Meet Lumen
A school-safe AI learning environment built specifically for this course. Not a general-purpose chatbot, a classroom tool designed to help students understand how AI actually works, safely and in context.
Try LumenAn AI chatbot students actually learn from
Most AI tools weren’t built for the classroom. Lumen was. It gives students direct, hands-on experience with AI — interacting with a real language model, generating images, comparing model outputs — without the risks that come with open-ended commercial tools.
Every activity in Lumen is integrated with the course. Students aren’t just using AI; they’re using it to understand AI.
What students do with it
Interact with a real large language model through pre-defined, scaffolded prompts
Generate images with AI models and identify any mistakes
Navigate branching prompt sequences to understand how context and follow-up shape AI responses
Upload pre-approved files for analysis within specific guided activities
Compare essays and responses written by GPT, Gemini, and Grok, side by side
See it in action
These are real activities from the course, the kind of thing your students will do in Lumen during class. Each one is designed to spark a discussion, not just produce an output.
Lesson 1 · What is AI?
The Turing Test activity
Students ask Lumen a question, then decide: was that response AI or human? A simple activity that opens up a big conversation about what intelligence actually means.
Instructions:
- Do this activity with a partner — you are going to guess whether your partner is answering your question or if they are reading off a chatbot’s reply instead!
- Ask each other a question and decide whether to answer yourself, or give them Lumen’s answer:
- Pineapple on pizza? Yes or no and why?
- What’s a better superpower: invisibility or flying and why?
- What is a silly name for a baby?
- What’s the most annoying sound in the world and why?
- Can you tell whether it was a real answer or AI?
Lesson 3 · Trust and AI
Traffic crossing image activity
Students will get Lumen to generate a really specific image of a traffic crossing with lots of fine details and identify any mistakes they see in the image.
Instructions:
- Using Lumen, generate an image of a traffic crossing including really specific details in the prompt like: four children, two wearing bike helmets, a stop sign and a red car parked behind a white line.
- Check that the image contains all the specific details in the prompt.
- Now think about why Lumen made those mistakes. Is it because Lumen doesn't understand how a traffic crossing works?
How Lumen works
Rather than letting students type anything they like, Lumen guides them through structured prompt sequences. Each step is pre-defined and intentional — designed to build understanding, not distraction.
Students choose from a set of pre-approved options at each step. The sequence branches based on their choice, giving a sense of how follow-up prompts shape AI responses — without opening the floor to off-task or inappropriate use.
This makes Lumen genuinely interactive, while keeping every interaction within bounds that work for a classroom.
Built with school policies in mind
Lumen was designed from the ground up for use in Australian schools. Here’s what your IT team and leadership need to know.
No student accounts or logins
Students access Lumen directly through the course platform. There is no account creation, no email required, and no personal data stored against a student profile.
All prompts are pre-approved and guardrailed
Students cannot type freely into Lumen. Every prompt is pre-defined by TFA and reviewed for age-appropriateness. Additional guardrails are in place to prevent inappropriate AI responses from being returned.
Australian-built and operated
Lumen is developed and operated by Tech Futures Australia. It is not a white-labelled version of a commercial AI product. For data handling and privacy questions, see our Privacy Policy, Terms and Platform & Account Terms.
Designed for focus, not free exploration
Lumen is not a general-purpose AI assistant. Students cannot use it for homework, unrelated tasks, or open-ended chat. Every interaction is scoped to the specific activity they’re completing in class.
What Lumen does NOT do
Allow free-form text input from students
Store or retain student conversations
Accept arbitrary file uploads
Allow students to access the open internet
Generate audio or video content
Operate outside the scope of the course activities
How teachers use Lumen in the classroom
Lumen activities are embedded in the flow of each lesson, not bolted on at the end.
They sit alongside videos, worksheets, and class discussions, with each Lumen activity followed by a reflection or group discussion led by the teacher.
We recommend teachers complete each Lumen activity themselves before the lesson. Not to become an AI expert — just to know what the students are about to experience, and to be ready for the conversation that follows.
Teacher slides include notes on what to watch for during each activity and how to facilitate the discussion afterward.
Pineapple on pizza and the Turing Test
Students use Lumen to generate an answer to a deliberately fun question: “Pineapple on pizza — and why?”
They then choose either Lumen’s response or their own, and verbally act it out while their partner guesses whether the response was AI or human-generated.
The debrief opens up a rich discussion about what the Turing test actually is, what it tells us about AI, and what it doesn’t.
Ready to bring Lumen into your classroom?
Lumen is available as part of Introduction to AI, free to all Australian schools from Term 4.