AIHOA Launch | Supporting educators with AI capability

30 June 2025 Technology, Artificial intelligence (AI), Supporting staff

Ako Aotearoa was proud to host the national launch of AIHOA, a new AI-powered teaching support tool, alongside the release of new webpages: offering starting points for educators engaging with AI, and practical tips for using AI in tertiary education.

Held on Wednesday 18 June, the online event drew 171 attendees from across the sector, with strong engagement throughout the session.

The event opened with remarks from Graeme Smith, Linda Keesing-Styles and Jane Terrell, key contributors to the development of AIHOA and the accompanying resources. Linda and Jane shared background on their work with Ako Aotearoa, including insights from their recent Professional Learning Development survey, which highlighted the urgent need for more support to help educators understand and use AI effectively.

“We worked very quickly with the team at Ako Aotearoa and Graeme to meet that need: AI capability requirement, and curating information for easy access,” said Linda.

Chris Smiley, Web Content and Technology Advisor for Ako Aotearoa, introduced the new AI collection overview page and demonstrated how attendees can best navigate the key sections: starting points, practical tips, highlighted resources, and the references used to shape the collection. Designed to be accessible, uncomplicated and of value for educators at all levels of AI familiarity, the series includes guidance on ethics, assessment, inclusion, policy, and leadership.

“I use AI all the time and familiar with several tools, but it was great to get some (new) tips to refine my work.” said an event attendee.

A highlight of the event came from the introduction of AIHOA, who began with a pepeha before demonstrating how the tool can be used to support learning and teaching tasks. Attendees responded positively to the demonstration, with many expressing excitement about the tool’s potential to enhance their practice.

Other attendee feedback included comments like the following:

“This was brilliant and well-timed. Thank you.”
“I am quite new to all of this, but (AIHOA) looks amazing”

Joachim Ogden, Learning and development advisor from WITT, showcased how he had been taking advantage of his early access to AIHOA - comparing its outputs to generic ChatGPT. He praised AIHOA for being able to create a lesson plan at the same speed as standard ChatGPT, while also embedding Te Tiriti o Wāitangi.

“It’s just better using AIHOA in an educational context to get a lesson plan that has good practice.” Joachim commented. He believes using AIHOA takes out the need for “hard māhi” and recommends educators to use it so they are “working smarter not harder.”

The development team reflected positively on the launch. Linda noted that both the new webpages and AI chatbot were “incredibly well received.”

“I hope that people will now feel confident to embark on an AI journey... that they’ll see and use AI as a friend, not a foe to be avoided”, she added.

Ako Aotearoa encourages educators to explore the full AI resource collection and begin integrating AIHOA into their teaching practice as they build understanding and confidence in AI technology.