Teachnet.ie

Setting the Scene Our most recent H2 Learning podcast interviewed Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming, who host the AI in Education podcast, down in Australia. In the show notes for the podcast they wrote the following: “The big takeaway: AI shouldn’t just be about efficiency. It should be about shifting the teacher’s role from a source of information to a mentor and guide.

With the ever increasing use of AI in education, it can be difficult to know which AI tool to use for differentiated learning in classrooms. In recent weeks, I have been exploring Notebook LM, which has helped to incorporate the aspects of Universal Design of Learning (UDL) in the classroom. NotebookLM is a powerful tool that offers a different approach. It allows information to be uploaded and transforms it into various formats.

TeachNet Podcasts #27 A Podcast about a Podcast - The AI in Education Podcast 00:00 / 00:33:06 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:33:06 | Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify In the latest edition of the TeachNet podcast, Dr. Michael Hallissy is joined by Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming, co-hosts of the hugely popular ‘Ai in Education Podcast‘ series from Australia, which was recently featured in Not Another Post about GenAI (Or Is It?) .

TeachNet Podcasts #27 A Podcast about a Podcast – The AI in Education Podcast 00:00 / 00:33:06 Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:33:06 | Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify The AI in Education Podcast In the latest edition of the TeachNet podcast, Dr. Michael Hallissy is joined by Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming, co-hosts of the hugely popular ‘Ai in Education Podcast‘ series from Australia, which was recently featured in Not Another Post about GenAI (Or Is It?) .

I borrowed the words of Paul Simon for the title of this post because, in the circumstances, they felt apt. Bett 26 felt familiar. The usual venue, the same jaw‑dropping scale, and the same background noise around AI. For anyone who has attended in recent years, there were no big surprises. Instead, what stood out was evolution and maturation. In 2024, Bett was all about the arrival of AI. In 2025, the focus shifted to integration across the board. This year, the dial turned again.

Safer Internet Day (SID) 2026 will be held on Tuesday, 10 February 2026, uniting schools, families, and communities to promote safe and responsible digital behaviour. The day encourages everyone—especially young people—to think carefully about how they use the internet and how they can help create a more positive online world. This year’s theme, “Smart tech, safe choices – Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI,” highlights the growing role of artificial intelligence in our daily lives.

I am leaving X. Over the past few months, I’ve been backing up, deleting, or saving bookmarks, and clearing out DMs from my Twitter (X) account, @johnmayo. There were some lovely memories in there—long‑forgotten conversations and, amusingly, the discovery that I won tickets to a Ray LaMontagne concert… 15 years ago. Over the past year, I’ve wound back my social media use on both X and Facebook. I’m increasingly tired of having my content selected for me by something else.

The Irish education system is currently undergoing its most extensive period of reform in many decades at both primary and second level. At primary level, the new Primary Curriculum Framework [PCF] (2023) prompts us to think about decisions relating to learning, teaching and assessment in all our classrooms. The PCF places a strong emphasis on developing children as active, engaged learners, capable of thinking deeply, making connections, and applying their learning in meaningful ways.

I suppose at times I come across as being generally very cautious about AI. That reputation is deserved, and anyone following the Grok image generation controversy this week will understand why. When AI is in the wrong hands, the consequences are serious. But in the right hands, used ethically and with genuine subject expertise, AI allows you to create things you could only have dreamt of. Two months ago, JavaScript or Python would have sent me running for the hills. Now?

Setting the Context Just before Christmas the Higher Education Authority (HEA) released a Policy Framework “to guide educators, academic leaders, and professional staff in making informed, value-based decisions about how gen AI is adopted and integrated into educational practice”. The framework is very timely and focuses on the specific issues associated with generative AI usage in higher education in the context of teaching and learning.