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Connor’s Workshops

Build Your AI Literacy, Strategic Thinking & Teaching Capacity with Hands-On Workshops

Practical, hands-on AI workshops that teach the real tools, workflows, and reasoning strategies Connor uses to build products, solve problems, and lead AI adoption in schools.

Work With Connor McFadyen — Symbai’s Founder & Critical Thinking Specialist

Connor McFadyen is an educator, coach, and AI innovator who helps schools and organisations strengthen critical thinking, AI literacy, and assessment practice.

Why Connor?

  • Former classroom teacher who has experienced today’s real challenges first-hand

  • Founder of Symbai, the AI-powered platform improving reasoning and reducing teacher workload

  • Specialist at the intersection of pedagogy, reasoning, and human-centred AI

Problems Connor Helps Solve:

  • AI plagiarism & misuse — understanding the root causes and designing practical, ethical solutions (including those built into Symbai)

  • Student reasoning gaps — developing structures that build clear, evidence-based thinking

  • Teacher workload pressure — creating AI-supported workflows that reduce admin and free time for teaching

 

Learn More About Connor

Connor's Professional Learning Workshops

What you'll gain:
  • A clear understanding of which AI tools actually help teachers day to day
  • Practical workflows that reduce planning time, not increase it
  • Confidence using AI without fear of shortcuts, hallucinations, or overreliance
Icon of a purple-outlined hammer striking a nail held in a hand, representing practical AI use and hands-on learning.
Why this workshop:

Connor built Symbai — a complex AI platform — using AI tools himself, without formal training in computer science or business. This session cuts through noise and hype to show educators what genuinely works, what doesn’t, and how to use AI responsibly in real teaching contexts.

What you'll gain:
  • A healthier, more constructive way to talk about AI with staff and students
  • Practical strategies to shift from AI anxiety to informed experimentation
  • Tools to help teams identify strengths and grow capability together
Icon of three human figures standing above a supportive outstretched hand, representing the relationship between people and AI.
Why this workshop:

Rather than fuelling “AI doom culture,” Connor shows how AI can amplify human strengths when used intentionally. Drawing on his own journey, this session helps schools and organisations build a culture of confidence, curiosity, and growth around emerging technology.

What you'll gain:
  • A healthier, more constructive way to talk about AI with staff and students
  • Practical strategies to shift from AI anxiety to informed experimentation
  • Tools to help teams identify strengths and grow capability together
Calendar icon with a purple frame and blue date squares, representing planning and curriculum design.
Why this workshop:

Rather than fuelling “AI doom culture,” Connor shows how AI can amplify human strengths when used intentionally. Drawing on his own journey, this session helps schools and organisations build a culture of confidence, curiosity, and growth around emerging technology.

What you'll gain:
  • A clear, debate-informed framework for argument structure
  • Tools to help students organise ideas, clash arguments, and critique reasoning
  • A missing “architecture layer” that sits above PEEL, CER, or SEXY writing models
Icon of a red top box connected by purple lines to two blue boxes, representing structured critical thinking and argument mapping.
Why this workshop:

Most teachers already teach paragraph structure — yet students still struggle to argue well. This workshop introduces the thinking structure behind strong arguments, drawn from formal debate and mooting, so students learn how ideas connect, clash, and strengthen.

Workshop Pricing

Half-Day Workshop

From $2,250 NZD

  • Designed for subject teams
  • Interactive, expert-led learning
  • Practical tools for AI literacy & reasoning
  • Clear frameworks ready for immediate use

Full-Day Workshop

From $3,800 NZD

  • Whole-staff or subject teams
  • Morning keynote-style session
  • Deep practical workshops in the afternoon
  • Practical tools for AI literacy & reasoning
  • Clear frameworks ready for immediate use

Available in-person or virtually (virtual rates reduced — enquire for details).

Workshop Pricing

Half-Day Workshop

From $2,250 NZD
  • Designed for subject teams
  • Interactive, expert-led learning
  • Practical tools for AI literacy & reasoning
  • Clear frameworks ready for immediate use

Full-Day
Workshop

From $3,800 NZD
  • Whole-staff or subject teams
  • Morning keynote-style session
  • Deep practical workshops in the afternoon
  • Practical tools for AI literacy & reasoning
  • Clear frameworks ready for immediate use

Available in-person or virtually (virtual rates reduced — enquire for details).

Ready to Build AI Confidence & Clearer Thinking in Your School?

Whether you’re just starting the conversation or ready to lock something in, I’ll help you find the right format for your staff or students — practical, grounded, and tailored to your context.

 

Start with one of the options below:
Make an Enquiry
Check availability / Hold a date
Call Me

Share a few details and I’ll recommend the most effective workshop format for your school or organisation.

View available dates and place a provisional booking.

Call me on +6421816544 for a quick, no-pressure conversation.

Looking for something other than a workshop?

Connor also offers AI consulting, curriculum support, and keynote talks for schools and organisations.

View All Services

Ready to Build AI Confidence & Clearer Thinking in Your School?

Whether you’re just starting the conversation or ready to lock something in, I’ll help you find the right format for your staff or students — practical, grounded, and tailored to your context.

 

Start with one of the options below:
Make an Enquiry

Share a few details and I’ll recommend the most effective workshop format for your school or organisation.

Check availability / Hold a date

View available dates and place a provisional booking.

Call Me

Call me on +6421816544 for a quick, no-pressure conversation.

Looking for something other than a workshop?

Connor also offers AI consulting, curriculum support, and keynote talks for schools and organisations.

View All Services

The Two Most Effective Ways to Improve Critical Thinking

Unified in Symbai

Debating

Hundreds of thousands of students across 60 countries choose to spend their free time in formal debating competitions because it improves their critical thinking skills. 

Formal debating improves:

  • Dynamic reasoning — adapting ideas under pressure

  • Strategic thought — anticipating and countering objections

  • Cognitive discipline — structuring arguments with clarity and purpose

Increases Critical Thinking By Up To 50%

Competitive debate produces greater critical thinking improvement than argumentation courses.
Allen et al. measured the improvement using the Watson–Glaser critical-thinking test — a gold-standard assessment of inference, deduction, and evaluation skills.”
Source

8.6% Critical Thinking Gains In Just 3 Weeks

Students who participated in debate competition showed statistically significant improvements in critical thinking scores after just three weeks.
An 8.6% improvement in critical thinking is the cognitive equivalent of dropping your resting heart rate from 70 to 64 BPM. That's not learning facts or techniques — that's developing lasting cognitive fitness.
Source

9 in 10 former debaters go on to earn at least one advanced degree.

Of 703 National Debate Tournament alumni, over 90% held a graduate or professional degree, and many held multiple advanced degrees.
Of the 703 former NDT debaters; 40% earned master’s degrees (MA, MSc, MBA, MEd, etc.), 20% earned doctoral degrees (PhD, MD, EdD) and many held multiple advanced or professional degrees.
Source
Argument Mapping

Argument mapping has been around for hundreds of years, used by philosophers, scientists, and modern critical-thinking educators to make critical thinking clearer by drawing it out.
 And for good reason: when done well, argument mapping is one of the most effective ways to improve critical thinking and develop sharper logical reasoning.

Argument mapping helps you:

  • Clarify reasoning by revealing the actual structure of your thinking
  • Expose weak links that get lost in normal prose
  • Build precision through visual logic rather than persuasive writing tricks
A simple argument map diagram showing a “Main Claim” at the top supported by a “Reason” and “Evidence,” along with an “Objection” connected to a counter-reason, illustrating the structure of logical argumentation.

Improves Critical Thinking Courses By Over 300%

Critical thinking courses that used argument mapping software saw students improve their critical thinking over 300% more than similar critical thinking courses.
Compared a standard logic class to one using argument mapping software. The mapping group made dramatically greater gains on a standardized critical thinking test, far exceeding typical semester improvements.
Source

One Semester Of Argument Mapping Produces 6-7x MORE Critical Thinking Gains Than One Semester Of Normal University Study

Semester-long CT courses using digital argument mapping consistently produced effect sizes of 0.7-0.85 on standardized critical thinking tests. By comparison, a typical university semester yields just 0.11
Source

9% Critical Thinking Gains In Just Weeks

Five weeks of an argument mapping-led course resulted in an average critical thinking gain of 9%
These gains were achieved with minimal explicit critical thinking teaching. The gains came from interactions with other students within argument mapping software.
Source

 

Debating develops the habits that critical thinking courses try to teach:

  • Dynamic reasoning — adapting ideas under pressure

  • Strategic thought — anticipating and countering objections

  • Cognitive discipline — structuring arguments with clarity and purpose

Increases Critical Thinking By Up To 50%

Competitive debate produces greater critical thinking improvement than argumentation courses.
Allen et al. measured the improvement using the Watson–Glaser critical-thinking test — a gold-standard assessment of inference, deduction, and evaluation skills.”
Source

8.6% Critical Thinking Gains In Just 3 Weeks

Students who participated in debate competition showed statistically significant improvements in critical thinking scores after just three weeks.
An 8.6% improvement in critical thinking is the cognitive equivalent of dropping your resting heart rate from 70 to 64 BPM. That's not learning facts or techniques — that's developing lasting cognitive fitness.
Source

9 in 10 former debaters go on to earn at least one advanced degree.

Of 703 National Debate Tournament alumni, over 90% held a graduate or professional degree, and many held multiple advanced degrees.
Of the 703 former NDT debaters; 40% earned master’s degrees (MA, MSc, MBA, MEd, etc.), 20% earned doctoral degrees (PhD, MD, EdD) and many held multiple advanced or professional degrees.
Source

If debating is the clash of ideas, argument mapping is the architecture that makes clear thinking possible.
 It’s the practice of breaking critical thinking into smaller parts — claims, evidence, objections, and assumptions — and arranging them so the logic becomes visible.

Argument mapping has been around for hundreds of years, used by philosophers, scientists, and modern critical-thinking educators to make critical thinking clearer by drawing it out.
 And for good reason: when done well, argument mapping is one of the most effective ways to improve critical thinking and develop sharper logical reasoning.

Argument mapping helps you:

  • Clarify reasoning by revealing the actual structure of your thinking

     

  • Expose weak links that get lost in normal prose

     

  • Build precision through visual logic rather than persuasive writing tricks

     

These benefits make it a powerful method for anyone looking to enhance critical thinking skills, improve decision-making, or analyze arguments more effectively.

But traditional argument mapping has limits:

  • Pen and paper mapping is slow and quickly becomes cluttered
  • Digital mapping tools speed things up but remain static
  • And because the map never talks back, even skilled thinkers can hit writer’s block when faced with a silent diagram