SCHOOLS in Australia are experimenting with Artificial Learning (AI) and how it can be used responsibly to enhance learning, while maintaining human involvement.
Large-scale AI integration was still emerging, Australian Catholic University senior lecturer and learning scientist Dr Luke Rowe said but students and teachers already were using AI tools in creative and practical ways.
“I’ve seen classrooms debate AI on polarising topics, create podcasts and art,” he said.
“Some schools are using AI to translate languages, to generate visual prompts for design projects, sparking imagination rather than replacing it.”
When guided well, he said AI could support curiosity, creativity, and collaboration in the classroom.
Risk of ‘cognitive couch potatoes’
AI should be treated as an intelligent friend that extends imagination, not as a brain substitute, Dr Rowe said.
“Learning should still feel effortful,” he said.
“The mental work of reasoning, creating, and making connections is what builds understanding.
“If AI removes all that effort, students risk becoming what I call ‘cognitive couch potatoes’ who outsource their thinking.”
The biggest challenge was the temptation to let AI do the thinking for us, he said.
Producing work was not the same as owning knowledge.
“For Catholic educators, the moral responsibility is to help students use AI to deepen understanding rather than to skip over the effort of learning,” he said.
“Otherwise, we risk creating an empty education system where students produce work by AI, teachers mark it with AI, and no humans are involved.”
Students of varying ages employing AI
While a master’s student found relief in understanding complex topics, a Year 5 student found a way to expand her creativity.
Brisbane student Ananya George, who was studying for a Masters in Business degree, said she often used AI for studying and understanding the course.
“I only use AI when I’m desperate and close to the deadline or I’m jam packed with a lot of stuff,” she said.
She was familiar with Grammarly that helped correct her grammatical mistakes.
Another platform she found useful was NotebookLM developed by Google Labs.
“That was helpful because there was a lot of technicality, I couldn’t understand a lot of stuff in the notes,” he said.
“So, the easiest way was to put it into AI and it would make videos, it can make an interactive podcast, flashcards, quizzes.”
Ms George also used AI to grade her assignments, which would then point out if she had missed any questions.
Ultimately, she said AI was “a medium and it depends on how you use it – it could be something that is really good or it could be something that is really bad.”
Meanwhile, Dr Rowe shared an example of a Year 5 student.
“In one of our AI-literacy classes we ran for a research project, a quiet Year 5 student told me she was going home to write and illustrate a storybook for her baby brother using AI,” he said.
“For her, this was exciting and normal, not strange, or futuristic.”
That moment, he said reminded him that young people growing up with AI were possibility thinkers.
They saw technology not as a replacement for creativity, but as a way to expand it.
“In Catholic schools, this opens a space to nurture imagination and innovation while keeping it anchored in mission, human values, purpose, and care for others,” Dr Rowe said.
Privacy and safety
But he warned not all AI tools were safe or appropriate for schools.
Therefore, Catholic and government systems were developing secure, education-specific platforms such as ceChat.au and NSWEduChat.
“These tools are designed with privacy, integrity, and safety in mind,” Dr Rowe said.
As AI became more embedded in daily life, he said policy, parents and students should be at the heart of decision making.
