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    AI Design and Policy for Education
    (2024-09-02) Adams, Jonathan; Cheyne, Christine; Burrell, Josh
    The increasing availability and testing of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) is highlighting the concurrent gap and demand for ethical design and use. This paper proposes the design thinking framework for use in AI design. Design thinking inverts the current AI development process which builds the AI application first, then looks to apply this to human problems. In contrast, the human-centred focus of design thinking in AI development places empathy and agency with users and marginalised or affected parties at the heart of the design process. Design thinking shifts the dominant discourse from the technological merits of AI development to the merits of the AI design for the needs and interests of ākonga (students) and kaiako (teachers), as defined by them. It ensures that AI tools are not just those that are feasible but desirable from end-users’ perspectives. By applying design thinking principles, the AI applications are intrinsically aligned to ākonga needs. We consider design thinking to be grounded in consideration of human-centric ethical and cultural influences that shape educational technology uptake in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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    Gen-AI chatbots for tertiary students using Cogniti.ai
    (2024-09-01) Adams, Jonathan; Cheyne, Christine; Mathews, Paul
    This paper shares initial results trialling Generative AI (Gen-AI) agents or chatbots using Cogniti.ai in a tertiary setting in New Zealand. The report evaluates the utility and value of Gen-AI chatbots in the context of personalised learning and equity of access for edtech and learning technology. The speed of change with this technology makes it imperative we explore the capabilities of chatbots as quickly as possible in 2024, to make recommendations for use in our tertiary sector with a wide range of chatbot uses already in use described by Liu, (2023). The initial findings indicate that AI agents or chatbots are valuable for students in preparing for high-stakes testing scenarios.
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    From protecting to empowering tamariki: How beginner teachers from migrant backgrounds embody culture in New Zealand early learning settings
    (He Kupu: The Word, 2024-04-01) Burke, Rachael
    Aotearoa New Zealand is now recognised as a superdiverse nation (Chan, 2019) and initial teacher education (ITE) programmes reflect this change with increasing numbers of early childhood education (ECE) students coming from migrant backgrounds. This paper is based on qualitative research carried out with 12 recent ECE graduates from migrant backgrounds, who are working as beginner teachers in early learning centres across Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on a narrative inquiry approach (Clandinin, 2023), the purpose of the study was to interrogate the image of the child held by these beginner teachers and explore how this might impact on their practice as emerging ECE kaiako. A key finding of this study was the significant role cultural beliefs and practices play in shaping participants’ image of the child, their practice as teachers and the ways in which they engage with tamariki, colleagues and whānau. Early childhood teachers play a vital role in supporting children’s agency (Tong, 2023) and this study found that by engaging with sociocultural theories that portray children as competent and capable (Ministry of Education, 2017), participants transformed their perceptions of tamariki from passive to empowered.
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    Promoting kaitiakitanga using picturebooks.
    (New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 2023) Fernando, Chedly; Kelly-Ware, Janette
    Kaitiakitanga is promoted in the revised curriculum document Te Whāriki—He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2017). The authors give primacy to the Māori world-view of sustainable living through engaging with, and protecting, the natural environment. This article reports on a picturebook research project designed to support teachers to explore kaitiakitanga with young children in early childhood education settings. Two Aotearoa New Zealand picturebooks are featured, curriculum links are proposed, and feedback from a small sample of teachers about the picturebooks and curriculum links is reported. Picturebooks are powerful teaching tools and can provoke learning across the curriculum, as this research highlights.
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    Nurturing young children to be guardians of nature using picturebooks.
    (2023-06-22) Kelly-Ware, Janette; Fernando, Chedly
    ‘Kaitiakitanga’ an indigenous concept about respecting and appreciating the natural environment is emphasised in Te Whāriki, the Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood education curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2017). Teachers are expected to encourage children to be ‘kaitiaki’ (guardians) through “...regular opportunities to connect with the wider natural environment and with materials drawn from nature” (p.50). These early learning experiences in nature can be supported and reinforced using picturebooks which can act as mirrors and windows on the world. As mirrors they can reflect children’s own lives, and as windows they can give children a chance to learn about the lives of others including non-human others. The illustrations in quality children’s picturebooks can be mirrors and windows showing that art can be used as a dialogue. Chedly’s postgraduate research that Janette supervised focused on analysing recently published picturebooks that promote sustainability and kaitiakitanga, and surveying teachers about their responses to the selected books.