"AI may change how learning happens, but it does not change why teaching matters": Key takeaways from Dr Deborah Lomax's AI panel discussion

On 25 May 2026, educators, students, industry leaders, and community members gathered at the Mt Roskill MP Office Public Meeting on AI to explore the opportunities and challenges artificial intelligence presents for education, employment, and society.

Hosted by MP Dr Carlos Cheung, the a-political event brought together voices from across the education and technology sectors to discuss the growing impact of AI and how organisations can adapt to an increasingly technology-enabled future. Among the invited panellists was Dr Deborah Lomax, Executive, Director of Academic Delivery at New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC), who shared insights into how future teachers can be prepared to engage with AI in ways that strengthen, rather than compromise, educational quality and integrity.

Drawing on nearly three decades of experience in education across New Zealand and internationally, Dr Deborah Lomax highlighted a key principle that underpins NZTC's approach to AI integration: technology should support learning and professional practice, but it should never replace human expertise, relationships, ethics, and critical thinking that sit at the heart of education.

Building Trust Through Transparency
As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible, educational institutions face an important challenge: maintaining trust and credibility while embracing new technologies.

For Dr Deborah Lomax, transparency is a crucial part of that conversation.
Rather than avoiding AI or treating it solely as a risk to academic integrity, NZTC's approach focuses on helping students understand how AI works, where it can add value, where its limitations lie, and how it can be used responsibly.
"Importantly, we positioned AI as a professional support tool - not a replacement for teacher expertise," Dr Lomax explained.

This philosophy recognises that AI is already influencing how people learn, work, and access information. The role of education, therefore, is not to ignore the technology but to equip students with the skills needed to engage with it critically and ethically.
By creating open conversations around AI use, educational institutions can foster greater transparency, strengthen trust with learners and whānau, and support informed decision-making in both academic and professional settings.

Moving Beyond AI Use to Critical AI Literacy
At NZTC, AI integration within tertiary education goes beyond teaching students how to use AI tools.

Students are encouraged to critically evaluate AI-generated content, question assumptions, identify bias, assess reliability, and make informed professional decisions.
Rather than focusing solely on detection and prevention, programmes at NZTC aims to develop critical AI literacy, helping students understand not only what AI can do, but also when, why, and whether it should be used.

This approach reflects a broader educational goal: encouraging learners to question, investigate, analyse, and think critically about the tools available to them.

As Dr Deborah Lomax explained throughout her presentation, meaningful learning is not achieved by accepting information at face value. Instead, it requires curiosity, reflection, and the ability to evaluate information critically, regardless of whether it comes from a textbook, a website, or an AI-generated response.

Keeping Aotearoa New Zealand Contexts at the Centre
Discussions about artificial intelligence cannot be separated from conversations about equity, inclusion, culture, and responsibility.

As part of NZTC's approach, students explore Māori data sovereignty, culturally responsive AI use, ownership of learner data, and the risks associated with algorithmic bias.

These conversations encourage students to think critically about whose perspectives are represented within AI systems and whose perspectives may be overlooked.
For Dr Deborah Lomax, preparing future educators for an AI-enabled world means ensuring technological innovation remains aligned with the values and responsibilities that underpin education in Aotearoa New Zealand.

By embedding these considerations into learning experiences, NZTC aims to support graduates who are not only technologically capable, but also culturally responsive and ethically informed.

From Passive Users to Critical Thinkers
One area that has resonated particularly strongly with students is prompt engineering.
While prompting is often viewed simply as a way to generate better AI responses, NZTC approaches it as an important aspect of digital literacy.

Students learn how effective prompts require clarity, context, critical evaluation, and continuous refinement. More importantly, they learn how to assess the quality of AI-generated outputs and challenge information where necessary.

This reflects a broader shift in mindset. Rather than becoming passive consumers of AI-generated information, students are encouraged to become active participants in the learning process: questioning, analysing, and refining what AI produces.
In this way, AI becomes a tool that supports critical thinking rather than replacing it.

Rethinking Assessment for the AI Era
As AI tools become more sophisticated, educational institutions are increasingly rethinking how assessments can maintain academic integrity while remaining relevant and authentic.

NZTC has responded by redesigning assessments to encourage responsible AI use rather than simply attempting to restrict it.

Students may be asked to generate an initial AI response to a complex educational problem, critically evaluate the output, refine it using course theory and professional judgement, and reflect on both the strengths and limitations of AI.

This approach shifts the focus away from whether AI has been used and towards how it has been used.

By grounding assessments in authentic classroom experiences and professional practice, students are challenged to demonstrate critical thinking, reflection, contextual understanding, and ethical decision-making in practice, capabilities that technology alone cannot provide.

Supporting Learning, Not Replacing It
Perhaps one of the strongest indicators of success has been the response from students themselves.

Reflecting on early programme feedback, Dr Deborah Lomax noted:
"What stood out to us was that students weren't describing AI as replacing learning. They were describing it as scaffolding access to learning. That distinction is really important."

For NZTC, this distinction reflects the purpose behind AI integration.

The objective is not to replace learning, teaching, or professional expertise. Instead, it is to help learners access knowledge more effectively, build confidence, deepen understanding, and engage with complex concepts in meaningful ways.

As conversations around artificial intelligence continue to evolve, Dr Deborah Lomax believes one principle should remain constant:
"AI should enhance - not replace – professional educational expertise."

Because while technology will undoubtedly continue to transform education, the purpose of teaching remains unchanged.

"AI may change how learning happens, but it does not change why teaching matters."