Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesEducation Technology

Just Thinking…About the Educational Perspective From Down Under with Brett Salakas

Brett Salakas, an Australian education leader and HP Education Ambassador, discusses how AI can enhance classroom humanity and the importance of empathetic teaching as educators integrate artificial intelligence. He advocates for balancing traditional and innovative methods to foster critical thinking while maintaining deep student-teacher connections.

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Education Technology teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Promoted content from Just Thinking... on MarketScale.

By Kevin Dougherty · 806 TechnologiesA Eulogy for the Essay: Authentic Assessment in the Age of AiAustralia Education InsightsBrett Salakas
Share

Key takeaways

01

Australian educator Brett Salakas shares his perspective on integrating AI thoughtfully while keeping empathy central in teaching

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Education Technology?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Education Technology coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Just Thinking's Kevin Dougherty explores the educational perspective from Down Under with Brett Salakas, an Author and HP Education Ambassador. This timely discussion aligns with ongoing global conversations about AI's role in education and how different regions are adapting to these changes.

Salakas, a leading voice in education from Australia and one of DA Magazine's top 100 influencers, shares his unique insights. His extensive experience includes founding the largest online network of teachers in Australia, Aussie Ed, and working as an HP Education Ambassador, where he champions innovative digital practices.

Throughout the conversation, Salakas delves into his journey in education, the challenges and opportunities brought by AI, and his latest work, "A Eulogy for the Essay: Authentic Assessment in the Age of AI." He emphasizes the critical need for empathy in teaching, especially as AI becomes more prevalent. "AI has the potential to enhance the humanity within classrooms, allowing teachers to connect deeply with students," Salakas said.

AI has the potential to enhance the humanity within classrooms, allowing teachers to connect deeply with students.
— Brett Salakas, Author and HP Education Ambassador

Salakas also discusses the wild geese phenomenon in Korea, where families seek a blend of Eastern and Western educational practices to provide a well-rounded learning experience for their children. This example highlights the importance of balancing traditional and innovative teaching methods to foster critical thinking and creativity.

The episode concludes with an invitation to embrace a boomerang approach to education: "Pour out love to all the relationships you have, and watch it come back to you," Salakas advises. This philosophy underscores building solid and empathetic connections in educational settings.

Pour out love to all the relationships you have, and watch it come back to you.
— Brett Salakas, Author and HP Education Ambassador

Join this insightful conversation to gain a fresh educational perspective from Down Under and learn how to integrate AI thoughtfully into teaching practices.

Just Thinking...

Part of this channel

Just Thinking...

A podcast where education is not just a profession, but a passion.

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Education Technology starts with a company putting its implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Procurement teams read long before they ever call, and your implementers get to answer their questions first.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

Kevin Dougherty
Kevin DoughertyChief Marketing Officer, NeuraPoints, Inc.

Kevin Dougherty is the Chief Marketing Officer of NeuraPoints, Inc. and the host of the Just Thinking... podcast. He has spent the past 40 years as an educator and serving educators. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Kevin earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Multicultural Education. He later earned a Master of Education Degree in Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell. Kevin was a classroom teacher for ten years in the Dallas, Boston, and Houston areas. He then served as an assistant principal/principal of Title I/Bilingual campuses in Fort Bend ISD and Irving ISD. For the past 22 years, Kevin has been serving educators throughout Texas and the nation in various roles supporting sales/marketing, professional learning, and overall company strategy. He has been married to his wife, Michelle, for 33 years. They have two grown children who both live in the DFW area.

Follow Education Technology Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Education Technology: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Education Technology buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Education Technology expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners into the articles, video, and social content Education Technology buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Education Technology Insights

Schools are still catching up after Google opened Gemini to every student

Schools are still catching up after Google opened Gemini to every student

Google has made its Gemini chatbot available to all students, and Education Week reports schools were caught flat-footed, with open questions about age-appropriate use. Districts now have to decide which Gemini path they run and who supervises first use. The consequence lands on district technology directors and classroom teachers this fall.

  • 01Gemini reaches a school two ways: the free app (data protection for users 13 and older) and Gemini for Google Workspace inside Gmail, Docs and Slides, with Gemini Advanced for users over 18. A district policy has to cover both.
  • 02Guided Learning, the step-by-step mode inside Gemini, is the feature that bears most directly on the cheating-versus-learning question, and Fast Company noted it is similar to the Study mode OpenAI had announced in ChatGPT the week before.
  • 03The sharper question for a district tech lead is no longer whether students can reach a chatbot; it is which mode they land in and who is standing behind them the first time.

Sep 17, 2026

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is the first model to hit its 'Critical' cyber threshold

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is the first model to hit its 'Critical' cyber threshold

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-6 Astra and says it is the first model to reach the "Critical" cybersecurity tier of its Preparedness Framework, Campus Technology reported Sept. 10. The label is the vendor's own. Campus and district IT leaders now weigh it alongside Microsoft's legally enforceable AI data protections, open to all districts Nov. 1.

  • 01A frontier vendor is now publishing its own capability tier alongside a broadly deployed release, which gives procurement a sharper question to ask every AI supplier: which tier, and what mitigations come with it.
  • 02Microsoft's legally enforceable student and teacher data protections open to every U.S. district on Nov. 1, a concrete reference point for anyone negotiating AI contract terms with other vendors this fall.
  • 03OpenAI's Navier-Stokes claim and Anthropic's formal-proof work are, as reported, vendor claims; independent verification is the signal that would turn either into a result.

Sep 16, 2026

Morgan State won Maryland's first public AI degree in months by building it first

Morgan State won Maryland's first public AI degree in months by building it first

Morgan State University launched Maryland's first public AI bachelor's degree by converting an existing cloud computing program into a full AI curriculum, completing the regulatory approval in months rather than years. The program prioritizes foundational computer science alongside AI-specific coursework and hands-on reinforcement learning projects, positioning graduates to design and extend AI models rather than simply use them.

  • 01Morgan State built 18 AI courses and embedded 8 completed projects into the curriculum before formally proposing the degree, enabling regulatory approval in days once evidence of the running program was presented.
  • 02Every student learns classical programming and data structures first, then progresses through problem-based courses scaled by difficulty level, culminating in a capstone with no lectures where the instructor acts as support.
  • 03The program emphasizes reasoning grounded in reinforcement learning and the Markov decision process rather than statistical analysis alone, preparing students to extend AI models and control technology instead of being directed by it.

Sep 16, 2026

Explore More Education Technology Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Education Technology.

Browse Education Technology Hub

About the Experts

Kevin Dougherty
Kevin Dougherty

Chief Marketing Officer

NeuraPoints, Inc.

Kevin Dougherty is the Chief Marketing Officer of NeuraPoints, Inc. and the host of the Just Thinking... podcast. He has spent the past 40 years as an educator and serving educators. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Kevin earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Multicultural Education. He later earned a Master of Education Degree in Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell. Kevin was a classroom teacher for ten years in the Dallas, Boston, and Houston areas. He then served as an assistant principal/principal of Title I/Bilingual campuses in Fort Bend ISD and Irving ISD. For the past 22 years, Kevin has been serving educators throughout Texas and the nation in various roles supporting sales/marketing, professional learning, and overall company strategy. He has been married to his wife, Michelle, for 33 years. They have two grown children who both live in the DFW area.

BS
Brett Salakas

Author and HP Education Ambassador

HP

Brett Salakas is a leading Australian education leader known for founding Aussie Ed, the largest online network of teachers in Australia. He is recognized as a top influencer in education and promotes innovative digital practices.

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Education Technology and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512