Navigating AI Together
by Mr Nathaniel Smith, Head of Digital Learning
Box Hill High School
It’s been a big year for all things AI at BHHS!
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we all work and learn, and BHHS is committed to working with students, teachers, and families to navigate this emerging technology as it rapidly changes.
BHHS AI Forum & Panel Discussion
In Term 3, we plan to offer a BHHS AI forum and panel discussion, to register your interest and receive updates please complete this short form.
Any questions you have related to AI will help us shape the program. More details to come!
Student Working Group
This year we have established a Student AI Working Group made up of curious, engaged students from across Years 7-12.
No AI expertise is required, just a willingness to contribute.
Members share their experiences and perspectives on using AI for learning and work alongside teachers to help develop tools and guidelines that support responsible, ethical, and effective AI use.
I would like to thank all our student members for their contributions and in particular for speaking at year level assemblies this term where they launched our student-developed AI framework.
What Students are Telling us
We recently surveyed 443 students across Years 7-12, and the results were a focus point at our Term 2 whole-staff briefing.
More than half of respondents (53%) report using AI tools daily or weekly, with 21% using them every day and 31% using them at least once a week.
Unsurprisingly, usage increases with year level. Around 25% of Year 7 to 9 students report daily or weekly use, rising to 35% among Year 10 to 12 students.
How students are using AI also shifts as they move through school. Younger students tend to use it to understand concepts, research topics, simplify or explain information, and generate ideas. Older students are more likely to use AI to interpret rubrics, develop example high-level responses, generate practice questions, and seek feedback on their work.
The survey also gave students the chance to raise genuine concerns - from environmental factors to worries about being falsely accused of using AI.
In particular, a concern that students who do not use AI or misrepresent their own work may not be recognised by teachers for their genuine efforts.
These are concerns we take seriously, and they are shaping the conversations happening in both our Student and Staff Working Groups. This includes unpacking of the deeper questions AI raises for schools: how generative AI tools affect student self-regulation and active participation in learning, the risk of AI displacing deep learning, the appeal of the quick fix over genuine understanding, and broader environmental considerations.
