Online Professional Development Workshop
The Cognitive Effects of AI: Who's Doing the Thinking?
What AI changes for student learning and professional expertise
A facilitated whole-staff workshop with Simon Breakspear, delivered live via Zoom.
Wednesday 27 January 2027 | 9:45am – 12:15pm AEDT
Join Simon live, or run it yourself at a time that works for you.
Fee: $1,490 plus GST (one registration covers your whole staff at one school site)
Enrolments close 20 January 2027 (or until sold out)
How to think about AI in education, before it's too late
Until recently, students had to do the hard part of schoolwork themselves: coming up with the idea, working through the problem, writing the draft and refining it. That effort built knowledge and understanding, and no tool could do it for them. Now one can. A student can hand in finished work without doing any of the thinking the task was meant to build.
If left unaddressed, this problem will likely grow every year. Students will miss the chance to build important knowledge and understanding, and settle into habits of cognitive outsourcing that may be hard to undo.
After a lot of noise about AI, this is the moment to look at it with a level head, from what we know about how people learn. The research is clear about which learning processes matter most, and the way students now use AI, often without meaning to, works against those processes. Students and parents will ask every adult in the school about AI this year, and without a shared way of thinking, they will get different answers depending on who they ask. This session gives your whole staff that shared way of thinking it through.
Join Simon live online on 27 January, or use the recording and facilitation guide to run the workshop with your staff at a time that suits your school.
Three things your people will walk away with
The research, without the hype. A clear-sighted summary of what the most robust studies show, so far, about the effects of AI on human cognition.
How learning happens, and what AI interrupts. What goes on inside a student's head when they learn, and what stops happening when AI does the work instead.
A way to decide when and if to use AI in their own professional work. Where it saves time, and where it wears away the expertise their judgement depends on.
Who should be in the room?
Both sessions are designed for your whole staff, whatever your school's size or sector – teachers, education support staff and school leaders. Office and administrative teams are welcome too.
AI is reaching every classroom and every role, and these sessions give every adult in your school a shared picture of what it means for thinking and learning – so your school responds with one considered voice rather than a hundred private guesses.
Gather in the hall, staffroom or library: one screen, everyone together.
Agenda
- 7:45 pm - 8:45 pm
Session 1 | Student Learning
Hard Thinking: protecting the cognitive work that builds lasting knowledge and capability - Learn from past education technology missteps and avoid repeating the most predictable of them - Understand how cognitive offloading and cognitive surrender can remove the very thinking that builds knowledge, fluency and judgement - Make the case for deliberate non-use by identifying the tasks and stages of learning students should always complete without AI - Double down on the enduring teaching practices that help students learn how to think and, in time, learn what they think
- 8:45 pm - 9:15 pm
Break | 30-minute coffee break
30-minute coffee and conversation break – we'll pose one question for your team to carry into it.
- 9:15 pm - 10:15 pm
Session 2 | Professional Work
Working with AI: what we hand over, and what we keep doing ourselves - Understand the expertise dividend: cognitive work pays twice, once in the output and again in the skill it builds and keeps sharp - See why the same use of AI is a different thing for an expert and a novice, and what that means for our own use - Agree, as a staff, what we hand over to AI and what we keep doing ourselves *Times shown are for the live event. Running it from the recording? The same structure works whenever you schedule it.*
How the workshop will run
This workshop gives your staff time to think and talk together, not simply listen. Across the sessions, Simon will introduce evidence and practical ideas, followed by time for colleagues to reflect, discuss what these mean for their school, and plan how they might apply them in their own practice.
It will be helpful to have at least one staff member on a keyboard that can share some of your questions and insights back into the live community thinking.
Why trust Simon with this conversation?
Simon brings an unusual combination to this topic: a doctorate in Education from the University of Cambridge, a first-class honours degree in Psychology, experience as a high school teacher, and week-in, week-out work with schools and school systems. He offers a calm, evidence-informed read of what AI means for learning, thinking and expertise formation. No platform to push: just the latest evidence, helpful frameworks and the prompts for the conversations your staff needs to have.
What your school receives
Two hours of live workshop content for your whole staff, with a 30-minute coffee and conversation break
The full recording, available by the end of the day you choose to attend (either 27 or 28 Jan), until 9 April 2027
A workbook to enable reflection and planning throughout the session, sent at least 48 hours in advance (A PDF you can print and share)
The full session slides
A facilitation guide for schools running the workshop from the recording, with prompts and timings for each discussion
A pre-recorded 15-minute summary of the key ideas, ready to share with parents and caregivers interested in how AI is shaping learning, thinking and human development
A set of discussion prompts your school can use to continue the conversation in team and faculty meetings
All materials are licensed for use at the registered school site.
FAQs
- Can we run the workshop at a time that suits us?
Yes. Join live on 27 or 28 January, or run it from the recording at any time that works for your school. The recording is available by the end of the day you attend, the facilitation guide gives you prompts and timings for each discussion, and access runs until 9 April 2027. You can run it anytime during Term 1.
- Can we participate as a whole staff team?
Yes, and this is the recommended approach. Trust is a whole-school condition, and the conversations that emerge when a full staff team explores this together are where the real work takes root.
- Should we all come together in one place?
Yes. One registration covers one school site, on one screen, with everyone in the room together. The workshop is designed for discussion and shared reflection, so gathering in your hall, staffroom or library means your team can build on the conversations in real time. If you're a multi-campus school, please get in touch to arrange additional connections.
- What do we need to organise on the day?
A room where everyone can see and hear one screen, a reliable internet connection, and a copy of the workbook for each participant. We send the workbook and materials at least 48 hours ahead, so you can check you have everything you need before the day.
- Can individuals or small teams take part?
The workshop is designed for whole staff participation. If you're an individual or small team hoping to join, email us at team@simonbreakspear.com.
- Do staff need AI experience or accounts?
No. Nothing in the workshop requires anyone to use an AI tool on the day. The session is about thinking and learning, and it works whether your staff are daily AI users or have never opened a chatbot – and with whatever tools your school or system provides, from EduChat to Copilot to none at all.
- We are a small school – do you offer adjusted rates?
Yes. If your school has under 100 students, get in touch, and we'll provide a discounted rate.
- How will the workshop be delivered?
Live on Zoom. After you register, we'll send you the link to join along with a calendar invite. If you're running it from the recording instead, we'll send access details as soon as the recording is ready.
- What time zone is the live event held in?
9:45am – 12:15pm AEDT (daylight saving time for NSW, Victoria and the ACT).
If the live time doesn't work for your state, run the workshop from the recording at a time that does.
NSW / VIC / ACT: 9:45 am - 12:15 pm
QLD: 8:45 am - 11:15 am
SA: 9:15 am - 11:45 am
NT: 8:15 am - 10:45 am
WA: 6:45 am - 9:15 am
- Why more caution for students than for staff?
Because the same use of AI can do different things to different people. What matters is the purpose of the task and the expertise the person brings to it. When the purpose is to build knowledge, doing the cognitive work is part of the learning. The same act of handing a task to AI can be a genuinely different event for someone still building their knowledge and someone applying expertise they already have - the workshop helps your staff make that call without turning it into a blanket rule.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
