Pupils across Scotland are to benefit from a project led by a Scottish university to improve understanding of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
The Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen has received funding to design a new series of its digital skills project, Maddie Is Online, about a fictitious pre-teen girl who experiences trouble in the online world.
It will aim to teach schoolchildren aged nine to 12 how to use GenAI - a type of AI that can create new content, like text, images, videos or music - responsibly.
As part of the project, the RGU team will work with pupils and school librarians across Scotland to create the online-safety programme focused on AI.
School librarians’ ‘duty’ to teach about AI
One of those involved in the project is Ioannis Panayiotakis, a school librarian from Eastwood High School in East Renfrewshire.
“School librarians have always been the guardians of information integrity,” he said. “It is now their duty and privilege to educate students on how to effectively use this new tool that will transform our world.”
Emma Grey, a school librarian at Forfar Academy, who is also involved in the project, said it was essential to educate young people “not only about the dangers of misinformation but also about the exciting possibilities that come with AI”.
Six projects across the UK have been awarded a share of £500,000 in funding from Responsible AI UK, a consortium of experts from universities working to create trustworthy artificial intelligence.
The RGU team will develop the Maddie Is Online programme and co-create, with secondary students, a series of educational resources on GenAI skills in schools, to help explore its responsible use.
As part of the project, the team will produce an open educational toolkit with resources on GenAI academic integrity, information literacy and critical-thinking skills in schools, which they will share with pupils via school workshops.
The project will also produce resources to help teachers integrate AI into the curriculum and tools to ensure students become more aware of the limitations of AI.
‘Vital’ to help pupils navigate AI
RGU project lead Dr Konstantina Martzoukou said the goal was to “co-create an interesting and fun set of resources to enhance young people’s understanding of generative artificial intelligence”.
She added: “Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming integral to our everyday lives, and it is vital that we equip young people, and the wider community, with the skills to navigate AI.”
Dr Pascal Ezenkwu, a lecturer in the RGU school of computing, engineering and technology, said the project would help young people “understand how to responsibly leverage Gen AI” while “being aware of some of the risk factors, and why the human element in the use of AI will ever remain crucial”.
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