Dec 18, 2019

It's the last day of term Down Under, so Dan and Ray talk about something for next year - the AI for Good Schools Challenge 2020. They're joined by guest Clare White, also from the Microsoft Education team, and Aaron Tait, from Education ChangeMakers, who are Microsoft's partner for the competition. More details on the competition is at https://aiforgood.com.au/, and details on the Hackathons that Aaron and Clare talk about are at https://aiforgood.com.au/hackathons/

And if you've still got any doubts about signing up for 2020, then here's an article about Werribee Secondary College's experience in the 2019 competition https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-au/2019/11/ai-for-good-challenge-werribee-secondary-colleges-amazing-race-to-success/

And there's lots more about Education Changemakers on their website at https://educationchangemakers.com/

TRANSCRIPT FOR The AI in Education Podcast
Series: 1
Episode: 13

This transcript and summary are auto-generated. If you spot any important errors, do feel free to email the podcast hosts for corrections.

This podcast excerpt focuses on the Microsoft AI for Good Schools Challenge in Australia, featuring hosts Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming, and program manager Claire White. The challenge is a competition for Australian high school students to develop an idea using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve a societal or humanitarian problem, running from February 3rd to May 15th, 2020. The key goal is to get students interested in and understanding AI, its applications, and importantly, the ethics of AI, with participants working in groups on ideation and design thinking rather than needing to code. To support schools, Microsoft provides curriculum-aligned content and runs optional one-day hackathons across Australia, which teachers who are not AI experts can easily integrate into their classrooms, mirroring a similar global competition called Imagine Cup Junior.

Hi, welcome to the AI in education podcast with me Dan Bowen
and me Ray Fleming.
Hi Ray.
Hello Dan. How are you?
I'm good. It's coming towards the end of term.
How exciting is that? We're at the end of another academic year down here in Australia.
Good day.
And we've got the Christmas break ahead of us. So, I know that's that time for teachers to recover and recuperate and get their energy back for a whole new horde of students next year.
Exactly. They all be doing their curriculum planning.
Right.
And pretty sure those last assignments, getting those out of the way, any of the assessments they've done, get all the reports away, and then getting ready to kind of replenish their curriculum for next year.
And it's Wednesday lunchtime, Dan. So, it means that they'll be cracking open the wine a little bit later this afternoon cuz last day at for most of them.
Let's hope so. And then the IT pros will start cracking open the wine because they need that to get on with all the really large projects over January.
So you said preparing for next year.
Yes.
So today I know that we were going to talk about the AI for good competition that we ran last year and talk about the opportunity for schools to get involved this year.
100%. And we've got a special guest today. Ray,
how special Dan?
Very special. Claire White is here joining us today, Ray.
Awesome. Very special guest.
Absolutely. Cla. Hi. Do you want to tell us your title and
Hi Dan. Hi Ray. Thank you very much for having me on this illustrious podcast. So my name is Claire White. As you know, I have not cracked open the wine yet, but I'm very keen to. So I am the K to2 education marketing manager here at Microsoft Australia.
Fantastic. And uh one of the reasons why we wanted to talk to you today is you're obviously quite close to our AI for good challenge which you run across schools in Australia. So, do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
I will. Yeah. So, I am very close. I'm the program manager on this uh challenge. Um, in fact, it's probably my most favorite thing to work on. So, our Microsoft AI for good schools challenge. You're right, we did run it in 2019 and right now we're gearing up for a great start in 2020. So, part of what we're doing right now is really letting teachers know before they go off on their break and crack that wine open a little bit about the challenge so they can think about it before they start back in the new year.
So let's let's go back to basics. So we did we did a podcast on AI for good a couple of episodes ago. So just give us a bit of an insight again in what the goals are for the AI for good challenge.
So the AI for good challenge is open to high school students in Australia. It's really about getting them uh interested, engaged and understanding artificial intelligence AI. Obviously it's a really important technology. It's already baked into so many parts of our life already and is going to be a really important technology for these students as they move throughout their life and into the future. The way they can engage with the challenge is they can come along to a hackathon which is a one-day event that we run where they the teachers can bring them along.
So the idea is that they learn all about AI. Um we've developed curriculum aligned content. So we have four modules that really go through what is is AI, how is AI used really important likely the ethics of AI and then how they can actually enter the competition. So the students basically learn about AI and then they need to come up with an idea using this technology that solves a societal or humanitarian or accessibility issue that they're passionate about.
Okay. So so that's holistically what the A for good challenge is when we looking at dates for that when does it start and end? So the challenge opens next year on the 3rd of February and it runs through until the 15th of May. So it's open for a couple of months.
All right. And then the other interesting piece I suppose when when all these teachers are going back and and looking at curriculum now you said there's curriculum already in place or some elements to get them started. What does that kind of look like?
So we've got four lesson plans that are up on our website. Um they're really about helping the students pick what is the area that they're about helping to solve how to actually develop their concept. So things like design thinking and sort of comes into it. Third one is around the ethic of the AI concept which we know is a really important area. So the ethics of AI and then the fourth one is really how to put their best submission in for the challenge.
That's fantastic. Do they map then to certain areas of the curriculum or do the teachers then have to just look to see where they could connect in?
Yeah, so they veloped the curriculum quite comprehensively in that each module, it's really detailed about where it aligns to the curriculum and which parts it actually aligns to. And so a teacher can actually take the materials that we've developed and run, you know, could be a lunchtime class or an after school class or one class throughout the term and they can run this challenge themselves in their classroom or, you know, they can choose to bring their students along to one of our one-day hackathons where we go through all of the cont content in the one day and then they can sort of keep working on their entry after that or they can run this sort of one day hackathon in their own classroom as well. So we've really developed the curriculum to be quite flexible for a teacher to engage with depending on their circumstances.
I remember with CLA from last year that you didn't need to be an AI expert or even a computing teacher to be able to do this. I met teachers that had all kinds of skills and they were just using it as a way to stimulate their students. So I And anybody that's listened to more than half of one of these podcasts is expert enough to be able to talk about this with their students that run that the competition.
Exactly, Ray. You're totally right. The teacher doesn't need to know really anything about AI. We've really developed it all for them. Again, the students don't need to know anything about AI and it's really aimed at broad cross range of students and backgrounds. We really wanted to make it quite accessible and open to anyone so that we got a really diverse selection of entries. They don't actually need to be able to code up their solution. It's more about ideulating, design thinking, collaborating. They need to actually get together in a group and enter the competition as a group. So, it's really developing those, you know, design thinking and collaboration skills, which is great.
So, there's lots of different ideas. We did a podcast a couple of months ago talking about AI for good, and it'd be good to have some of your kind of thoughts on some of the examples. that happened last year? Were there any ones that stood out to you?
Yes, there were. We had so many amazing entries into the challenge. Um, and I had a couple of my own favorites. Um, so the the two teams that actually won the challenge, we had one all girl team and then I think the other one was an all boy team, but one was around a diabetes management app that helps kids really monitor and control their type 1 diabetes. And it was quite gamified, so it was quite fun. The other winning entry was from a group of girls in South Australia which was Nalia which was an AI midwife robot that really helped women have a safe pregnancy and sent all the information back to a healthcare center. So again really great idea. Couple of the other ones that were my favorite. We had one called Hang Earth which was all about reducing the impact of fast fashion.
What's fast fashion?
Well sort of when you go to the shop and you buy a t-shirt for $4.9 5 and you know you have to think where did that come from? What are the resources that went into making that? So I think a really I think it was just lovely to see students getting really passionate about issues that were close to their heart and this was one of those um examples and it was really about using the app to find where did the fashion come from um providing you know outlets for where they could donate or recycle the clothing the conditions of where they were made. So it was yeah
almost utilizing like a blockchain you knew exactly where the things are sourced from. That sounds really interesting.
Yeah. Couple of other ones. And this was probably one of my personal favorites cuz it's always um interesting trying to manage your busy week and the food that you've got in your fridge, making sure that you've got food in there and it's not going off.
I remember seeing it at the finals in Tasmania. Amazing group of students thinking about reusing food in your fridge and not lot letting things go out of date.
Yeah. So, it worked by I think tracking the barcodes that were going into the fridge and and then letting you know when something was getting close to the expiry date and then actually suggesting recipes to use up that food which I thought was really cool. Students getting really passionate about things that are happening in the world. So reducing waste and u making the most of the resources that we have.
Just thinking about this so from the curriculum what are the other supporting elements then because obviously to know about things like IoT and stuff like that is anything around to support a curriculum uh as well and any sessions you said about hackathons.
Yeah, we we're running one day hackathons all across Australia in sort of regional and remote areas as well as capital cities. We've actually doubled the amount of hackathons that we are running. And so if you want to register for one of those, just jump onto our website and look at the uh hackathons section to actually register. But they do fill up really quickly. So
we we'll put the links to that in the show notes. so that it's easier for people to find. So in those hackathons then presumably they're in for a day and somebody goes through all of the tools and technologies that they might use in AI.
Yep. Correct. So we've been working with education change makers who are a professional learning organization which probably if there's many teachers listening they will have heard of this organization. They actually run the one-day hackathon. We go through all of the content. The idea is that hopefully the students are kind of close to being able to submit their idea at the end of that day. If they're not, that's fine. They can kind of keep working on it and finessing it. It's basically an excursion that the teachers can bring their students along to.
So, that sounds really exciting. So, it sounds like schools are able to take advantage of there's some curriculum there. They can get their kids involved in solving complex problems using artificial intelligence. They don't need to be experts in AI themselves because the resources are there and they can sign up to the hackathons run by education change makers. What do they go and search in their favorite search engine to find the website to enter the competition? CLA.
Well, I would just search on AI for good. Microsoft AI forgood or if they want to just go directly to the website AI forgood.com.au. So easy to remember.
That's even easier. So aforgood.com.au. Okay. I think I should go and have a chat with Aaron now because I know he's over in the US, but I might just give him a call and get him to tell us a bit about the hackathons and how that gets the students involved as well.
Yeah, sounds like a plan.
Okay, brilliant.
Have fun.
Hey, thanks CLA. Thanks very much for all your help and let's look forward to more schools entering this year.
Can't wait.
Hey Aaron, thanks very much for uh answering the phone to me. I just wanted to ask you some questions about the hackathons as part of the competition. CLA's told us all about the competition, but you ran the hackathons last year. So, what was the experience like for schools and students?
Yeah, they're brilliant, right? Thanks for having us on the podcast. It's a great opportunity for teachers to really run an excursion away from school, get a whole bunch of students away to move through a design thinking process, but as they're moving through that design thinking process, which they can use for the rest of their lives really, they're also learning about AI. They're learning the ethics behind this technology, and they're building something that they submit to the challenge that day. So your students will come away from school, put on pizza. It's a load of fun. It's often at the Microsoft offices, which is a real thrill for the kids. And they can submit something to the challenge and they feel really accomplished by end of the day. And maybe they get through the state finals and maybe they get through the national finals.
Hey, and one of the things I remembered from last year is that students were a great different range of abilities and ages. It didn't seem that they needed to be tech geeks to be able to enjoy this process.
Absolutely not. And I I you know, I'm guilty myself of not being a tech I'm much more of a creative thinker, innovator. And the day is about design thinking, about creativity. And we love to see when an a student who is artistic joins up with a student who loves sport, joins up with a student who believes in the environment and spends their weekends, you know, snorkeling with their parents. So, absolutely, it's about bringing in different skill sets of students. We teach them a whole range of skills that they can use on the day and for the rest of their lives. And it's amazing to see what these kids come up with. And you absolutely do not need to be a coder or someone who loves technology to thrive. during the hackathons.
That's brilliant. Look, I better let you get on with your day because I know you're over in America at the moment, so it's probably not the middle of the day there. So, thanks very much. And I'll look forward to seeing you at one of the hackathons soon.
Yeah, I can't wait for them. And um teachers, you can sign up now. Spots will fill up, but get your kids along. Can't wait to see you there.
So, that's fascinating. Amazing things happening in the AI for good schools challenge in 2020.
Brilliant.
And both Cla and Aaron, you can just see that level of enthusiasm. than they've got for what happened last year. So, I'm really excited what's going to happen this year.
I know. It's going to be fantastic, isn't it?
But Dan,
yes,
we know that we have some international listeners because your mom and my mom both live
Very true.
Abroad. So, what do people that aren't in Australia do with the AI for good challenge?
Good point, actually, Ray. Um, we did have a project obviously through universities previously called the Imagine Cup. Uh, and what we've done is release an extension of that now called Imagine Cup Junior. Um Imagine Cup was obviously very popular and it was a global competition and this is now the kind of next iteration of that for for children in K12. Um it covers quite a lot of modules. There's a there's a module on fundamentals of AI. There's a module on machine learning. There's a module on applications of AI in real life I believe and then some stuff around deep learning and neural networks. And then as well as that there's a um resource kit uh called build your project in a day which has got videos from members of Microsoft's education team and the AI teams and our cloud teams to kind of inspire students. I think that runs from February 3rd 2020 to April 17th 2020 and the registrations are open today but I suppose it's very similar to the AI for good um project except it's a global
okay so the schools run the hackathons themselves rather than us running it for them but they we give them all the resources so So yes, you've heard about what we're doing in Australia. The good news is if you're overseas or you're overseas from us, then you can also get involved in that challenge by taking part in the Imagine Cup Junior, which is I'm guess what you search to take you there. We put in the show notes as well.
Yes, it's imaginecup.com/jun.
And there's uh finalists around the world and prizes for different parts of the
That's exactly right. They've regionalized it all and there's uh uh devices on uh for a trophy and devices and all kinds of things you can win. It's just fantastic.
Great. But just a little bit of smuggness from within Australia is that is a global version of the competition that we developed here in Australia taken to the rest of the world. Another famous Australian export alongside
Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi the coccleia ear implant
and koala bears.
Koala bears and
kangaroos,
crocodile dundee.
Oh yeah, of course. K.
Okay, brilliant. Hey Dan, we're done for the year.
We've actually finished. We can leave the studio. We managed to record 14 episodes of the AI in Education podcast and we can come back to the new year with a refreshed and renewed energy.
Brilliant. Thanks very much Ray and thanks to everybody for listening as well to our podcast.
Thanks everybody. We'll see you in 2020.