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Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools

SCAS is committed to supporting our teachers, students, parents, and carers in taking advantage of the benefits of technology responsibly and ethically. The Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools emphasises the ethical and responsible integration of AI for enriching teaching and learning. We wholeheartedly share this vision and are committed to implementing it at St Columba Anglican School. However, the application of AI tools must align with the school's academic integrity policy. The school emphasises the need for adaptation in our programs and assessment practices by envisioning a future where AI becomes a commonplace educational tool akin to spell checkers or calculators. Our goal is to empower students to use AI tools ethically and effectively.

Students and teachers will use AI and AI-enabled technology for teaching and learning. Classroom teachers will determine when this use is suitable, considering privacy, security and students’ learning needs.

AI and Technology policy for students/academic integrity

Policy

What is artificial intelligence and generative AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term that refers to the ability of systems or computers to do things that would typically require human intelligence. AI is already used in many products and services we use daily, from search engines to smartphone assistance.

Generative AI (Machine Learning)

Generative AI can understand instructions and produce or deliver meaningful content. It uses the data it was trained on to generate new data with similar characteristics.

Generative AI products are widely available and expected to keep changing and improving quickly. 

We are already seeing how students and teachers can use AI in education.

Types of different AI tools and what they can do

Large Language Models (LLMs) 

LLMs are software apps or tools, usually online, that can understand language inputs and produce language outputs. Simply put, you can ask for information, and the chatbot gives you an answer.

LLMs use generative AI and large amounts of data to understand, interpret, and respond to user prompts.

They can create many different types of content. They can, for example:

• craft an original story

• write an essay on a given topic with citations and references

• write a poem

• summarise content

• explain complex concepts in simple terms.

Some common examples include;

• Open AI ChatGPT – a free service that generates text in response to prompts; requires a sign-in.

• AI-powered Microsoft Bing – a free service that generates text in response to prompts and includes a search engine; requires a Microsoft account.

• Google Gemini - a free service that generates text similar to chatGPT

Many students are familiar with these platforms and already use them at home. At SCAS, our network filtering blocks many of these alternate platforms to ensure data privacy for our students and staff.

Image and video generation tools

Generative AI tools can make new images or videos. They can also edit existing materials.

These tools learn from large datasets of images. They can generate new images that are similar in style and content.

Popular tools include:

• Open AI DALL-E

• Photoshop Generative Fill AI.

• Adobe Firefly - Students in Years 7 and 8 at SCAS have licenses for the Adobe platform, our preferred image generation platform. 

Visually generative AI tools aren’t as advanced as language chatbots but are improving quickly.

Intelligent tutoring systems

Intelligent tutoring systems use AI to provide personalised learning with instructions and feedback. Based on a student's responses and behaviour, they learn patterns and adapt to their learning needs.

Intelligent tutoring has been around for a few years, but it’s improving quickly in line with generative AI.

Intelligent tutoring is dialogue-based. The student enters a written or spoken response (for example, to an assignment), and the tutoring system gives feedback or prompts the student to think about the topic more deeply.

Intelligent tutoring systems include:

• Microsoft Reading Progress

• Lexia Core5 (Apple)

Privacy

All data entered into these platforms is retained and used to train these models further. SCAS will inform our students of the implications of any data they enter at school and in their private use. 

How students may use AI tools for their learning and assessment

AI tools can support student learning in a variety of ways.

Your child could use AI to:

• answer simple questions on a topic

• start creative tasks, like stories or poems

• explain information in different ways to help their understanding

• create a study timetable or program

• test their knowledge or prepare practice questions

• combine information from various sources

• paraphrase information

• learn about critical thinking

• explore the impact of emerging technology

The use of AI will vary between year levels.

• Year 8 to 12: Students may be led under teacher instruction to use the platform and/or work independently within AI platforms once parent permission is provided. 

• Most Terms of Service require students to be 13 years of age. As a result, students in Years 7 and under will only directly use AI tools with the direct instruction of their classroom teacher.

  1. • Stage 3 (Years 5/6)  students may have teacher-led experience  (no individual use of AI on student laptops) 

     • At this stage, no students in Primary School should be using AI to produce work for school.

Permissible Use of AI:

• Students are allowed to use AI tools for research purposes, data analysis, and gathering information relevant to their assessment tasks.

• AI may be utilised for tasks that involve complex calculations, simulations, language translation, and text summarisation, provided that students clearly acknowledge the use of such tools and demonstrate their understanding of the concepts involved.

• AI can assist in identifying patterns, generating hypotheses, and providing insights, which students can use to enrich their analysis and interpretations in assessment tasks.

Prohibited Use of AI:

• • Students are not permitted to use AI to generate original content, answers, or solutions that are intended to be their own work.

  • AI must not be employed to complete assignments, essays, or responses where the primary goal is to demonstrate individual understanding, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

  • Any use of AI that undermines the authenticity of students' assessments or violates academic integrity principles is strictly prohibited.

Plagiarism and assessment integrity

For detailed information, see our Referencing and Citation Guide

• Students copying content created by AI and submitting it as their own work is plagiarism. This is the same as with any source of information. As part of their schooling, students learn about plagiarism, how to avoid it, and the serious impact it can have on their assessments.

• It can be hard to identify where a student may have used an AI tool beyond how they have been directed at school. That’s because AI generates content in real-time, not copied from another source.

• Teachers are aware of how LLMs could affect assessment integrity. Staff are actively working on assessment redesign and procedures, as well as appropriate controls and strategies to address this.

• SCAS encourages students to use AI to support their original thinking, not replace it.

How teachers may use AI to support teaching and learning

LLMs offer opportunities for teachers to streamline tasks, generate ideas and tailor learning.

A teacher could use AI tools:

• as a starting point for lesson planning

• for rewording information so that students at different stages of learning can understand it

• for inspiration on topics

• to create or prompt questions as the basis for conversations or assessments for students

• to tailor a task to support engagement.

Teachers are exploring these uses of AI. Our staff are encouraged to share what they learn and what works for them with their colleagues.

What you need to be aware of

AI offers educational opportunities, and these will change over time. When considering the use of AI tools, you should keep in mind:

• privacy

• security

• your child’s learning needs.

Age and access

For some AI tools, users need to be over a certain age. This depends on the platform’s terms of service. For example, for Google Gemini. 

• the minimum age is 13

• users under 18 need their parent or carer’s consent to use the platform.

But it’s difficult to control access because:

• some generative AI sites, including ChatGPT, don’t ask for proof of age during registration

• for others, you only need an email address or a Microsoft account to register.

We know that many students are using these platforms, and we intend to ensure that students are responsible and informed.

Content produced by AI tools

• Chatbots sometimes provide answers that can’t be tracked back to the source information. They can produce false references to support answers. They can also make things up, which is known as an AI ‘hallucination’.

• AI responses shouldn’t be taken as a source of truth. Students should do fact-checking and referencing before relying on AI-generated content.

• LLMs may produce inaccurate content for students based on the questions asked because they’re trained using large data sets and they’re not fully moderated.

• AI responses may bias against individuals or groups. This could include outdated stereotypes or assumptions about someone’s background or personality. This may be due to incomplete data or bias in the data.

• Image and video generators might be used to create offensive or inappropriate content, which may not be intentional. With that in mind both Google Gemini and Adobe Firefly have built-in age-appropriate filters which are linked to Student Managed Accounts (SMA) maintained by SCAS. All student Google accounts contain their age as part of their google profile, this is mandatory for school Google accounts to identify students with age restrictions, such as Google Gemini. 

• Some image generation tools let you upload images and make changes to them with AI. You shouldn’t use images or videos of students, staff, schools, family members or members of the community.

Safety and privacy

Information and content entered into generative AI become the property of the tool's owners. This includes uploaded images. Terms and conditions may allow the owners to reuse the content.

It’s not always clear how AI providers secure the data.

SCAS’s position is clear: staff and students should not enter personal information into generative AI tools such as LLMs or image and video generators.

The learning needs of your child

Like other technologies, AI can enable and enhance teaching and learning. It’s not a replacement for teachers.

Teachers help students develop cognitive skills like critical thinking and creativity to use AI responsibly and effectively in learning.

How you can help your child use AI for their learning

Emerging technology in education is most effective when families, students and teachers work together.

You’re encouraged to talk to your child about AI and how they can use it. You can help them navigate this advancing technology and learn how they already use it.

Some things you could discuss with your child include:

• Where age appropriate: How are they already using AI to support their learning, and what AI tools have they used?

• How have those AI tools helped their learning? What did it help them do?

• How they can help you use AI: From their experiences, what could they teach you about how to use AI?

• How do they see AI being used in the future, in their education and after school?

• How are they using AI outside of learning? Are they using it instead of search engines to find information?

• About academic honesty when using AI at school: How can they use AI to support their original thinking rather than replace it?

• Do they understand that AI responses aren’t always accurate and must be fact-checked?

• Exciting and informative responses: What interesting responses has AI provided that helped them develop their creative ideas?

• About inappropriate or unusual responses to questions: If they use AI, has it ever given any strange or unexpected responses?

• Protecting privacy when using AI: You could use AI together to research how data is stored by tools like ChatGPT and who owns it.

These conversations can help reinforce messages about AI your child receives at school. The University of Newcastle Library Guide for using AI is a useful resource for those wishing to read further.

Where to from here

AI technologies will continue to advance. SCAS will be required to keep adjusting our thinking, practices and processes.

AI also offers positive teaching and learning opportunities, which are likely to grow in the coming years.

AI-enabled educational technologies have the potential to:

• drive innovative teaching practices

• better personalise student learning

• help to streamline teaching tasks and other school administration.

Contact

Director of STEAM, Daniel Zavone

Email: d.zavone@scas.nsw.edu.au