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From the Principal

University of Technology Sydney Partnership

Many international universities already collaborate closely with secondary schools to deepen the learning of students and to create a bridge between school and tertiary education. If Australian students are to flourish, we need to broaden our thinking about where and how learning takes place. The opportunity for school students, in particular stage 5 students, to learn at university will not only inform their understanding of what it means to be a tertiary student and broaden their understanding of what courses are available, but it has the potential to strengthen their capabilities for independent, self-directed, and self-regulated learning.

UTS and Hills Grammar School will lead the way by partnering to provide interested year 9 and 10 students with the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom and benefit from learning at an innovative campus from UTS students and tertiary educators. Vosniadou’s research (2020) into the transition from secondary school to university concludes that universities place high demands on students for complex and independent learning, and many students struggle with what is required at universities.

Karen Yager, David Hamper, Geoff Gates and our Chair Darby To met on Friday 19 May to partner with UTS staff to design a microcredential program for year 9 and 10 students that involves them being able to do first year university units that will attract 6 to 8 credit points each. We will launch a pilot program with year 10 students this year. They will do the course: 81539 Innovation in Complex Systems where students engage in a creative series of practical activities that bring them to a broad understanding of creative intelligence and innovation as a field of practice. Through exploring what appear to be impossibilities, they begin to investigate and reframe uncertain and complex challenges, and experiment with emerging opportunities. The nature of this subject embraces today's open, complex, dynamic, and networked problems. Through first-hand experience, students are inspired to experiment and hone their skills through multidisciplinary collaboration, visualisation, representation, and presentation.

In 2024, year 9 students who are interested will study this unit and the year 10 students will study the course 94662 Fundamentals of Innovation Students where students work in teams with real world industry partners to create an idea that will result in a minimum viable product. Students will work with various innovation tools such as ideation, Business model canvasing, Product Requirements Documentation, Go To Market documentation and Venture Capital Pitching.

The call for Expressions of Interest will be sent to year 10 later this term, and the 2023 year 8 and 9 students in term 4 this year. We are very excited about this amazing opportunity for our students and for the future prospect about how this could change the learning of students nationwide.

Alumni coaches in the Senior Library

The appointment of the alumni as coaches for our students after school in the senior library has been very successful. The year 12 students and students from other years have reported how beneficial it has been to have the alumni coaches there to support them. There has been such a buzz in the library at night with students collaborating and learning from each other, knowing that the teacher on duty and the new coached are there to help them. The model will continue to grow each year.

AI technology

The rapid escalation of accessibility to AI tools has created a conundrum for teachers. On the one hand, AI tools, such as ChatGPT4, offer some exciting possibilities. Teachers will be able to save time by using it to generate teaching programs, assessment tasks, synthesise websites and research articles and provide feedback. Students will be able to find and synthesise information, generate a range of ideas and create a range of written texts that can be edited and refined. 

However, AI does have its limitations. It lacks veracity, as sources can be fabricated and unintended biased, derogatory, and toxic texts could be generated. AI tools, such as StableDiffusion, can be used to create deep fakes by manipulating images or even mimic our voices, such as ElevenLabs that uses voice samples to create voice fakes. AI tools are inadequate when it comes to complex ideas, understanding context, and producing persuasive arguments. In terms of AI generated writing, sophisticated imagery, nuanced use of language and clever analogies are not always evident.

If we immediately respond to the negatives by banning the use of AI in schools, we are not future proofing our students who need to become ethical, creative, and critical thinkers who learn how to question and harness the latest technologies. Instead, we need to provide clear and ethical guidelines that define how students should use AI tools and make them aware of their digital footprint and how their data can be accessed. We need to reconsider how we design summative assessment tasks and avoid ones that require the regurgitation of content.

Students already use ‘Google’ for shortcuts and plagiarism. Like all new technologies, education rather than prohibition is the best approach. We need to view AI as an enabler rather than a threat. It is important that we explore and harness ways for our students to advance their knowledge of AI technologies – the good, the bad and the ugly. UNESCO (2019) stated that they support a “humanistic approach to the use of AI with a view towards protecting human rights and preparing all people with the appropriate values and skills needed for effective human machine collaboration in life, learning and work, and for sustainable development”.

Our teachers have been provided with a plethora of links and resources so that they are aware of AI’s capabilities and threats. We are forming an AI Think Tank to gather information, resources, and strategies for using AI and how our students can be discerning, critical thinkers who are aware of the threats, the ethics, and the possibilities. Our assessment policy already includes a statement about the misuse of ChatGPT for tasks.

The following resources and links are worth exploring if you are interested.