AI Education in a Box

Rose Luckin, Danny Liu, Sue Keay, & 
Tom Worthington in headphones at EduTech_AU. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026  

There was standing room only at EduTech_Au in Sydney today for "Beyond personalisation: Human-centred and equitable learning in the age of AI". Thanks to Danny Liu (University of Sydney), Rose Luckin (UCL Knowledge Lab and Sue Keay (UNSW AI Institute), putting up with my moderating. 

Audience in headphones
at EduTech_Au 2026. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026

Global events company Terrapinn has created a very workable formula for a combined trade-show and multi-stream conference. For EduTech_Au everything is contained in the one exhibition space at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. The trade exhibits are in the center of the floor. Around the sides and back of the space are multiple simultaneous conference presentations. 

As there are so many people in the room, all speaking at once, those attending a presentation have to wear headphones. Each presentation has a separate channel, with headphones lighting up in a color to indicate the channel (like a "silent disco"). A single presenter doesn't need headphones, but a panel does, as one panelist can't hear what another says. This sounds cumbersome, but works well, with sound which is clearer and more intimate, with the usual public address system. 

This system works on a larges scale at EduTech Asia, which I will be experiencing again, first hand, in November. 

Edutech Asia: What can Australia Learn About AI for Education?

I just paid my registration for EduTech Asia, in Singapore in November. Normally, I just wander around the exhibition and attend random sessions. This time I am on a mission, to find out what we should do with AI in Australian higher education. This is after completing the AI for Higher Education Faculty: Course by the Digital Education Council. The Australian National University paid for the course and prodded me to, reluctantly, do it. As with most learning, it wasn't a pleasant experience, but left me with the conviction there was something to this AI thing.