As artificial intelligence reshapes education, Mount Alvernia College is placing ethics, relationships and critical thinking at the centre of learning through its Human Edge initiative.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed how students learn, access information and engage with the world around them. For schools, the challenge is no longer simply how to manage new technologies, but how to ensure students develop the skills and judgement to use them responsibly.
At Mount Alvernia College in Brisbane’s north, Principal Samantha Jensen says that challenge has prompted a new initiative focused on the human capabilities that technology cannot easily replicate.
The program – known as The Human Edge – encourages students to think critically about AI while exploring the ethical questions that accompany its growing influence.
“It’s a very big ticket item in education at the moment, the use of AI in schools and in education. Like many good schools, we’re well prepared in terms of policy and assessment design. But what we have added this year is something that we’re calling The Human Edge.
“It’s about how we are going to prepare not only our staff but our students for a world in which technology is transformative. It’s enabling us to do great things. It’s automating and streamlining and making things more efficient.
“But what we need to pay attention to is how we maintain our human centredness and how we can really think ethically about the tools that we’re using and how we’re using them.”
Image: Lyndon Mechielsen
The program is embedded within the college’s Personal Best lessons, a four-week program focused on personal development for all students. Rather than focusing purely on the technical capabilities of AI, the curriculum explores the broader implications of using these tools in everyday life.
“We’re looking at the cognitive cost of outsourcing thinking to machines and what that means to our own brains and neuroscience,” Ms Jensen says.
“Then we’re looking at the ethical implications of deepfakes and the questions of meaning, morality and authorship in the digital age. It’s a deeper education around the ethics of AI.
“It’s about how as a society we can lose touch with each other through the medium of technology that erases our nuances as human beings and our relationships with others.”
Alongside student learning, the college is also considering how AI is reshaping classroom practice and teacher decision-making.
Ms Jensen says professional learning has focused on ensuring staff understand both the opportunities and the limitations of emerging tools.
“There’s a real balance to be struck. AI can be incredibly helpful in reducing administrative load and supporting planning, but we also need to be conscious of where professional judgement sits.
“We don’t want to outsource the craft of teaching. We want to enhance it, and that means being very deliberate about how and when these tools are used.”
Developing students’ capacity to question information and reflect on how technology shapes their thinking is a central goal of the initiative.
“What does it mean to have all the answers but not know the right questions to ask? That’s where we really want to help our girls develop those critical thinking skills.”
Students themselves have contributed to shaping the program, Ms Jensen says, with consultation forming part of its development.
“They’ve been really involved. We had working groups and consultation with students, and now as we’re leading this kind of curriculum we’re uncovering more and more that they have a lot to say about it.”
The college is also engaging parents as part of the initiative, recognising that conversations about AI extend well beyond the classroom.
The College’s Human Edge approach extends beyond the classroom to its parent community. Through the College’s online Education and Digital Growth Environment (EDGE), parents are invited to engage in the same learning experiences as their daughters, including courses such as Understanding AI.
“This shared learning model creates opportunities for meaningful conversations at home and a deeper, shared understanding of emerging technologies,” Ms Jensen says.
“Complementing this, our community‑wide Human‑centred AI Framework provides transparency and visibility into how AI is used at Mount Alvernia College – ensuring technology is applied thoughtfully, ethically and always in service of better learning outcomes.”
A campus designed for the future
While the college is exploring the philosophical questions raised by emerging technologies, it is also remodelling its physical learning environments.
At the centre of the campus, construction is underway on a new learning precinct known as The Canticle – a development designed to bring together a range of academic and creative spaces within a single hub.
“It will house our new library, but it also incorporates a Senior Learning Centre, a lecture theatre, which we’ve never had at the college before, and numerous breakout zones, and a post-production space for podcasting and film development,” Ms Jensen says.
“It’s a very contemporary space. It’s in the centre of the school, which poses logistical challenges in terms of the building process, but it is going to be the heartbeat of the college.”
Positioning the building as a shared resource was a deliberate decision, she explains, rather than creating a facility tied to a single discipline.
“We reviewed the master plan in the year that I started at the college in 2021, and by 2022 it was identified that this particular stage of the master plan needed to be a building that could be universally accessed and enjoyed by all students.”
The development will significantly expand the existing library footprint and introduce several new learning environments.
“Our architects have worked with the Brisbane Planetarium to design an astronomical dome in the ceiling of our new lecture theatre, which will have beautiful lighting of the sky country as well.
“It is not just a place to go and learn. The building itself is a learning experience.”
Construction is well underway and subject to weather conditions is expected to open in March 2027.
Environmental sustainability and cultural understanding have also influenced the design of the new precinct.
Mount Alvernia’s Franciscan heritage emphasises respect for nature and the relationship between built environments and natural spaces.
“Our architects, who previously worked with us on our La Foresta gardens, which featured on Gardening Australia, have been able to maintain a beautiful aesthetic stemming from our Italian heritage, and have honoured the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces,” Ms Jensen says.
Sustainability has shaped not only the design but also the construction approach, with the architects retaining the foundations and concrete pillars of the existing library to rebuild over it.
The surrounding landscape will continue the connection between learning spaces and the natural environment.
“There’ll even be a continuation of the garden with grass that you can use to weave. Women’s business in Indigenous culture is very much around weaving, so every aspect has been thought of.”
Consultation with First Nations voices including Burrundi Designs and First Nations students has been an important part of the design process, she adds.
“We’ve had a full First Nations consultation, so the design of the building has been done in the spirit of designing with Country.
“We’ve looked at the Indigenous biodiversity of the area and really listened to where the wind is going to move.
“It’s been a really beautiful process, and we’ve done that also with our Mt A Mob, which are our First Nations students, so that design process has been quite collaborative.”
The name of the building reflects these intersecting cultural influences.
“We’ve called it The Canticle. In Christian tradition a canticle means a hymn or a story. And if you think about Indigenous songlines and knowledge and where knowledge is kept, it’s a beautiful crossover of two traditions.”
Preparing students for a changing future
Alongside developments in technology and infrastructure, Mount Alvernia’s college leadership team is also considering how education itself may evolve in the coming years.
The college has a leadership structure designed to support a growing student population, with four deputy principals responsible for key areas including teaching and learning, staff development, student wellbeing, and faith and mission.
“We’re creeping up to 1,000 students now, so it makes sense to have robust leadership portfolio areas in place. We work closely as a team because each of them has a significant portfolio,” Ms Jensen says.
Supporting staff remains a priority as schools navigate increasing expectations and the pace of change across the sector.
“Staff resilience and wellbeing is a priority for the College. We’ve engaged PeopleBench in an ongoing capacity to track and monitor staff resilience as part of our commitment to staff wellbeing.”
Later this year, Ms Jensen will undertake a sabbatical at the University of Oxford, an experience she says will provide an opportunity to further explore the global trends already reshaping schools.
She says the questions driving that work are already front of mind.
“I think probably the next phase for the sector will be around more flexible modalities of school life. That might be timetables that look different for senior students.
“It’s no secret that Australia, like the rest of the world, has a workforce shortage, particularly in some of those technical and STEM design and technology areas.”
Those pressures could lead to new partnerships between schools, industry and tertiary institutions, she says, giving students earlier exposure to emerging career pathways.
“We’re already seeing a lot more interest in how students can connect their learning to the real world – whether that’s through industry engagement, different learning pathways or more flexible senior schooling options.”
At the same time, Ms Jensen believes schools will need to move beyond traditional models that have remained largely unchanged for decades.
“The factory settings of education – where cohorts move year by year through a school – are going to have to shift. Schools will need to think far more creatively and far more flexibly than we have before.
“That doesn’t mean losing the structure and community that schools provide, but it does mean thinking carefully about how learning experiences are designed.”
As knowledge becomes more accessible through technology, the role of teachers may also continue to evolve.
“I think the relational element of student and teacher partnership is going to need to increase as knowledge bases continue to expand.
“It’s really about teachers becoming more of a guide through the information that is available to them. That’s already happening, but I think we’re going to have to be far more agile and flexible and creative.”
For Ms Jensen, ensuring students remain grounded in human values will be central to preparing them for an increasingly complex future.
“We’re entering a world where technology is doing more and more for us. Our job in schools is making sure our students remain deeply human – that they can think critically, act ethically and stay connected to one another.”
