An innovative AI tool developed by the Department for Education in partnership with global tech giant Microsoft will be rolled out to all public secondary students from next term.
South Australia was the only jurisdiction in Australia not to ban AI in schools – instead embracing the opportunity to prepare students for the world in which they live.
EdChat, which is similar to the AI tool ChatGPT, was specifically designed for educational use in South Australia and has security protections in place to safeguard students from harmful or inappropriate information.
EdChat has evolved since its inception in 2023 with continual development and further testing taking place.
The rollout comes as independent Insights Report, published today, evaluated how students and staff interacted with EdChat, over its first full year of use.
Key findings include:
- Students are predominantly using EdChat in school hours as a learning tool (93 per cent of student prompts are related to curriculum subjects at these times).
- It has been equally popular with educators and students, who took it up at similar rates: 36 per cent of educators and 41 per cent of students have used the tool at least once.
- Educators are beginning to use EdChat to support their workload, with initial findings showing it's primarily used for curriculum management, drafting communications and insights for student learning.
So far, more than 10,000 students have been involved in the trial.
Examples of student prompts to EdChat are included in the review, demonstrating how students have used it over a wide range of subjects, and with increasingly refined engagement.
Some examples of student use include:
- Testing their French language skills in preparation for an upcoming test.
- Navigating their future pathways. The app provides students with personalised guidance, such as exploring courses or career options and comparing degrees.
- Using EdChat to rephrase instructions when they are having trouble comprehending a task.
- Enhancing student understanding of challenging mathematics problems by using EdChat to deliver alternative explanations.
- Asking it to quiz students on certain topics and changing the difficulty from easy to moderate and more difficult.
The tool was provided to all staff at the Department for Education – including principals, teachers and pre-school staff – in late 2024.
Staff have also been using it to help with lesson planning, summarise student or staff data, such as survey results and adapt materials to be suitable for different age groups or abilities.
It has resulted in a significant administrative workload reduction for staff – ensuring they are able to focus on teaching.
Generative AI, like EdChat, is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content based on the data it has been trained on. This means it can generate text and code, making it a versatile tool for various applications. By understanding and processing large amounts of information, generative AI can provide accurate and relevant responses, saving time and effort for users.
As put by Blair Boyer
AI will be a part of our work and lives in the future, which means we have a responsibility to educate young people and our staff about its appropriate and effective use.
In South Australia, we have embraced the technology, rather than attempt to ignore it and ban it.
We would be doing a disservice to our students otherwise given AI is now part of people's lives. This is why we have worked with Microsoft to develop a safe version for use in schools that teaches them how to use AI responsibly and effectively.
We have learnt a lot from the trial and are now in a position to expand it to all public high schools so that all students have the same opportunities to explore this new technology.
We are using AI to transform our education. Students are not only learning how to use it responsibly, but they are using it to better understand information, master their skills and think critically about different perspectives.
This work puts South Australia on the cutting-edge of AI, leading the way on both a global and national scale and I'm really pleased to see other jurisdictions now following our lead.
As put by Michael Brown
South Australia has led the way in the application of artificial intelligence, embracing the opportunity to support both student learning, and reduce teacher workload.
Exciting, time-saving elements have already been installed as part of EdChat, but further upgrades are being developed to ensure this tool continues better learning outcomes and teacher support.
Student safety and learning outcomes remain at the forefront of our innovative approach to ensure students are equipped for the real world.
As put by Adelaide Botanic High School Principal Sarah Chambers
Here at Adelaide Botanic High School, we embrace the opportunity to be part of a trial of EdChat because as educators, we're proud to champion a future-focussed approach grounded in innovation.
Our school is a living ecosystem for ethical innovation – where EdChat serves as a tool to enhance, not replace, the relationships that sit at the heart of education.
We work with our students to use EdChat, not to take shortcuts, but to challenge themselves, ask better questions, and develop their own voice and creativity.
Using EdChat, they reflect, collaborate, and think critically, so they are not just learning content, they are learning how to learn.
We're proud to use technology to support meaningful learning and to champion a future-focussed approach grounded in innovation and global thinking.
