During Digital Learning Week at UNESCO from 8 to 11 September, the UNOE network created in collaboration with UNESCO and coordinated by ASSAI partner Nantes Université presented its initiative: Frictions or Non-Frictions? This participatory workshop aimed to encourage reflection on how teachers and pupils use AI, which also give rise to all sorts of dilemmas, in line with this year’s conference theme: Education in the Age of AI: Facts | Frictions | Frontiers,
The participatory workshop, focusing on assessment in education, was facilitated by 4 ASSAI partners who are also members of the UNOE network and contributed to the data collection for the ASSAI research activities. The workshop was organised in French, Spanish, Arabic and English enabling participants to express themselves in their native language.
The activity revolved around display boards illustrating points of friction on current issues encountered in the field of AI, such as:
- Suspicions of AI use without evidence
- Teachers using AI whilst pupils are banned from doing so
- Inequalities in the use of AI – paid versus free options
- AI and language learning
- Gender bias, for example in the marking of exam papers
These topics are presented in the form of questions, and the activity invites participants to choose one of the three opinions or answers provided.
Very often, as with any dilemma, none of the proposed solutions is entirely satisfactory. Participants therefore tend to choose, somewhat by default, the one that most closely matches their own thinking.
This leads to a discussion – often a very lively one – in which participants argue for their choice of answer or seek to understand the reasoning behind others’ choices.
Finally, participants who wish to do so are asked to change their choice or to write a fourth answer that better reflects their opinion.
The four sessions were a success, featuring lively discussions and debates. As the workshop was held in an open space as part of Digital Learning Week, many people stopped by ‘in passing’ and got involved, further enriching the discussions.
Thanks to Solenn Gillouard from Nantes Université for this article.