Unlocking the Power of AI in Education MOOC: A Brief Summary

Publication date: May 24, 2023

The EU Code Week Unlocking the Power of AI in Education massive open online course (MOOC) was developed with the aim to provide teachers with a basic understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potentials and challenges in education. The course ran for 5,5 weeks, from 13 March – 19 April 2023, on the EUN Academy online platform.

Modules

The MOOC was organized in four modules with an estimated workload of 16 hours.

In the first module, entitled AI Implementation in education: From concept to classroom the participants were briefly introduced to the basic AI concepts. They were presented with various examples of how AI tools can be utilized in the classroom and had the opportunity to explore how these AI tools and technologies can enhance teaching and learning.

Module 2, Data-Driven Education: Best Practices and Challenges focused on the use of educational data and how it can support teaching and learning. One of the activities that attracted attention by the participants, was a survey about using escape rooms in the classroom. After responding to the survey, the participants analysed the data collected from the respondents, interpreted the collected data through visual, textual or tabular formats and provided recommendations on the use of escape rooms and shared insights gained from the collected data. More than 1,150 responses were submitted to the survey and more than 440 interpretations of the received results were made.

In Module 3, Impact of AI in Education: Ethical implications the aim was to understand the impact of AI, to raise awareness of AI benefits and potentials, to explore ethical implications of AI and to learn how to harness AI to enhance teaching and learning. The participants explored the concept of AI literacy, knowledge and skills required to understand, use and create AI technologies.

The focus of Module 4, What’s next in AI: The AI Journey was to explore emerging trends and developments in AI in education, to identify the potential future applications of AI to prepare students for a future with AI. The participants examined the substantial impact that AI already has on helping people with special needs to improve accessibility and inclusivity.

Live sessions

During the MOOC, three live sessions were organized. In the first webinar, a live chat Unlocking AI in European classrooms, EU Code Week leading teachers Margot Schubert, Guillermo Medrano and Hermann Morgenbesser showcased the use of AI tools and technologies in their classrooms. The second webinar, a live session, featured experts Lidija Kralj and Marco Neves,

who raised awareness of the ethics of AI and shared their expertise and ideas on how to use AI responsibly and safely for teaching, learning and assessment. In the fourth webinar with AI expert Johan Strömberg, the participants explored Fabella Creator, a no code authoring and programming tool to allow the use visual scripting in teaching.

Participants

The MOOC had 2523 registered participants from 96 countries, with the majority being secondary school teachers, female, and 36 years old or older. Of the 1937 participants who followed at least one course module, 950 completed the MOOC. To obtain the course certificate and badge, participants were required to develop and submit an AI Learning Activity and review three activities of other participants.

Course success

The MOOC was highly successful, with 100% of post-survey respondents1 rating the overall value of the course as “Good” or “Very good.”

[1] The data was collected via two surveys completed voluntarily before the course (pre-course survey with 866 responses) and after the course (post-course survey with 364 responses).

The high completion rate2 of 49% and the extremely high engagement rate3 of 77% throughout the MOOC provide evidence of its success. The participants reported that the MOOC was successful primarily because of the following:

the topic was highly relevant, especially after the emergence of ChatGPT and AI tools valuable for enhancing teaching, learning, and assessment and for reducing teacher workload.
the course structure was easy to follow, leading the participants from the basics of AI to more complex issues closely related to education and showed both the advantages and drawbacks of AI in education.
the course material was of high quality and the course was well-designed with relevant, comprehensive yet succinct theoretical background, current information, well-explained concepts, and easy-to-understand language.

the learning environment was highly enthusiastic and motivating. The MOOC was organised around the principle of peer learning, meaning that the participants learned from each other’s experiences, engaged in discussions with peers and participated in crowdsourcing to help build a collections of AI teaching magterials, such as AI resources for teachers. The course coordinators were readily available and responsive to all the participants’ questions. The live event guest speakers contributed to fostering a positive and inspiring learning environment.
the MOOC was very practical, with participants enjoying taking part in short and simple activities requiring no registration on Padlet, Tricider, Wakelet, and Mentimeter. Furthermore, many activities required participants to create something and show their creativity. Padlets were bursting with creative energy and enthusiasm for the participants’ postings.
the course activities were both meaningful and practical, allowing the participants to immediately implement them in the classroom. 97% of the post-course respondents indicated that they will use or have already used the ideas and examples presented in the course in their everyday work.

The participants evaluated their competence in teaching about artificial intelligence and their responses indicate a significant improvement. In the pre-course survey, only 7% of respondents considered themselves to have good knowledge about the topic and feel prepared to implement it in practice. However, after completing the course, the percentage increased to 31% of participants feeling ready to incorporate AI into their teaching.

Even though the course is now finished and it is no longer moderated, you can still sign up and explore the materials and resources, listen to the recordings of live events and implement interesting activities in your classroom.