About
The person behind Big Wella.
Sandy Robinson works on AI literacy and digital literacy in education. Designing programs, building platforms, writing, and speaking. K-12 focus, with cross-sector experience.
Why I know this
Built. Taught. Studied. Shared.
Designed and shipped
We wanted them to be the kind of thinkers who know how to interrogate any source and hold it to account.
Digital Research Hub
St Andrew's Anglican College. 30+ original courses, K-12 curriculum-mapped. Excellence Awardee for Best Use of Technology at the 2026 Australian Education Awards. Designed and built as the library specialist on the project.
VERIFY Framework
A thinking routine I designed for evaluating AI and information sources. In active practice at St Andrew's.
EPFL: Ethical Prompting Feedback Loop
A six-step reflective routine I designed for AI use. In active practice at St Andrew's.
Big Wella Apps
Four products for Australian classrooms. WellaCite and Well Read are live. BLACKOUT and Starlit Watercolour are in development.
Visit bigwella.comIn the room with students
AI Literacy Workshop Programme
In-class sessions on prompting and verification. Pre/post measurement of student work across the intervention.
40%
improvement in student AI prompt quality, pre to post.
Library reading sessions
Weekly reading sessions in the primary library. The same person who runs AI literacy workshops with Year 12 also reads picture books to Prep. That is what K–12 means in practice.
The thinking carries across. Picture-book questions become VERIFY questions. Curiosity now becomes interrogation later.
Kids Vibe Coding Hackathon
St Andrew’s Anglican College co-hosted with the Peregian Digital Hub at the first global site to participate in the Worldwide Kids Vibe Coding Hackathon. Nine kids aged 9 to 13 built their own websites, apps, and games in four hours using AI-assisted creation tools, following a design thinking process. Co-led with Larry Hay.
Within four hours, nine kids dreamed up, designed, and built their own website, app, or game using AI-assisted creation tools. Staff from St Andrew’s Anglican College including Sandy Robinson, along with mentors from the Hub’s AI Cadetship Program, provided support throughout the event.
Working alongside
A student moves from hand-drawn UI mockups to working prototypes during the Hackathon.
It was awesome, the kids really loved it. They were really engaged in writing better prompts. I think we can consider the presentation a huge success.
LOVE LOVE LOVE. I love the specific examples to their subject. Also that you’re driving home that this is a skill that helps them everywhere, not just in that one subject.
The reading behind the work
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Master of Science, Artificial Intelligence
University of Colorado Boulder · in progress, expected 2027
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Generative AI Strategic Leader
Vanderbilt University
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AI Essentials & Prompting Essentials
Google
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AI Ethics
Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute
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K-12 AI Pedagogy
Bond University
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Digital Literacy
University of Pennsylvania
View all credentials
Plus 24+ further certifications across AI safety, advanced prompt engineering, edtech research, instructional design, learning science, library and information science, and digital citizenship.
Bibliography
Built on a reading list that continues to evolve. AI ethics, educational theory, critical thinking, and inclusive design. The references underpinning the frameworks, the workshops, and the writing.
Current reading list available on request.
Where the work travels
Speaking
“AI as a Learner’s Apprentice: Building a Culture of Inquiry”
ISQ Teaching & Learning Showcase
See more talksWriting
Medium · January 2026 · 4 min read
Permission to Learn: Moving from Fear to Inquiry in AI Classrooms
A year of embedded observation in secondary classrooms. What I found: students treat curiosity like it carries a risk, and a teacher’s emotional stance toward AI shapes whether students use it as a thinking partner or a shortcut. Introduces VERIFY and EPFL as frameworks for moving from banning to teaching.
Read on MediumMore writing
Articles on AI literacy, ethics, frameworks, and what changes when one person inside a library starts building. Published on Medium and on this site.
All articlesPress
St Andrew’s Anglican College · May 2026
“St Andrew’s Recognised in National Education Awards”
Read the articleTech Business News Australia · May 2026
“St Andrew’s Anglican College’s Approach To AI Nationally Recognised”
Read the articleSt Andrew’s Anglican College · October 2025
“St Andrew’s Students Lead the Way in Literacy for the Age of AI”
Read the articleGet in touch
Want to talk?
Conferences, podcasts, articles, or a conversation about AI in classrooms. Media kit available on request. Different topics, same email.