AI and digital education news and views
AI and the environment, AI literacy frameworks, what 8-17-year-olds are up to online, toddlers and tech, give it a try and much more...
What’s happening
We’re heading straight to the news and views, links and resources again this week - enjoy.
AI roundup
Why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment (perhaps)
We’ve previously covered the concerns around the environmental impact of developing and using AI tools so were intrigued to come across this ‘cheat sheet’ from Andy Masley investigating how much ChatGPT increases your personal environmental footprint and to what extent ChatGPT is harming the planet as a whole. He concludes that the numbers show that opposing AI on environmental grounds is “a pointless distraction for the climate movement”. We’ll follow this up in a future newsletter to highlight any critiques of Masley’s workings.
Google to roll out its AI chatbot to children under 13
Google has said it will make its Gemini chatbot available to children next week, and warned families in an email about the changes. Note the research from Common Sense Media we featured last week on the risks around AI companions for under 18s.
What makes a good AI literacy framework?
Another interesting blogpost from Doug Belshaw and the We Are Open Co-op in which he describes the work of the Responsible Innovation Centre for Public Media Futures (RIC), hosted by the BBC, on developing AI Literacy for 14 to 19 year olds. The team has classified and scored existing AI literacy frameworks, coming up with these criteria
Definition of AI – ensures everyone has the same starting point
Development process – adds transparency and credibility
Target audience – helps match the framework to its users
Real-world relevance – shows how ideas work in practice
AI safety and ethics – addresses both risks and responsible use
Skills and competencies listed – clarifies what learners should be able to do
Reputable source – increases trust in the framework
These are the frameworks which meet the criteria:
Artificial Intelligence in Education (Digital Promise)
AI Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Durable Framework for Higher Education (EDUCAUSE)
Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (European Commission)
Developing AI Literacy With People Who Have Low Or No Digital Skills (Good Things Foundation)
AI competency framework for students (UNESCO)
Duolingo goes AI first
Duolingo will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” according to CEO Luis von Ahn. Phil Hardman explores what this means for instructional design and explains that, “While AI excels at identifying what learners struggle with, human instructional designers remain essential for understanding why”.
AI’s effect on jobs and wages
Cold comfort for Duolingo’s contractors, but AI’s effect on jobs and wages is apparently not as bad as feared, says a new paper. Contrast with this from Forbes, which details all the large companies laying off staff because of a strategic shift to AI (and also covers the changes at Duolingo).
Three year timeline of AI
George Siemans has created a handy timeline of the developments in AI/LLMs that have happened in the past three years. It’s quite a lot…
Teaching about AI and data science
The Raspberry Pi 2025 seminar series will be looking at research in schools to identify what students should learn about AI, machine learning and data science, and the best ways to teach these critical topics. The next online seminar is on Tuesday 13 May, when Henriikka Vartiainen and Matti Tedre (University of Eastern Finland) introduce ‘Genai Teachable Machine’. This is an educational platform designed for students aged 10–16 to explore core AI concepts through making practical, hands-on applications. The talk describes the educational theory, pedagogical strategies, and classroom resources developed to support teachers. Sign up here to join.
And Raspberry Pi is teaming up with ParentZone, Google Deep Mind and the Google AI Campus in Camden, London, to run free training on AI in schools, in person or remote.
Quick links
UK government ministers hope a new GCSE results app will save £30m a year. Greater Manchester and the West Midlands combined authority areas will be the initial sites for piloting Education Record, an app that automatically gathers students' key information and exam results.
According to TES, 31% of schools in the poorest communities do not offer computer science at A level because of a lack of teachers trained in the subject, compared with just 11% of schools in the wealthiest areas.
‘The crux of all evil’: what happened to the first city that tried to ban smartphones for under-14s?
(Love him or loathe him) former schools minister Nick Gibb has been recruited as a strategic adviser by a company that sells pouches to lock away children’s phones. Interesting…
Thanks to Al Kingsley for sharing Carl Morris’ post about Hadley Freeman’s claim that edtech is like cigarettes. In her recent Times article We are letting schools poison our children Freeman writes that an “edtech obsession is crippling young minds” while enriching US firms.
Revealing Reality’s latest study of 8-17 year olds for Ofcom is fascinating and pretty depressing. Here’s the interactive summary and the full report.
A new paper is out from the Toddlers, Tech and Talk project led by Professor Karen Winter at QUB. It discusses findings in relation to very young children's protection, provision and participation rights in digital environments. Thanks to Rosie Flewitt.
The CILIP Data Protection Conference on 21 May is online and designed for anyone with a responsibility relating to the use of identifiable information and protection of personal data and will update delegates professional practice in GDPR, data privacy, compliance and regulation.
The DfE has published its draft statement of Strategic Priorities for Online Safety The strategic priorities are:
Safety by design: embed safety by design to deliver safe online experiences for all users but especially children, tackle violence against women and girls, and work towards ensuring that there are no safe havens for illegal content and activity, including fraud, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and illegal disinformation
We’re reading, listening…
ParentZone's TechShock podcast asks is tech destroying our attention spans?
In this episode, Vicki Shotbolt is joined by researcher, popular science author and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Utrecht University, Stefan Van der Stigchel, to discuss what research says about notions of tech and social media addiction.
The Skinny
There’s lots to delve into in Rose Luckin’s latest newsletter, The Skinny, including:
AI's growing presence in education
AI is easy, people are hard: culture is the real innovation
What the research says about self-directed learning and AI
Give it a try
Jasper 250
Thanks to Chris Unitt for sharing Jasper 250. Give it a try to make your own AI generated Wedgewood vase.
Connected Learning is by Sarah Horrocks and Michelle Pauli
Thanks so much for sharing my post! Would be interested in any critiques of my post that come along. I want to clarify that my post is specifically arguing that opposing chatbots specifically on environmental ground is a distraction, AI more broadly's definitely having an impact and deserves some careful thinking about its environmental effect!