Generative Artificial Skills in Schools

Children are spending more time online than ever before which offers limitless opportunities, however, with opportunity comes risk. The risks of cyber bullying, exposure to hate and violence, the threat of sexual exploitation and abuse. School and public health nurses have a crucial role to play in safeguarding children, through promotion of safe use of the internet and preventing harm. This webinar introduced participants to co-produced educational resources aimed to equip children and young people with the knowledge and skills to keep safe online.

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There is a charge of £5.00 to non-members.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Bio: Dr Konstantina Martzoukou is Associate Professor and Course Leader (MSc Information and Library Studies) at the Robert Gordon University (School of Law and Social Sciences), Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Expert on Digital Literacies with OneHe and Editor of the journal of Web Librarianship (Taylor and Francis). Her research interests encompass information and digital literacy, information seeking behaviour and online learning. Currently, she is working on co-creation research projects that centre on the development of students' information and digital literacy within schools and Higher Education.

Website: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/person/72605/konstantina-martzoukou

Generative Artificial Skills in Schools: “…it's a little bit creepy, it's listening to you, it's listening to your conversations”

Description of the talk: 'Generative Artificial Skills in Schools' (GenAISiS) project, funded by Responsible AI UK, aims to explore the responsible use of GenAI and advance the development of media and information literacy skills in young learners, as a key pillar for the education of a democratic citizenship based on critical thinking and values of equality. Children and young people make up a significant portion of active internet users globally, with growing numbers connecting online at a younger age, already using popular GenAI tools for various purposes, including entertainment, creativity, and academic tasks. In 2024, the National Literacy Trust, surveyed more than 15,000 young people, aged 13 and 18 and found that three quarters of children aged 8 to 13 had already used generative AI, despite being intended for children who are at least 13 years old.

Partnering with secondary school students, the project aims to co-create open educational resources, articulating student voice and enacting student experience via fictitious characters and cartoon video stories. An open educational toolkit with resources on GenAI issues related to data privacy and safety, ethical awareness and responsible use, prompt engineering, information literacy, bias, misrepresentation and responsible use, transparency and accountability will be widely disseminated via open workshops. GenAISiS aims to offer a transformative pedagogical approach, raising public awareness, promoting equity and amplifying the student voice. The project contributes to the pressing need to equip children and young people with key Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills related to GenAI, aligning with the United Nations' ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (UNCRC) (1989). That involves an understanding of how AI collects and processes data and how to critically and safely engage with AI-powered platforms, recognising privacy risks and following ethical AI use without compromising privacy and personal data.