ATN Symposium on Generative AI: Graduate Skills and Employability
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is changing the way we work, study, and live. The ability to use GenAI in an ethical, responsible, and thoughtful way, is emerging as a key human capability across the workforce and in our communities.
Universities and industry are forging collaborations which effectively build knowledge, skills and capabilities of graduates to enhance their employability and the distinct value they bring to the workplace.
In some domains, industry is driving the change; in others, partnerships are bringing fresh perspectives on how industries can do their best work and improve productivity across their workforce. In most cases, the collaborations are bi-directional, learning from one another and innovating together.
This booklet shares current examples of how ATN universities are actively building GenAI knowledge and skills which better position graduates for the workplace of today and the future. These examples include industry-engaged curricula and industry-informed pedagogy. You’ll discover one case study from each ATN university, showcasing innovation in action. Each case study speaks to its:
PURPOSE
The ‘why’ at the core of the initiative ENABLERS
What it took to get it up and running
IMPACT
The qualitative and quantitative indicators
ENGAGEMENT MODEL
How the collaboration works and the features that make it effective
LESSONS LEARNED
What works and what could be done differently to achieve greater future impact
We trust that the case studies presented in this booklet help you to prompt and undertake discussions across the tertiary sector, encourage further opportunities for partnership with industry, and contribute to providing the best employable graduates for a thriving economy.
Students Innovating with AI in the Health Sector
DATA SCIENCE, HEALTH SCIENCES
Lead: Alex Jenkins Director, WA Data Science Innovation Hub
CASE STUDY
Our mission at WADSIH (Western Australia Data Science Innovation Hub) is twofold. As part of the New Industries Fund of the Government of Western Australia, our remit is to help diversify the WA economy, and we do that by facilitating the solutions to big problems using AI. The 2024 WA Health Hackathon is the perfect example of our work in action – joined by the WA Department of Health, North Metropolitan Health Service, Child and Adolescent Health Service, HBF Health, WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub, Curtin University and Arkahna. It bought 85 students, graduates and early-career professionals together with representatives from the health and data industries to workshop and build AI-driven solutions to some of the challenging problems in the field today.
The bi-directional approach not only built student capabilities using AI in the real world, it showed the health sector what’s possible with AI and how it can improve areas like emergency department wait times, youth mental health, and complex patient information delivery.
ENABLERS
WADSIH has been running Health Hackathons for over 4 years, and each year the initiative has grown increasingly larger.
The initiative was made possible through strong collaboration between universities, government agencies, and industry partners, anchored by articulated shared goals and mutual benefit.
Students were provided access to synthetic healthcare data provided by industry partners from the health sector, enabling them to work with realistic but anonymised datasets while maintaining patient privacy.
Expert mentors from the health and tech sectors guided students through the problem-solving process, helping them refine their AI-driven solutions.
IMPACT
GenAI is transforming fields, and the health sector is no different. Students and graduates need exposure to real problems and GenAI tools they can use to solve them. The Health Hackathons give them invaluable exposure to the environments and collaborators authentic to what they’d experience in the field. When industry provides the situations and settings students will use in the workplace, it builds their experience with critical areas they don’t often get from theory alone, such as patient privacy and the use of synthetic data. These elements came together in the 2024 WA Health Hackathon, where participants worked on over 20 innovative solutions – this was an attendee growth of almost 40% over previous hackathons.
Solutions included a ChatGPT-powered tool simplifying complex health documents for patients, a patient traffic system to reduce hospital waiting times, a platform to help therapists optimise treatment plans for kids in physical rehab and an online hub to connect young people with much-needed mental health resources and advice. Several teams have then gone on to work with the corporations and industry bodies who mentored or judged the winners.
COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP MODEL
WADSIH facilitated a highly collaborative model, engaging students with healthcare professionals, AI experts, and industry leaders. Challenge statements were co-developed with health organizations, ensuring relevance and real-world impact. Mentors from both health and AI fields provided students with insights into industry expectations, and sponsors helped fund participation incentives.
From the 2024 WA Health Hackathon alone, four participating teams were invited to demonstrate their tools to event sponsor HBF Health. The winning team had the opportunity to pitch their idea to the State Health Operations Centre, forming a company to further develop their solution.
LESSONS LEARNED
The 2024 WA Health Hackathon is a proven model for WADSIH, and it’s one of several we’ve held over the last few years. It’s also a very successful model for collaboration in the industry, which is why our partners keep coming back. They know AI can be used in the search for efficiency and better service delivery, but they don’t always know how to use it or find the best solutions or people to deploy it. Hackathons give them both.
Officially held over a few weeks and culminating in a fun and rewarding ceremony where winners are announced, a hackathon is actually a constantly evolving series of partnerships – participating teams often continue to work with industry and government partners to further develop their solutions.
Hackathons are also a celebration of diversity, where participants come from every possible background aside from just the health industry, such as data science, programming and app design. It’s the embodiment of how good ideas can come from anywhere, and that the most creative solutions often come from transdisciplinary experiences and skillsets.
FutureFocus GenAI Program
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Leads:
Dr Danni Hamilton, Senior Lecturer Learning Futures and Assoc Prof Lauren Hansen, Director of Graduate Employability
CASE STUDY
The FutureFocus GenAI Program is a multi-disciplinary Community of Inquiry (CoI) composed of seven disciplinary partnerships between senior academics and 11 industry partners, totalling over 40 participants, and covering 15 courses in total. The program, launched in May 2024, has two core objectives: to produce recommendations for AI-evolved course-wide curriculum transformation and to develop new, relational, and process-oriented approaches to academic-industry partnerships. The program addresses the urgency for new industry-higher education partnerships prioritising bidirectional knowledge exchange. The program offers a $5,000 grant and program support to disciplinary partnerships to have a conversation about the impacts of GenAI on their discipline. The insights gained within these partnerships and the collective CoI will inform the recommendations. The program opens up the university, foregrounds robust relationships, and prioritises safe and equitable partnerships at the intersection of education and employability. It effectively integrates diverse perspectives that can drive genuine curriculum transformation, centring humantechnological-environmental flourishing in a rapidly changing world.
ENABLERS
Strong leadership support and advocacy from the executive team has been a critical factor in the early success of the FutureFocus GenAI Program. A significant financial investment of $35,000 underlines our commitment to this program. Securing commitments from senior faculty leaders was essential in allocating academic workloads for academic participants. A substantial workload allocation for an experienced program lead from the central teaching and learning unit fosters a community capable of taking risks and managing ambiguity. This expert stakeholder manager, skilled in navigating complex partnerships and university systems, facilitates safe, reflexive, multi-disciplinary dialogues.
The close partnership between the central teaching and learning and graduate employment functions ensures the sustainable and timely translation of the recommendations to practice. The Director of Graduate Employability supports the program lead by providing insights on employability issues, connecting industry partners, and facilitating the rapid implementation of prototype curriculum interventions as the project evolves.
ENGAGEMENT MODEL
The program emphasises a relational approach, preparing participants for a culture of bi-directional relationship-building that transcends traditional “research” and “teaching” related partnerships. Disciplinary partnerships were forged by leveraging existing industry engagements, such as student placements or industry-based research, transforming these practical (outcome-focused) engagements into a collegial (process-oriented) sharing of practice, perspective and expertise. The CoI augments the seven disciplinary partnerships by fostering collective discussion, opening the conversation to all participants. It values the expertise of both academics and professionals, privileging “slow academia” as an antidote to the rapid technological transformation GenAI represents. Slow academia promotes thoughtful, deliberate intellectual labour where ideas ripen and are interrogated over time. These robust ideas then support the rapid development and implementation of pragmatic curriculum recommendations, which further inform the ongoing conversation.
IMPACT
We have cultivated a vibrant community of inquiry which includes a dedicated Viva Engage channel, an e-zine, a series of community events with guest speakers, as well as structured cross-disciplinary discussions and detailed documentation of each partnership’s progress. These initiatives ensure that the collective dialogue continues asynchronously, accommodating fluctuations in workloads while keeping university leadership and key stakeholders regularly informed of emerging findings. The value of these diverse viewpoints lies in fostering “paddock to plate” partnership discussions that emphasise sharing fresh insights and speculations across various fields, resulting in rapid prototyping of curriculum interventions. Initial insights have guided learning activities piloted within the embedded career education curriculum of select undergraduate arts and health courses. These emerging themes have been shared with over 140 Course Leaders at the university’s biannual Course Leaders Day and presented to 18 graduate employers at the DeakinTALENT Employer Advisory Board.
LESSONS LEARNED
The program adopts a practice-led approach, emphasising a culture of no failures, only findings. The community serves as a living laboratory, highlighting barriers and enablers to industryengaged academic practice. The program lead plays a critical role in helping academic partners navigate the complexities of industry partnerships. Building academic capability in stakeholder engagement and necessary infrastructure is a key priority. Although the program was designed to secure workload allocation for participants, time commitment remains a challenge for both academic and industry partners. The COI hosts ambitious conversations that have already surfaced discipline-specific insights and numerous multidisciplinary synergies including GenAI’s impact on ethics, professionalism and expertise. These learnings have the potential to rapidly transform curriculum and inform university strategy. But to achieve the impact this unique program promises, investments of time and not money are critical.
PARTNERSHIPS
GenAI and Digital Collection Management at the Powerhouse Museum | Powerhouse Museum
Exploring the impacts, ethics, and governance of generative AI in collection management within the GLAM sector to improve teaching and professional competency, ultimately informing curriculum transformation.
Impact of GenAI on Australian Marketing Professionals | The Fuel Agency
Uncovering insights from partnerships to support the design of learning experiences in marketing technologies, preparing the next generation of marketing professionals to work alongside GenAI.
The Algorithmic Advocate: Preparing Students for GenAI’s Role in Addressing Family Violence | Allied Health
Examining how GenAI integrates into social work, focusing on family violence prevention and response, ensuring Deakin social work graduates are industry-ready and equipped to lead technological advancements.
“The Fuel Agency is thrilled to be part of Deakin’s FutureFocus GenAI Program. As a branding and creative agency, originality, creativity, and innovation are our currency of choice. It’s not every day that we encounter technology that so thoroughly reshapes the status quo, and we’re thrilled to be exploring the impacts of AI on the future of marketing and commercial creativity.”
– Ken Chow Group Account Director, The Fuel Agency
“Participating in the FutureFocus GenAI program has motivated me to systematically and proactively explore how generative AI is transforming the marketing landscape. The insights we gain from our industry partners help us stay up to date with current developments, enabling us to make informed decisions about our curriculum, and guide relevant research. Additionally, the program not only keeps us informed about our own discipline but also provides valuable opportunities to learn from other disciplines participating in the program.”
–
Dr Uyen Uyen
Banh
Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law/Deakin Business School
Generative AI
and the
Future of Sustainability | Local Government
Exploring GenAI’s impact on sustainability practices, environmental management, and workforce needs, aiming to develop insights into the long-term implications of AI adoption and prepare students with the skills required to lead in this field.
GenAI and the Future of Legal Education | Members of the legal profession
An investigation of GenAI’s impact on legal work and education, aiming to develop evidence-based recommendations for lawyer training and curriculum design at Deakin’s Law School.
AI in Healthcare: Shaping Future Nursing and Midwifery Education | Western Health
Examining GenAI’s role in clinical practice to develop a curriculum that prepares nursing and midwifery students to responsibly integrate GenAI into patient care while maintaining high professional and ethical standards.
From Classroom to Career: AI-Ready
Engineers | Engineering Sector
Investigating how GenAI is transforming engineering practices and integrating AI literacy into the curriculum to ensure students are career-ready.
Creating a GenAI Chatbot for an Internal Client
BUSINESS
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Leads: Dr Huan Vo-Tran, Deputy Head Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics
CASE STUDY
This project was created for the capstone course in RMIT’s Master of Business IT (MBIT) program. Designed with our signature pedagogy, emphasising practical engagement with industry, it equips students with workforce-relevant skills by immersing them in real-world business problems. Through collaborative projects with industry partners and business stakeholders, students integrate theoretical knowledge while developing critical thinking and communication skills essential for success in the dynamic field of business IT. The course prepares MBIT graduates to navigate complex challenges and innovate effectively within evolving technological landscapes, ensuring they are well-prepared to make meaningful contributions in their professional careers, predominantly as business analysts.
In Semester 1, 2024, the client was the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) team within the College of Business and Law (CoBL). They provided students with a project brief to develop a chatbot to assist them in responding to common queries related to internships. The project fostered collaboration with industry experts from Microsoft, who offered technical expertise and access to relevant development software, including Co-Pilot licences. Additionally, RMIT IT Services played a crucial role in establishing and maintaining the technical environment required to support students throughout the project’s development, testing, and deployment phases, ensuring a seamless and productive learning experience.
By engaging directly with industry experts, students acquired practical insights into contemporary business challenges and enterprise responses by utilising cutting-edge tools and technologies including GenAI, which are shaping the future of business IT.
ENABLERS
Resources, internal champions, and alignment to broader university strategies.
Industry engagement
The WIL Team provided the project brief as the client, while Microsoft contributed technical expertise and training, with strong support from RMIT IT Services who created and supported the environment required for the chatbot’s development, testing, and deployment.
The project quickly became a showcase of collaboration with students, College and central teams working alongside Microsoft. This unique initiative allowed MBIT students to act as both consultants and end-users.
Strategic alignment
The project aligns with RMIT’s commitment to AI, positioning the university as a leader in innovative educational solutions. It also supports the College’s EdTech Strategy by driving innovation focused on student learning outcomes and fostering collaboration with industry to develop relevant EdTech solutions offering real-world opportunities.
The development of the chatbot itself enhances the student experience and graduate outcomes by providing quick, accurate responses to common WIL queries, specifically regarding internships, whist also boosting staff productivity and improving student satisfaction.
IMPACT
Students identified collaboration as the key driver of the project’s success. This not only enhances the relevance of the learning experience but also equips students with the agility and proficiency required to excel in a rapidly changing professional environment. At the same time, it provides direct business value to the College and IT Services by testing a business solution and new technology.
Devansha Gaur highlighted the collaboration with Microsoft “not only enriched my (her) technical skills but also provided invaluable insights into real-world applications of AI in business contexts”. In addition, Alfie Shahrin noted that integrating GenAI technology fostered problem-solving and teamwork skills essential for her career. She described the experience as:
“The perfect finale to my Master’s journey – intense, but oh-so satisfying”
– Alfie Shahrin
Through this project, students effectively showcased their learning outcomes, gaining valuable experience to enhance their resumes. This has led to successful employment in roles such as data analysts at organisations including RMIT University, Perceptive Data, and Amerinda Advisory.
Students shared their achievements through various channels, including a YouTube video titled Industry Partnered Learning - Developing an AI Chatbot to Solve Business Problems [LINK: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=eX76Md-kKoM]. In the video they reflected on their journey, demonstrating the real-world impact of their collaboration with academics, RMIT ITS, and Microsoft.
COLLABORATION MODEL
The capstone course follows a collaborative ecosystem model that places students at the centre of innovation, bridging academia, industry, and institutional support. With clearly articulated shared mutual benefits, this collaboration fosters an active learning environment, where students gain hands-on experience working with industry professionals, refining their problemsolving, communication, and project management skills. By centring students in this ecosystem, the project enhances their employability, industry readiness, and ability to navigate complex technological landscapes, positioning them as future leaders in business IT.
LESSONS LEARNED
What surprised us the most was the willingness of students to tackle the unknown with confidence and enthusiasm. Their adaptability and problem-solving mindset allowed them to engage with complex challenges and emerging technologies without hesitation.
Looking ahead, one key improvement would be locking in projects 3–4 months ahead of schedule to provide students with greater clarity and preparation time. This would enable smoother onboarding, better alignment with industry partners, and more structured project execution.
Additionally, having the flexibility to select from a wide range of tools was invaluable, as it allowed students to experiment with different technologies and choose the most effective solutions for their projects. In the future, fostering even greater access to diverse tools and platforms will further enhance students’ learning experiences and industry readiness.
Human-Centric, AI-First Pedagogy: Integrating GenAI Capabilities into Business Education
Lead: Bert Verhoeven Director Innovation & Entrepreneurship BUSINESS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND INNOVATION
CASE STUDY
The Human-Centric, AI-First (HCAIF) framework is a structured, ethical, and adaptive approach to integrating Generative AI (GenAI) into business education, developed by Bert Verhoeven and Tim Hor at The University of Newcastle. It outlines how to build students’ GenAI competencies and how educators can use GenAI to design learning experiences.
It is built on five key pillars:
1. Preparation, where educators “collaborate” with GenAI to design exercises and assessments
2. Personalised Learning, enabling students to use GenAI for creativity, research, and team-based projects
3. Classroom Engagement, fostering active participation with AI-enhanced coaching and peer review
4. Summative Assessment, incorporating AI-generated evaluations refined by educator
5. Personalized Monitoring, using GenAI to track student progress and provide tailored support.
The framework is further strengthened by Attribution, ensuring students document their use of GenAI, and Reflection, requiring them to critically assess GenAI’s impact on their learning. Together, these elements create a dynamic and future-focused educational model that enhances engagement, assessment, and real-world readiness for Gen-AI engaged work.
The framework has been applied within the Newcastle Business School since early 2024.
ENABLERS
The successful implementation of the HCAIF framework was driven by:
• Leadership Commitment: Strong support from senior leadership within the Faculty and central University Executive.
• Collaborative Development: Co-creation with faculty, industry partners, and students, anchored by articulated shared benefits and impacts.
HCAIF is an initiative of Newcastle Business School’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) Academy, an institute enabling and empowering interdisciplinary collaboration for innovation through Design Science Research, Education in Entrepreneurship (I&E) competencies, and GenAI proficiency to accelerate expertise and commercialisation opportunities.
• GenAI Integration: Utilisation of GenAI tools for personalised learning, real-time feedback, and competency development.
• Ethical Guidelines: Clear protocols on GenAI usage, ensuring academic integrity and ethical scholarship.
IMPACT
The framework has significantly enhanced graduate employability by:
• Skill Development: Fostering critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and GenAI proficiency.
• Student Engagement: Increased motivation and active participation through GenAI-driven personalised learning.
• Real-World Readiness: Improved capability to tackle complex problems and adapt to evolving industry needs.
• Metrics: Preliminary qualitative observations, derived from detailed student reflections and extensive comparative assessments suggest that the integration of GenAI has contributed to enhanced academic rigour and improved assessment outcomes compared to previous years.
COLLABORATION MODEL
The framework thrives on dynamic collaborations:
• Internal Collaboration: I&E Academy fosters inter-disciplinary integration within the University’s three Colleges leading to opportunities for modular interdisciplinary courses.
• Industry Partnerships: Active engagement with industry leaders like Amazon Web Services to align curriculum with market needs.
• Global Networks: Partnerships with international institutions like University of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) and ESCP Business School (Berlin) to foster global competencies and research impact.
“The AI-driven feedback helped me improve my projects faster and with more depth than traditional methods.”
– Student Testimonial
“My experience in this course has been both positive and negative. On the positive side, it is the only topic that has made me question everything, utilise AI as a companion, step out of my comfort zone. However, the negative aspect of the course is that it has made my other topics appear boring and outdated.”
– Student Testimonial
LESSONS LEARNED
• Surprises: Initially, students were hesitant to use GenAI tools, as their experience in other courses suggested GenAI use was discouraged. Developing true proficiency requires time and skill-building, as students learn to integrate GenAI meaningfully and confidently into their work.
• Key Takeaways: Making GenAI a core component of education requires a fundamental paradigm shift. It transforms how educators teach—from traditional lecturing to mentoring and coaching; what they teach—prioritising authentic project-based learning and competency development; and how they assess—emphasising authentic assessment focused on the learning process, creative and critical thinking in co-creation with GenAI, and its ethical use. Students must demonstrate value-added contributions and provide evidence of their co-creation process with GenAI.
Guided by GenAI, Driven by Judgement: Perspectives from Two Graduates
Lead: Dr Kuan Liung Tan Lecturer in Health Services Management HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT
CASE STUDY
The UniSA Master of Health Services Management (HSM) Capstone Project course provides students with the opportunity to engage in real-world industry projects, equipping them with critical problem-solving, information analysis, and communication skills. A key innovation in the course has been the structured integration of Generative AI (GenAI) tools, like ChatGPT, teaching students to leverage GenAI effectively while emphasising a human-in-the-loop approach focused on critical evaluation. To understand student experiences, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two recent program graduates: Guillaume L, a healthcare consultant, and Trisha E, working in a local health network. Seven questions were asked exploring GenAI usage, critical thinking, and learning transferability.
ENABLERS
• Progressive GenAI Integration – Early AI introduction helps students develop fundamental skills while recognising its limitations. It is then applied progressively across project tasks, building their confidence and competence.
• Critical Thinking Emphasis – Outputs are rigorously evaluated against industry standards.
• Industry-Embedded – Projects align with real-world challenges through industry partnerships.
“AI can give you a starting point, but you still need to verify sources and critically evaluate content.”
– Trisha
IMPACT
The course has consistently achieved a student success rate above 95% since the structured integration of GenAI methodologies in 2022. While GenAI is considered a contributing element, changes to the course structure, teaching team, and post-COVID enrolment recovery have also played a role. Therefore, the graduate interviews are particularly valuable for understanding its nuanced effects. Feedback suggests GenAI enhances engagement and problem-solving, especially with strong support and critical evaluation.
Skill Development: Developing Valuable Skills for HSM Roles through GenAI
AI-assisted learning broadened students’ analytical skills, making advanced methods more accessible for Health Services Management (HSM). While not all HSM professionals need coding expertise, those skilled in data analytics, performance improvement, and operational efficiency gain a competitive edge. For tasks exceeding spreadsheet capabilities, GenAI facilitates the use of more powerful tools like Python. Guillaume illustrated this advantage:
“I had no knowledge of Python or any programming, but I worked with GenAI to map out a Python script and apply regression models to analyse the data.”
His experience highlights how GenAI democratises complex data analysis, enabling those without coding backgrounds to conduct quantitative research when needed. Regression analysis, for example, provides valuable insights into resource allocation and patient outcomes.
Trisha similarly leveraged GenAI for research design, using it to refine survey and focus group questions:
“We would input our initial questions, ask GenAI for improvements, and then refine them to ensure they suited our target audience.”
This demonstrates GenAI’s role in enhancing research structuring and improving project quality across various stages of the capstone lifecycle.
GenAI in the Workplace: Confidence and Career Readiness
Graduates report greater confidence applying GenAI in their roles, viewing these skills as valuable for career progression and job applications. Guillaume, now a healthcare consultant, exemplifies this, using GenAI to streamline research and enhance decision-making. His capstone experience was pivotal:
“Exploring generative AI during my capstone helped me get ahead in my field. I’m now a leader in generative AI for privacy, safety, and productivity at work.”
He credits his early AI training in exploratory data analytics for his ability to embed GenAI into consulting workflows:
“AI is now part of my daily workflow for research, presentations, and internal knowledge sharing.”
Trisha, now in a local health network, found GenAI invaluable for job applications and workplace communication:
“AI helped me structure job applications and refine my resume, but the final edit was always mine.”
She also emphasised AI’s impact on workplace communication and structured thinking:
“You’re applying the structuring techniques you learned during your capstone project to your current role... It’s a big part of it, because communication is key... I always have to think of how the other person is thinking, so it helps with that.”
Beyond writing, GenAI shaped her problem-solving approach:
“AI makes you think more deeply, prompting better questions and clearer objectives. This process helps you work more effectively.”
Graduates demonstrate greater self-efficacy using GenAI across workplace tasks, reinforcing its practical impact beyond academia.
“The technology is a tool to superpower your abilities.”
– Guillaume
ENGAGEMENT WITH INDUSTRY
The capstone course has strong academia-industry partnerships, ensuring projects reflect real-world health services challenges. Industry partners discuss needs with the course coordinator, who uses GenAI to draft and refine project briefs. Students use GenAI as a tool to develop solutions. The teaching team guides ethical and effective use, emphasising critical evaluation. GenAI is a supportive tool and not explicitly foregrounded to partners.
LESSONS LEARNED
• GenAI should enhance, not replace, human thinking, and this principle should be embedded in teaching.
• Critical evaluation is essential. Students must validate GenAI outputs against academic and industry standards.
• GenAI skills extend beyond coursework, with practical applications in professional settings.
Preparing Students for Clinical use of GenAI in Allied Health: Adventures in Speech Pathology
SPEECH
PATHOLOGY
Lead: Prof Bronwyn Hemsley Head of Speech Pathology, Graduate School of Health
CASE STUDY
Speech pathologists are using GenAI for productivity as well as enhancing client screening, assessment, and therapy. They are also supporting clients’ own use of GenAI as an assistive technology or therapy tool for enhancing home practice to improve speech, language, and communication. At UTS we recognise the importance of teaching both students and clinicians to use GenAI, increasing their confidence and competence in using it safely for a wide range of purposes that improve their clinical work and outcomes for clients.
Aiming to build student skills and capabilities in the use of GenAI, UTS have engaged people across the skilling ecosystem – lecturers, practice educators, and students, in collaboration with industry partners in speech pathology practices. This close collaboration has led to curriculum innovations within university programs to ensure that UTS Speech Pathology students are ready to enter the profession, not only skilled up in the use of GenAI but also capable to pass on the knowledge to clinicians who have not used it in their training and risk under-utilisation of this advanced technology.
GenAI is now embedded into students’ learning from the first day on campus, in classes across subjects, and in the UTS speech pathology on-campus clinic ‘SPROUTS’. The goal is to support its use in learning and assessment activities, including placements, to drive critical thinking and practical application in the workplace.
ENABLERS
Real and direct benefits for people with communication disability
GenAI being recognised as an assistive technology for people with communication disability, and being introduced to both students and clients, has enabled the rapid adoption of GenAI into speech pathology at UTS.
Experience in leading rapid technology adoption
Our leadership in supporting the industry’s rapid transition to telehealth services during COVID-19 lockdowns meant that we could rapidly implement similar strategies driving uptake and use of GenAI innovations. We knew that our students would need to have the skills and capability to use GenAI in the clinic environment, and that speech pathologists in the clinics would need upskilling in confidence and competence to safely leverage GenAI benefits in their practice.
Resources and partnerships
We obtained a UTS scholarship to drive GenAI enhancement in health settings and established a Community of Practice with academic and health industry practitioners to ensure that student learning and preparedness for the workplace was directly informed and driven by clinicians.
Leveraging contemporary media as a tool for learning
We produced a podcast on the topic in ‘AI articulated: How speech pathologists are using generative AI’ to help students realise ways they could prepare for its use on placement where they could be expected to do so safely and effectively. The University’s more general enablers for integrating GenAI into teaching and learning are also driving initiatives within the Speech Pathology program.
Listen to stories from clinicians in the UTS Speech Pathology: What’s got us talking podcast: https://omny.fm/shows/whats-got-us-talking-theuts-speech-pathology-pod/ai-articulated-howspeech-pathologists-are-using-g
IMPACT
• Students, the majority of whom say they are using it at least once a week, are now engaging with GenAI with a critical lens and applying it to their clinical skills development. When asked what words come to mind when thinking about GenAI for University work, speech pathology students reported “efficient” “innovative” “helpful” “effective” “less stress” “futuristic” “improving understanding” “new ideas” “brainstorming” and “tool to expand knowledge.”
• Graduates are more able to skill up their clinical educators and supervisors, particularly in terms of safe use. Indeed, the number one ranked item needed by students was “safety in using it”, followed by “practical hands-on skills” and “examples of effective use”.
• Students are actively helping clinicians at their placement sites, delivering talks and workshops on how to use and benefit from GenAI (on the request of the clinics).
• Students are more confident and capable to use GenAI responsibly to enhance their clinical services.
• Clients in the clinic are more able to use GenAI as an assistive technology (e.g., for sending emails, making social media posts). The following is a snippet from a conversation in the SPROUTS clinic between Cath Gregory (practice educator), a client and their parent:
Client (Nathan): “Three years ago I couldn’t do anything, no speaking, or writing. Facebook would just be likes, to text message – emojis only, emails would reply emoji or would ring up. Family and friends ok, to talk to just on the phone, but everyone else can’t do it. With ChatGPT, now I reply to emails, text messages, and Facebook, and make Facebook posts and it’s awesome. Downsides – too detailed response; some people don’t believe it’s me; losing my personality; and ChatGPT does make mistakes sometimes so need to check.”
Nathan’s mother: Well, I’m quite amazed at its capacity to enable him to express what he wants to say. It is very elaborate and when some people get messages or he puts something on Facebook, they think “someone else has written this” ... his sister didn’t believe it was him and was a bit concerned someone had accessed his profile.”
Dr Cath Gregory (Practice Educator): “By using AI in aphasia therapy our students have helped clients connect socially, sometimes for the first time in many years. It’s been really lovely to see students grow in their skills to enable improvements in clients’ communication and quality of life in these clients using GenAI.”
COLLABORATION MODEL
Core to the model of collaboration with industry is shared benefit, bi-directional learning and insights, building trust and credibility within the sector. This was achieved by:
• Providing input into to the Speech Pathology Australia position statement on the use of GenAI in speech pathology.
• Running workshops on the adoption of GenAI in practice to clinics in Australia and overseas, on demand. The purpose of these workshops is to drive the adoption of AI technologies, often under-utilised in clinical settings.
• Facilitating a monthly online Community of Practice on GenAI for all health disciplines, recognising its use in multidisciplinary teams and for a wide range of purposes.
• Building GenAI into the Speech Pathology accreditation framework as a technology that students must be knowledgeable of, and competent in using safely and responsibly, considering its role in the field as both a productivity tool and an assistive technology.
• Establishment of an annual GenAI Enhance Summit, bringing together industry and academic colleagues, to drive further cross-disciplinary curriculum development. (https://lx.uts.edu.au/ blog/2025/02/10/faculty-of-health-genai-enhancesummit/)
LESSONS LEARNED
• Students need encouragement, information, and spaces to practice their use of GenAI for clinical purposes, beyond their use for learning or in assessment.
• Educators need opportunities to play and extend their skills in using a variety of GenAI tools. Gaining access to these is not yet universal and accessibility often relates to funding.
• The quality of outputs from GenAI is still hugely variable.
• Expectations need to be tailored for students, educators and clinicians to better understand that additional human time is needed to enhance GenAI outputs, until both the technology user and the technology improve in capability.
ATN Universities acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Owners of the land on which this document was produced.
ATN Universities respectfully recognises Elders both past and present. We also acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands across Australia where we conduct business, their Elders, Ancestors, cultures and heritage.
