Discussing AI in vocational education with Kai Pākiki Canterbury

Last week (January 5th) on the podcast with the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of NZ - Kai Pākiki Canterbury. Dr. Amit Sarkar and myself, present our work on AI in vocational education. 

The podcast runs for an hour and includes Morgan Merien from the NZ enthomological society on the 'bug of the year' initiative. The hosts Tom Goulter and Adrian Paterson discuss facts and the probabilistic worldviews (from 21 minutes), and Amit and myself present and discuss AI (from 30minutes) 

We discuss the initiatives, challenges (digital divide, data sovereignty) and some solutions. The importance of attainment of AI literacies for both our teachers and students, ethics and the pedagogy of integrating AI are aspects discussed. This includes using AI to support learning and not to replace the processes of learning. The ensure the effectiveness of AI as a coach requires careful training of the AI. Customisation or localisation is also important to ensure that there is authenticity in the interactions between learners and AI. 

Plans for 2026

Back into the fray after a few weeks back in the home country to support by aging mother. I am looking forward to what this year will bring. 

Progrramme review and redevelopment will take up much of my time. It is a great opportunity to get to know a degree programme well and to built relations with the teachers. Professional Development for our teachers will revolve around AI. We need to develop a good understanding of what, how and when to use AI. The selling point for AI is that it can be used to take some of the workload off teachers. However, it can also add to teachers' workload, especially if the effect of AI on assessments is not worked through. 

On the research front, our AI projects continue with work on personalised learning based on Cogniti and continuance of our work to develop AI chatbots to support specific disciplines and learning activities. Next month, I will be sending out a call for chapters towards a book to collate initiatives and perspectives on deploying AI to support personalised learning. The goal will be to publish this book early 2028.

I am also working on co-editing a book that records the many initiatives and projects undertaken between the initiation and cessation of the Reform in Vocational Education. Through the 5 -6 years across the reform, the new entities which were formed, have worked conscientiously to improve vocational education across NZ. Therefore it important to archive these in one package, as many entities  no longer exist beyond the end of 2025. Their work either disappears or is curated in sites hosted by other institutions and the knowledge and wisdom of their staff and communities of experts is dispersed and rearranged in the new configurations for Aotearoa VET.. 

It will be another busy year but one that already has several objectives to reach. There is much work to be done with respect to learning design and curriculum development as we normalise the use of AI across the institution and VET along with the business as usual objectives to ensure aspects of cultural competencies, academic literacies and sustainability are also woven through the curriculum.