An upcoming AI-powered pilot program promises to help Australia’s devoted teachers lighten their workload and reclaim their work-life balance.
MyTeacherAide is the brainchild of two Tasmanian high school teachers, Paul Mathews and Jacob Shierka – created by teachers for teachers, to help solve the problems they believe teachers find in the modern classroom.
The AI tool is the first of its kind in Australia and will come, its creators believe, as a much-needed reprieve for overworked educators across the country.
“No one gets into teaching to spend all their time sending emails and writing lesson plans. MyTeacherAide allows teachers to spend more time doing the very things they entered into the profession to do”, said co-founder and CEO Paul Matthews.
According to a July 2021 survey of 571 Australian teachers from the NEiTA-ACE Teachers Report Card, a joint initiative by Futurity Investment Group and the Australian College of Educators, 84 per cent of Australian teachers had considered leaving their profession. 75 per cent of teachers report feeling stressed, 82 per cent struggle with their work-life balance, and an overwhelming 49 per cent are dissatisfied with their remuneration. Since then, with teacher shortages across the country putting even more pressure on educators, the situation is not improving.
With features that include automated lesson planning, curriculum alignment, and more, My Teacher Aide is designed to help tackle the piling administrative workload and workload stress seen in our nation’s schools.
With the launch of the MyTeacherAide Pilot Program in September, selected educators will gain free early access to the full range of features the edtech solution offers, along with an exclusive invitation to weekly webinars led by experienced founders.
As early adopters of the tool, participants will be able to explore what MyTeacherAide’s creators describe as the program’s benefits but also have the opportunity to play a critical role in shaping the future of MyTeacherAide.
State bans still block the use of AI in most public schools
Despite what many believe is the obvious potential of AI in the education system, popular AI tools like ChatGPT are currently banned in most public schools across the country, except for South Australia.
The ban was intended to avoid plagiarism and cheating by students. However, some experts see the ban as a knee-jerk reaction to the rapidly evolving technology that leaves students with a lack of instruction about ways to use AI tools positively – and at a disadvantage.
Just a few days ago, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said state and territory ministers had agreed on a draft framework for teachers on how AI should be used in schools, with the bans possibly reversed as early as next year.
While still pending consultation and approval from schools and teachers, Mr Clare said the upcoming recommendations involve an “overhaul of assessments” to prevent students from using the tool to “bluff the system.”
“This is the sort of thing that students are going to need to learn how to use properly,” Mr Clare told Sky News. “You can’t just put it away and assume that students won’t use it. But at the same time, I want to make sure that students are getting the marks they deserve, and can’t use it to cheat.”
Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the University of New South Wales’ AI Institute, welcomed the move to reverse the AI ban in Australian public schools and said that the over-arching restrictions ignored the reality about the ways these tools can become a very useful part of our lives.
If used appropriately, he said, the technology could transform education standards.
“Just as we’ve embraced calculators, we need to work out how to embrace this technology,” Mr Walsh said.