31 May 2024
Nord Anglia Education has unveiled significant insights on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and metacognitive strategies within their educational institutions, featured in their latest global publication, INSIGHTS.
At Nord Anglia’s British International School in Kuala Lumpur, AI technology has been harnessed to create an AI-powered teaching assistant. This assistant personalises learning, guides students through content exploration, and deepens understanding through interactive activities. Students define the topics and course specifications, and the AI facilitates a conversational exploration of the content, allowing for real-time questions and answers. Dr. Bruce Geddes, Deputy Head of Secondary at the school, emphasised AI’s transformative potential, stating, “AI represents the biggest opportunity we’ve had in our lifetimes, for many, many spheres, but particularly in education.”
In New York, Avenues: The World School integrates AI into student projects, such as using ChatGPT for app development. Students generate most of the coding through AI, then review and refine it. Lia Muschellack, Director of Technology at the school, highlighted the efficiency gained, noting that “hours of manual work [is saved] by leveraging the appropriate tool in an academically appropriate way.” Additionally, the school’s generative AI chatbot, Savvy, powered by open AI technology since 2019, provides information, answers queries, and engages in diverse discussions.
Muschellack stressed the importance of AI familiarity for students, explaining, “We understand that our students will be actively leveraging these tools throughout their academic and professional pathways, so we want to make sure they not only understand the potentials and limitations but that they have tinkered and truly experienced them.”
Nord Anglia Education is also advancing its approach to metacognition, helping teachers introduce metacognitive strategies into classrooms. The organisation has developed a metacognitive framework of six “Learner Ambitions” aimed at fostering critical, creative, committed, and curious learners who work compassionately and collaboratively. This framework seeks to develop student agency, boost academic performance, and cultivate future skills desired by employers. Initially, this approach is being applied across 27 Nord Anglia schools globally, with its impact to be evaluated in an independent research partnership with Boston College, reporting in 2025.
In exploring personalised goals and thinking routines, Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong implements the “Step In, Step Out, Step Back” routine to nurture empathy and understanding in studies. Raquel Thomson, Deputy Head of Primary, highlighted the significance of asking profound questions, stating, “Thinking strategies like this stay with students and serve a purpose whatever they do in their lives, whether they choose to be a scientist or a teacher or to go into business.”
