From banning to embracing AI – how Radford College has navigated the shift

Radford College in Canberra is among a growing number of Australian schools to overturn a blanket ban on AI, with senior students now accessing the technology in their everyday studies.

Formerly prohibiting AI search engine, Co-Pilot, Radford now mandates its use, with students in years 11 and 12 using the tool in learning and assessment.

Principal Chris Bradbury says the approach is part of a “responsive technology strategy”, in which evolving social norms play an important role in determining which technologies the school adopts to prepare students for life after school.

“We need to make sure that we're making the right decisions through consultation with experts and by monitoring how things are developing and transpiring within society,” Chris said.

“We initially banned Co-Pilot, based on concerns that it might encourage cognitive offloading. But after consistently discussing the issue with students, staff, other schools and workplaces, it became increasingly apparent that there was an equal need to help senior students develop the skills to use AI appropriately for learning and beyond.”

AI colloquium

Following this feedback, Radford set up an AI colloquium, consisting of year 11 and 12 students, the Head of Information Technology, and other senior staff.

“We had an open discussion regarding AI, and the students really impressed us with their response,” Chris said.

“They were the first to admit there needs to be restrictions and guardrails around the use of AI. But they also said it was in everyone’s interest to give access to AI for years 11 and 12 and that we needed to continue building digital citizenship.

“They then helped draught a number of key strategies for how senior students use AI in best preparing for assessment tasks”.

Balancing act

While Radford now embraces AI, it does not give students unfettered access.

Chris said infusing AI into the curriculum has been a balancing act, with workplace preparation sometimes at odds with academic skill development.

“We've got to ensure our students leave school with a strong foundation of the capability of AI and know how to use it for their tertiary studies or later in the workforce. We don’t want it to feel foreign to them in a world where they might be expected to use it.

“But equally, we don't want them to rely on AI too heavily, to the point where they are creating gaps in their knowledge and skillsets.”

Restricted use case

Chris said striking this balance has meant steering clear of one particular AI use case.

Cognitive offloading – where people lean on AI to do their thinking for them – is particularly harmful for developing minds, he said, and should always be avoided in the classroom.

“Our students are taught to leverage AI as a support rather than a source to complete their work for them. We are building an academic culture where students continue to gravitate to effort, hard work, and reading, to develop their understanding.”

Staff also receive ongoing professional development to ensure AI is integrated in ways that enhance rather than diminish learning.

“We do a lot of handwriting, modelling of assessment tasks and producing quality resources through critical thinking. We want to make sure that we are leading by example when it comes to using AI ethically and responsibly,” Chris added.

Changing the nature of assessments

The adoption of AI tools at Radford has given rise to more in-class tasks.

While diversity of assessment remains important, the school must eliminate avenues for cheating, Chris said.

“We still assess students through tasks like viva voce or oral presentations. But obviously, we must ensure that summative assessments are giving students the opportunity to demonstrate what they truly know - and, of course, that teachers are marking what is genuinely the students' own work.”

To gauge whether students have over-relied on AI, teachers ask them highly specific questions during in-class assessments.

Chris says those who rely heavily on the technology often answer with relevant information but fail to match the question’s specificity.

“It is usually obvious to the teacher which students are regurgitating general AI output, versus those who have used AI output to inform their wider research.

“In the latter scenario, they can give a detailed answer that really demonstrates their understanding,” he said.

Different academic focus

The shift towards AI adoption has also altered Radford’s teaching content.

On top of the usual curriculum, students are given extensive training around how to interrogate and validate AI output.

“We help them develop that critical thinking ability to verify what the AI is telling them, and fact check it against multiple different sources,” Chris said.

Equally, there is now more emphasis on building human character traits.

Chris believes qualities like creativity, empathy, discernment and integrity will matter more than they did in a pre-AI world and has updated his curriculum accordingly.

“Our aim is to develop young people with character, critical thinking and ethical judgement to ensure that artificial intelligence serves humanity well,” he said.

Sharing more on what this looks like in practice, Chris Bradbury will join an impressive line up of speakers at this year’s AI in Education ACT Conference.

This year’s event will be held 15 October at the Rex Hotel in Canberra.

Learn more and register your tickets here.