Interview 33: Gavin Doyle

AI in Irish Education: Reducing Workload, Personalising Learning and the Gaelige Hackathon

In this episode of “If I were the Minister for Education”, I interview Gavin Doyle, a Dublin secondary teacher and founder of Examinaite, about AI and technology in education. Gavin describes his path from teaching and high-level basketball to software development after time in San Francisco, and explains Examinaite’s aim to reduce teacher workload through a bank of 25,000 Leaving Cert past questions with AI-supported marking, feedback, progress tracking, and generation of new differentiated mock questions, with potential for printable resources. They discuss using AI to tailor learning to pupils’ interests, varying tech access in primary schools, and tools like NotebookLM and Claude for turning long texts into podcasts and creating engaging resources. They address concerns about AI cheating, limits of AI detection, assessment changes, and suggest more in-person exams, oral work, and teaching responsible, gradual AI use. Gavin also outlines “Craicathon”, a Gaeilge-focused hackathon at Dogpatch Labs with projects like Irish sign language translation, Irish-friendly venue maps with phrases, and an Irish-event rating app, and shares views on AI driving more personalised education and the importance of grit, resilience, and open-mindedness.

00:00 Welcome and Subscribe
00:47 Meet Gavin Doyle
01:51 Gavin’s Teaching and Tech Journey
04:15 AI for Teachers Explained
06:33 Cutting Admin and Corrections
07:41 Examinaite for Leaving Cert Prep
11:12 Primary Tech Reality Check
12:04 Personalised Learning and New Questions
16:13 AI Makes Coding Accessible
18:28 Irish Language Tech Hackathon
25:25 Creative Classroom AI Tools
26:35 AI for Learning Styles
27:09 NotebookLM Classroom Magic
28:02 Claude Quizzes and Websites
29:42 Cheating and Detection Limits
32:25 AI Proof Assessment Ideas
33:30 Teaching Responsible AI Use
35:15 Internet to AI Parallels
37:09 Personalisation and COVID Shift
38:30 Alpha School Future Model
42:23 Minister for Education Vision
44:36 Future Skills Grit Resilience
48:16 Wrap Up and Contact Info
49:34 Host Closing Reflections