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AI in Education PodcastAuthor: Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming
Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming are experienced education renegades who have worked in many various educational institutions and educational companies across the world. They talk about Artificial Intelligence in Education - what it is, how it works, and the different ways it is being used. It's not too serious, or too technical, and is intended to be a good conversation. Please note the views on the podcast are our own or those of our guests, and not of our respective employers (unless we say otherwise at the time!) Language: en-au Genres: Education, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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UNE's AI Shake-Up: A Regional Uni Redefining the Rules?
Episode 1
Thursday, 20 November, 2025
In this episode, Ray sits down with Aaron Driver, Director of LabNext70 at the University of New England (UNE), a regional Australian university making one of the boldest moves in higher education: giving every staff member and every student access to a full enterprise AI platform. Aaron shares how UNE has built Madgwick, its white-labelled version of the SIMTheory AI platform, and why the university chose to go beyond standard tools like Copilot or ChatGPT for Education. With multi-model access, MCP connectors, and soon agentic capabilities, UNE staff have already created more than 3,000 AI assistants and reached an extraordinary 85% daily usage rate. The conversation dives into UNE's four big reasons for giving AI to all students - safety, job readiness, equity, and privacy - and how this move positions graduates for a job market where AI capability is no longer optional. Aaron also lifts the curtain on UNE's rapid cultural transformation, their sector-leading AI literacy programs, and the regional impact they hope to create by becoming Australia's most AI-enabled university. A fascinating look at a university rewriting the rulebook in real time. Bonus Links Aaron mentioned the SIMTheory Academy that his team runs, and recommended the free AI Quick Wins course for a good overview of what SIM Theory can do
