Report reveals how SA public school students are using Education Department’s official AI chatbot in class
Teens have sent nearly half a million questions to an AI classroom companion that’s officially approved for SA schools – find out how students and teachers are using it.
A nation-leading AI chatbot will be rolled out in all South Australian public high schools from Monday.
It comes as students are treating AI chatbots like “friends” – even interacting on weekends – and girls are more likely to use them than boys.
Known as EdChat, the software is also helping teachers massively reduce their workloads by grading students’ work, drafting reports for parents and planning excursions.
Designed by the South Australian Education Department, in conjunction with tech giant Microsoft, EdChat has been trialled by 10,000 teenagers.
Students have sent almost 450,000 prompts, or questions, through the chatbot since it launched in mid-2023.
Education Minister Blair Boyer said when other state initially banned AI in schools, SA “stood alone in deciding to find a way to teach kids how to use it safely”.
“AI is here whether we like it or not and the true test of any education system is how it prepares kids for the world that they enter,” he said.
“I want South Australian kids to have an edge.”
A review of the trial found 80 per cent of students at some schools have been making use of the chatbot, but as few as 2 per cent at other campuses.
Female students appeared to use the software slightly more frequently.
English was the most common subject in which students sought assistance, followed by science and mathematics.
Examples include asking it to “brainstorm” approaches to an assignment or explain complex concepts in “easy terms”.
Students are also treating the app like a companion, typing prompts like “Can I talk to u (sic) like a friend?”.
Teachers also have access to the app and have asked it to:
“Rewrite 5 different report comments for a year 7 student” in a particular subject, including providing “commentary about a student’s participation in class”.
“Grade an uploaded sample of work by a year 10 English student based on Australian curriculum achievement standards.”
“Write a positive recognition for a year 7 student that worked well in a numeracy lesson”.
EdChat operates on a closed system, meaning nothing a teacher or student uploads will go outside of the department-designed software.
There are also safeguards in place to alert teachers if students search for, or try to create, inappropriate content.
At Thebarton Senior College year 11 student Marzila recently used EdChat to search and summarise options for further study after graduation.
Sacha, also in year 11, used it to “help me understand complex terms and ideas”.
“It was very good at being able to give you step by step understandings,” he said.
Teacher Alexis Wagner said the secure software allowed students to learn how to use AI and “how to question it – recognising bias, fact-checking outputs, and thinking critically”.
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Originally published as Report reveals how SA public school students are using Education Department’s official AI chatbot in class
