Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to foster 21st century skills in secondary education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to foster 21st century skills in secondary education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies that will transform our society, economy and jobs to a greater extent along the next decades. Some of the most known examples of AI application areas are driverless cars, chatbots, voice assistants, internet search engines, robot traders, etc. In the context of the project, age-appropriate tools and block-based programming environments will be used to provide an easy-to-use interface that provides AI cloud services as well as other AI functions that can scaffold students’ learning about AI.

Early education on Artificial Intelligence goes beyond computational thinking, it explores how computers sense, think, act, learn, make decisions, create, perceive, and make sense of things. Although early education on AI appears as a necessity, there is no rulebook for deploying artificial intelligence in schools. While several technical solutions and initiatives have been announced with promising results for personalised and creative learning and 21st century skill development (i.e. IBM’s Watson Education, Google Cloud Platform storage and more) how educational institutions leverage these tools is entirely up to them.

The Edu4AI project aims at wisely bringing AI-enhanced apps and artefact construction together through a methodology that draws upon the Maker Movement trend in education and project-based practices that can be applied in the class. The pilot studies will be carried out with approximately 25 teachers and 160 students (age 13+) from Germany, Greece, Spain and Italy. It is estimated that an additional number of 50 teachers and 100 students from associated partner sites and through the scheduled dissemination activities will benefit from the project. The Edu4AI project methodology includes 5 core phases:

1. Technical design
2. Pedagogical design
3. Teacher training
4. Pilot studies with students in Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain
5. Documentation of experiences and good practices

The 5 phases are not strictly linear. As a matter of fact they are interlinked and inform one another. The methodology draws upon the principle of iterative design; the feedback gained by the participant schools is used for the refinement and improvement of the AI Open Educational Resources (OERs). During the project implementation period OERs targeting both teachers and students in secondary school education will be developed. In addition, the project embraces the idea that there is no making if there is no sharing, thereby opportunities for sharing, especially online will be provided through a web-based platform. More precisely the following results are expected:

* Practical guidelines for teachers on how to implement the A.I. learning intervention with extensive reference both on good practices in AI in education and the pedagogical ideas that will be deployed.
* Technical tutorial for teachers with easy to grasp examples on several tools and technologies towards AI-enhanced apps and smart artefact creation.
* Handbook with projects that result in AI-enhanced apps and/or smart artefact creation. The handbook is enhanced with related OERs targeting the students (worksheets, videos, half-baked solutions).
* AI digital platform that will be easily accessible from almost everywhere and from any device (laptop, mobile, tablet). The platform will creatively adapt the e-learning and collaboration mechanisms to the purposes of the project.
* Guide with reference experiences and good practices.
* 3 training workshops for teachers.
* Pilot learning activities in schools.
* 4 multiplier events in Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.
* Dissemination and promotional material.

In overall the Edu4AI project aims to:

* Build an online community of teachers and students through a web-based platform to support and engage secondary school teachers & students into artificial intelligence projects.
* Support students in developing key competences and 21st century skills (problem solving, collaboration, critical, creative thinking and more).
* Plan and enact activities and workshops that promote teacher professional development and pedagogical change towards the integration of AI in school education.
* Create Open Educational Resources (OERs) that will become available online to support school community members (within and beyond the partnership) to apply the AI learning intervention.
* Establish synergies among schools, academia and industry towards creative and meaningful engagement in STEAM education.

The long-term goal of the Edu4AI project is to introduce AI in schools, democratising access to AI education and innovation development for all the learners which in turn will be a bold step towards equity in education. Students across the EU from every background should have the ability to build new products using innovative technologies and tools (such as AI ones) that could change lives around the world and this AI learning intervention can contribute to this goal.

Project Website

https://www.edu4ai.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 167670 Eur

Project Coordinator

IN2 DIGITAL INNOVATIONS GMBH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Col-legi Sant Roc
• ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION DE LA INDUSTRIA DEL JUGUETE CONEXAS Y AFINES
• 1 EPAL KORYDALLOY
• Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium
• FONDAZIONE MONDO DIGITALE
• EUROPAIKO ERGASTIRIO EKPAIDEFTIKIS TECHNOLOGIAS