Leadership's Letter

Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

"The rapid spread of astonishing innovations, whose workings and potential are beyond the ability of most of us to understand and appreciate, has proven both exciting and disorienting."

— Pope Francis (2024) in his Message for the World Day of Social Communications

Since Chat GPT launched in late 2022, the education world, much like society at large, has been confronted with how to harness the many opportunities presented by powerful generative artificial intelligence (GAI), whilst mitigating against the emerging risks. Hundreds of new educational GAI tools have been launched, while governments and other regulators are scrambling to regulate what is essentially an ever evolving and ethically challenging moving target. A recent McKinsey and Company Report (‘The state of AI in early 2024’) found that “Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices”. This aligns with MACS’ digital approach of “safety first, learning always” in its schools.

As such, Mazenod is taking a judicious, evidence-based approach that seeks to maximise the power of GAI to transform teaching and learning whilst minimising against the risks it also poses. Earlier this year we became one of three partner schools working with Monash University on an Australian Research Council-funded research project on supporting teachers and teaching in the age of Artificial Intelligence. AI detection functionality (acknowledging its limitations) has been added to MazCom to safeguard the authenticity of student work, and staff have already undertaken online training modules in the use of Microsoft CoPilot (powered by Open AI).  Staff professional learning will continue to evolve just as the technology does.  The College has also been working with MACS and VINE to develop guidelines for the responsible, ethical and effective use of AI for both students and staff. 

Young people are inevitably early adopters of AI, though many are not necessarily aware that the platforms they are using, particularly sophisticated spell checkers, are powered by artificial intelligence. As such, if in any doubt students should clarify with their teachers what digital tools are permissible before submitting assessable work.

Furthermore, given recent media coverage of inappropriate use of AI by students, the following statement has been added to the College’s ICT staff and student policies.

“The creation or distribution of material that misrepresents an individual’s identity (for example through audio, image or video deep fakes) is strictly prohibited. Such forgeries, often AI-generated and which can convincingly mimic individuals' appearances and/or voices, deny individuals their autonomy and dignity, and pose a significant threat to the authenticity of information and personal reputations. The College considers the creation or distribution of material that misrepresents an individual’s identity to be a serious breach of discipline. This underscores our commitment to fostering a community built on respect for the dignity of the human person.”

Nick Young

Dean of Digital Pedagogies