Tech School Leading the Way in AI Professional Development for Educators
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept, it’s here, and it’s reshaping education. The Yarra Ranges Tech School is at the forefront of this transformation, helping educators across Australia build confidence and capability in AI.
Earlier this month, our team presented at the DATTA Vic Conference and hosted a free professional development day on-site. Our mission? To equip teachers with practical strategies and ethical frameworks for integrating AI into their classrooms.
Why AI Matters for Education
AI is everywhere. It’s embedded in the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 and Australian Curriculum v9 as a critical capability for students. The recently released National AI Plan reinforces this urgency, calling for AI literacy and skills development across all education sectors to prepare Australians for an AI-enabled economy.
Educators must understand not only how to use AI but how to teach students to use it responsibly. This includes:
- Assessment design with AI: Generating differentiated tasks, rubrics, and feedback aligned to curriculum standards.
- Ethical decision-making: Addressing bias, copyright, privacy, and misinformation.
- Future-ready skills: Preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist by fostering creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking through AI tools.
Exploring AI in Practice
How much do you know about AI? Have you wondered if AI could simplify lesson planning or assessment? Worried about ethical implications? Unsure of best practices?
These were the very questions addressed during our interactive workshops. Educators learned how to use AI for assessment writing, prompt engineering, and image generation, while also diving into robotics coding to understand how neural networks and machine learning principles work in real-world applications.
Teachers and pre-service teachers from across Victoria participated in multiple sessions. Many arrived with little knowledge of AI and left feeling more confident about incorporating it into their teaching practice. One participant shared, “I was able to learn new techniques and ideas I didn’t know I could.”
Those already familiar with AI expanded their expertise, diving deeper into image generation, advanced prompt techniques, gamification, and creative classroom applications. Another teacher commented, “There’s so much potential in using AI for gamification – thank you!”
Participants walked away with a robust toolkit of strategies ready for immediate implementation.
Navigating Ethical Complexities
AI brings challenges around bias, copyright, hallucinations, and privacy – issues that educators must understand to guide students toward responsible and ethical use. By addressing these concerns, teachers can foster critical thinking and informed decision-making in their classrooms. AI is no longer a question of if we use it, but how and in what ways it shapes every industry.
The Future
The journey into AI-powered education is just beginning… AI is not just a tool; it’s a gateway to future-ready learning. By working together – schools, industry, and community, we can create classrooms that are innovative, ethical, and future-focused. Yarra Ranges Tech School is proud to be part of this transformation, empowering teachers to strengthen their practice and develop 21st-century skills for jobs that don’t yet exist.