and Anthropic agree to buy $30B of Microsoft's Azure https://www.anthropic.com/news/microsoft-nvidia-anthropic-announce-strategic-partnerships [https://www.anthropic.com/news/microsoft-nvidia-anthropic-announce-strategic-partnerships] Google * Useful review of Gemini 3 by Ethan Mollick https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/three-years-from-gpt-3-to-gemini [https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/three-years-from-gpt-3-to-gemini] * Examples of the infographics we created with Google's NotebookLM can be found on these two links: The podcast episode infographic from the Aaron Driver, of UNE, interview https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-in-education-podcast_aiineducation-notebooklm-podcast-activity-7398861734071083008-08GD [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-in-education-podcast_aiineducation-notebooklm-podcast-activity-7398861734071083008-08GD] The podcast series infographic from Series 14 "the Humans of AI" https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rayfleming_aiineducation-podcast-notebooklm-activity-7398515648089468928-vOUS [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rayfleming_aiineducation-podcast-notebooklm-activity-7398515648089468928-vOUS] * NotebookLM announcements https://x.com/notebooklm/status/1989078069454270649?s=46&t=p57lLRpTCXGNBiwhIjsl7Q [https://x.com/notebooklm/status/1989078069454270649?s=46&t=p57lLRpTCXGNBiwhIjsl7Q] * Google announce new Gemini certifications for education https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/gemini-certifications-education/ [https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/gemini-certifications-education/] Cogniti * 29 teachers sharing their stories about using AI with students https://cogniti.ai/2025-cogniti-mini-symposium-resources/ [https://cogniti.ai/2025-cogniti-mini-symposium-resources/] Anthropic * Anthropic partners with Rwandan Government and ALX to bring AI education to hundreds of thousands of learners across Africa https://www.anthropic.com/news/rwandan-government-partnership-ai-education [https://www.anthropic.com/news/rwandan-government-partnership-ai-education] * The London School of Economics has provided all students with access to Claude for Education https://www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-from-lse/d-april/lse-partners-with-anthropic-to-shape-the-future-of-ai-in-education [https://www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-from-lse/d-april/lse-partners-with-anthropic-to-shape-the-future-of-ai-in-education] OpenAI * OpenAI announce "ChatGPT for teachers" for US school teachers - and makes it free until the middle of 2027 https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teachers/ [https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teachers/] https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12844995-chatgpt-for-teachers [https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12844995-chatgpt-for-teachers] * First ChatGPT Edu deployment in Australian Vocational Education https://connectweb.com.au/news.aspx?id=1038171&headline=nexted-launches-australias-first-chatgpt-edu-deployment-in-vocational-education [https://connectweb.com.au/news.aspx?id=1038171&headline=nexted-launches-australias-first-chatgpt-edu-deployment-in-vocational-education] Australian Industry Group * Report: AI positive for companies, their people and Australian industry https://www.australianindustrygroup.com.au/news/reports/2025/artificial-intelligence-positive-for-companies-their-people-and-australian-industry/ [https://www.australianindustrygroup.com.au/news/reports/2025/artificial-intelligence-positive-for-companies-their-people-and-australian-industry/] Research Gender equity in GenAI science explanations https://www.ase.org.uk/resources/school-science-review/issue-395/gender-equity-in-genai-science-explanations [https://www.ase.org.uk/resources/school-science-review/issue-395/gender-equity-in-genai-science-explanations] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoriamhedlund_biasaware-aiineducation-genderbias-activity-7394637681978212352-1UUB [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoriamhedlund_biasaware-aiineducation-genderbias-activity-7394637681978212352-1UUB] * Bonus research mentioned: Sexist textbooks: Automated analysis of gender bias in 1,255 books from 34 countrieshttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11463758/ [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11463758/] A dialogic theoretical foundation for integrating generative AI into pedagogical design https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.70026 [https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.70026] Time, emotions and moral judgements: how university students position GenAI within their study https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2025.2580616 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2025.2580616]

UNE's AI Shake-Up: A Regional Uni Redefining the Rules?

In this episode, Ray sits down with Aaron Driver [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronbdriver/], Director of LabNext70 [https://www.labnext70.news/] at the University of New England (UNE) [https://www.une.edu.au/], a regional Australian university making one of the boldest moves in higher education: giving every staff member and every student access to a full enterprise AI platform. Aaron shares how UNE has built Madgwick [https://www.labnext70.news/madgwick], its white-labelled version of the SIMTheory AI [https://simtheory.ai/] platform, and why the university chose to go beyond standard tools like Copilot or ChatGPT for Education. With multi-model access, MCP connectors, and soon agentic capabilities, UNE staff have already created more than 3,000 AI assistants and reached an extraordinary 85% daily usage rate. The conversation dives into UNE's four big reasons for giving AI to all students - safety, job readiness, equity, and privacy - and how this move positions graduates for a job market where AI capability is no longer optional. Aaron also lifts the curtain on UNE's rapid cultural transformation, their sector-leading AI literacy programs, and the regional impact they hope to create by becoming Australia's most AI-enabled university. A fascinating look at a university rewriting the rulebook in real time. Bonus Links Aaron mentioned the SIMTheory Academy [https://www.simtheoryacademy.ai/] that his team runs, and recommended the free AI Quick Wins [https://www.simtheoryacademy.ai/courses/AI-Quick-Wins] course for a good overview of what SIM Theory can do

Meet the weird new jobs AI just invented

In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, Ray and Dan wrap up Series 14 with a packed news and research roundup. They start with the tricky world of AI governance in education, where Ray explains how schools and universities can simplify their policies instead of writing 26 new ones. The conversation then turns to a Washington Post piece on the rise of new AI-driven jobs - from conversation designers to human-AI collaboration leads - and what this means for the future of work and capability-building. They also unpack new insights from cechat about how teachers are creating and using AI agents, explore Microsoft's AI Diffusion report, and look at La Trobe University's staff chatbot, "Troby." They discuss Google's education research, Claude's pilot in Icelandic schools, and the latest update from OpenAI, before closing with a fascinating study on how students respond differently to teacher versus AI feedback. Listen in for practical insights, fresh data, and a few laughs along the way. News As AI reshapes the job market, here are 16 roles it has created - Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/29/ai-new-jobs/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/29/ai-new-jobs/] CENet analyses teacher created AI agents https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cenet---catholic-education-network_aiwithheart-catholicschools-catholiceducation-activity-7393528419411668992-nQc1 [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cenet---catholic-education-network_aiwithheart-catholicschools-catholiceducation-activity-7393528419411668992-nQc1] Microsoft AI Diffusion research https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/aiei/ai-diffusion/ [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/aiei/ai-diffusion/] Mustafa Suleyman - Human super intelligence https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/microsoft-launches-superintelligence-team-targeting-medical-diagnosis-to-start/ar-AA1PWmIO [https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/microsoft-launches-superintelligence-team-targeting-medical-diagnosis-to-start/ar-AA1PWmIO] Microsoft will offer in-country data processing in Australia & UK for Microsoft 365 Copilot https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/11/04/microsoft-offers-in-country-data-processing-to-15-countries-to-strengthen-sovereign-controls-for-microsoft-365-copilot/ [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/11/04/microsoft-offers-in-country-data-processing-to-15-countries-to-strengthen-sovereign-controls-for-microsoft-365-copilot/] Case Study "La Trobe University supercharges academic productivity with AI and Copilot Studio" https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/case-studies/latrobe-supercharges [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/case-studies/latrobe-supercharges] New Google paper on AI and the future of learning https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/ai-and-learning/ [https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/ai-and-learning/] Iceland goes Anthropic https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-and-iceland-announce-one-of-the-world-s-first-national-ai-education-pilots [https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-and-iceland-announce-one-of-the-world-s-first-national-ai-education-pilots] Open AI - ChatGPT's new personalities https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/openai-says-the-brand-new-gpt-51-is-warmer-and-has-more-personality-options/ar-AA1QjoBA [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/openai-says-the-brand-new-gpt-51-is-warmer-and-has-more-personality-options/ar-AA1QjoBA] Competitions for students to get involved in: CSIRO want you to predict pasture biomass from images - global https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/csiro-biomass United States Artificial Intelligence Institute Hackathon - US only https://www.usaii.org/ai-insights/usaii-kicks-off-the-ai-nextgen-challenge-2026-americas-largest-scholarship-program [https://www.usaii.org/ai-insights/usaii-kicks-off-the-ai-nextgen-challenge-2026-americas-largest-scholarship-program] How confidential is your chat with AI? https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/11/12/australia-national-security-chief-ai-speech-writing/ [https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/11/12/australia-national-security-chief-ai-speech-writing/] Research Teacher, peer, or AI? Comparing effects of feedback sources in higher education https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266655732500059X [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266655732500059X]

Education on Country: Peta-Anne Toohey on AI and Data Sovereignty

In this episode of the AI in Education Podcast, hosts Dan and Ray welcome Peta-Anne Toohey [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peta-anne-toohey/], Social Reciprocity Manager at Indigital, Australia's first Indigenous-owned digital training company. Together they explore how generative AI intersects with Indigenous knowledge systems, and why cultural safety, data sovereignty, and community-led design must be central to any tech or education initiative. Peta shares powerful stories from her work in Cape York, where communities are building digital skills on Country through augmented reality, drones, and caring-for-country technologies. She unpacks what it means to create culturally safe technologies, how free, prior and informed consent should shape AI use, and why decolonising how we think about technology is essential for equity in education. It's a fascinating discussion on how AI can empower, or endanger, Indigenous communities, and what educators and universities can learn from truly collaborative design. Find Peta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peta-anne-toohey/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peta-anne-toohey/] Links - Organisations, people and projects mentioned InDigital - https://www.indigital.net.au/ [https://www.indigital.net.au/] Local Contexts - https://localcontexts.org/ [https://localcontexts.org/] Terri Janke - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Janke [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Janke] Google's Indigenous Language Projects * Google and language researchers team up to teach AI Aboriginal English https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/google-and-researchers-are-teaching-ai-aboriginal-english/1uuqtjkf8 [https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/google-and-researchers-are-teaching-ai-aboriginal-english/1uuqtjkf8] * Woolaroo: a new tool for exploring indigenous languages https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/woolaroo-new-tool-exploring-indigenous-languages/ [https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/woolaroo-new-tool-exploring-indigenous-languages/] Microsoft's Indigenous AI Projects * Modis delivers first-of-its-kind Aboriginal language app to help break down communication barriers https://news.microsoft.com/en-au/features/modis-delivers-first-of-its-kind-aboriginal-language-app-to-help-break-down-communication-barriers/ [https://news.microsoft.com/en-au/features/modis-delivers-first-of-its-kind-aboriginal-language-app-to-help-break-down-communication-barriers/] * AI technology helps protect sea turtle nests from feral pigs in north Queensland https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-18/turtle-feral-pig-threat-artificial-intelligence-science/13162536 [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-18/turtle-feral-pig-threat-artificial-intelligence-science/13162536] * AI transforms Kakadu management https://news.microsoft.com/en-au/features/ai-transforms-kakadu-management/ [https://news.microsoft.com/en-au/features/ai-transforms-kakadu-management/]