A turning tide

2024 was the year the tide turned against smartphones. Across the world, parents, teachers, and governments highlighted the risks of excessive phone use among young people. In the UK, the ‘Smartphone Free Childhood’ movement emerged, quickly growing to 100,000 members who advocate for keeping smartphones away from children due to concerns about addiction, harmful content, and mental health. Jonathan Haidt’s global bestseller The Anxious Generation has further fuelled the movement, linking smartphone use to adolescent mental health issues and recommending phonefree schools. Meanwhile, countries including England, France, and Finland have urged schools to adopt strict phone bans, hoping to reduce classroom distractions and enhance student safety.

Despite widespread support, academic research on phone bans remains limited and inconclusive. Given this situation, computing educators are uniquely positioned to offer an alternative approach.

Evaluating evidence on phone bans 

The rapid spread of school smartphone bans is a straightforward response to complex issues around personal technology use in education. Teachers and parents frequently view phones as inherently disruptive, a perspective supported by studies that show phones can impair students’ focus and engagement in lessons. Concerns about cyberbullying and addiction contribute to this view, with many educators seeing bans as a practical solution to mitigate risks. Surveys in England reveal that nearly half of all secondary schools now enforce all-day bans. This trend was supported by teachers participating in my master’s degree research, who see these policies as necessary to reduce distractions and maintain control in the classroom. 

“Calls for outright bans may oversimplify the conversation.”

Yet calls for outright bans may oversimplify the conversation, limiting opportunities to examine both the benefits and the risks of smartphone use in schools. Evidence on the impact of phone restrictions is mixed: while some studies suggest restrictions may benefit learning, especially for students who struggle the most, others indicate no significant impact on academic outcomes. Additionally, recent findings show that cyberbullying is not directly linked to time spent online, with traditional bullying still more prevalent in schools. Even the narrative around smartphone addiction is contested, with some researchers suggesting that concerns about addiction may be overstated. And some schools do not have access to digital devices for learners and then smartphones may play a crucial role in teaching and learning digital literacy skills.

As the debate over smartphone bans continues, educators have an opportunity to move beyond restrictions and engage students in understanding the technology that shapes their lives. This is where computing educators can really make a difference. How can they guide students to understand why technology is designed to capture attention and what lies behind these design choices?

Understanding and questioning the design of technology 

School smartphone bans can feel like a hopeless act that suggests phones and social media are inherently incompatible with learning and student well-being. This approach assumes the only solution is to remove them, rather than considering how these technologies might be better managed or reimagined to support young people. What if, instead of banning phones, educators worked with students to explore why they are so captivating and how they could be designed differently? Computing educators can lead this exploration. With digital literacy as part of their curriculum, computing teachers can help students question the motives behind their devices, fostering a critical understanding of the forces shaping their digital world.

“With digital literacy as part of their curriculum, computing teachers can help students question the motives behind their devices, fostering a critical understanding of the forces shaping their digital world.”

At the heart of how social media platforms are designed is their business models. Tech companies rely on features such as notifications, autoplay, and infinite scrolling to maximise user engagement and revenue. This is part of what the writer Shoshana Zuboff calls “surveillance capitalism”, where companies gather vast amounts of behavioural data by keeping users engaged on their platforms for as long as possible.

In the classroom, educators can open discussions with students on the motives behind technology design, exploring questions such as why platforms want users to stay engaged, and what data they are collecting. Activities might include analysing popular apps to identify which features encourage prolonged use, or debating how social media could be designed to prioritise user wellbeing. By critically examining these design choices, students can better understand the forces driving their digital interactions and consider ways in which technology could be reimagined to serve them, rather than just profiting from them. 

Collaborative policymaking 

Once young people understand why phones and social media are designed the way they are, educators can work with students to create phone policies that reflect shared values and goals. This collaborative approach encourages students to take ownership of their technology use, and computing teachers, drawing on their knowledge of technology design and digital literacy, are ideally positioned to facilitate these discussions.

Research suggests that policies developed with student input are more effective, as they foster responsibility and engagement. By involving students in policymaking, educators can encourage them to consider how phones could support rather than hinder learning. For example, students might agree that phones should stay off during certain times, or in certain spaces, but that they might be useful in other scenarios where access benefits learning. This kind of flexibility ensures that phones are used thoughtfully, allowing for both practical boundaries and opportunities for educational use.

Critical skills for navigating the digital world

As debate around smartphone use in schools continues, academic research remains inconclusive on the effectiveness of phone bans. This uncertainty presents computing educators with an opportunity to move beyond restrictive policies and foster deeper understanding. By guiding students to explore why phones and social media are designed to capture attention, we can help to equip them with the critical skills needed to navigate their digital world thoughtfully. Involving students in crafting flexible, meaningful phone policies reinforces this understanding, giving them a sense of agency in shaping technology’s role in their lives.

Computing educators are uniquely positioned to empower students, not just as users, but as active challengers of technology design norms. Embracing a collaborative approach allows computing educators to inspire students to envision a future where technology genuinely serves their growth and their learning, rather than commercial interests.

More on digital literacy for young people

A version of this article appears in the newest issue of Hello World magazine, which is all about teaching digital literacy. Explore issue 26 and download your free PDF copy today.

You can also listen to our recent Hello World podcast episode discussing the myth of the ‘digital native’ and whether today’s young people are tech-savvy or tech-dependent.

The post Beyond phone bans: Empowering students to critically navigate and reimagine technology appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

It must be frustrating for teachers in this situation to see marketing campaigns from companies showing how their curriculum offering will use the very latest in robotics, AI, or media production, when the teachers’ reality is that they don’t have anything like the means or resources to deliver this. 

Fortunately there are approaches that can help. Below I outline some of the ways we are working with teachers to make the teaching of computing and digital literacy less resource-heavy and more accessible and equitable. 

Schools in Kenya: A case study 

Our work with Kenyan teachers has brought the access issue into sharp focus for us. We are currently developing free resources to deliver the Kenyan curriculum to schools in Mombasa and the Frontier Counties. There are big contrasts both between and within these two areas of the country. Some schools are well equipped with digital technology, while others have very little access to any computing devices; in these schools, smartphones play a crucial role.

With that in mind, the curriculum resources we develop suggest class activities that make the most of limited devices, such as the use of projected demonstrations. We also provide a step-by-step guide to computing tasks, with screenshots, to guide learners through the tasks conceptually. This ensures learners understand the process and can apply their new knowledge once they gain access to the necessary devices. 

We make these resources available online and in downloadable documents. This means the resources can be taken offline and taught in places without stable internet connection. We are also careful to limit file sizes, to make downloads more accessible. Wherever possible, our resources are device-agnostic, so that they can be accessed on a wide range of devices, including personal devices such as mobile phones.

As well as tailoring curriculum resources, we have also adapted our teacher training to make it more accessible for people with less experience of using computing devices. For example, during a recent project coaching community trainers in Mombasa, we emphasised activities that improve digital skills on various devices. This meant that when passing the training on to other teachers, the community trainers had a broader set of skills across a wider range of devices.

Unplugged activities

Even computing-specific concepts such as a programming construct can, to a degree, be taught with very limited access to devices. Unplugged activities, where no digital technology is required, can be used to introduce fundamental concepts such as sequencing and repetition.

For example, you can ask learners to recognise patterns in repeating sequences of colours and identify how to describe the sequences without repeating the colours many times. While it is good practice to link the learning from an unplugged activity back to a plugged activity, students will still benefit when that is not possible. 

Emulators 

There are also a significant number of devices which offer online emulator apps that mirror the functions of the physical device. Consider Bee-Bot floor robots, which can be relatively expensive to purchase and may get damaged in a classroom. If you don’t have the physical device, its emulator app provides a similar experience.

Similarly, the micro:bit, a versatile microcontroller for young people, can be emulated in the MakeCode programming environment, including all its buttons and sensors. There are also numerous emulators which enable you to make and test your own circuits using a variety of hardware platforms. 

What do you actually need? 

Sometimes it can be helpful to look up what devices you actually need — they might not be as expensive as you think. General-purpose, single-board computers such as Raspberry Pi can be bought new for less than £25, and more powerful models still under £50.

Similarly, microcontrollers such as Raspberry Pi Pico, micro:bit, or Crumble, range from about £5 to £20 per device. Accessories such as LEDs, jumper leads, motors, and buzzers are also reasonably priced. They can be a relatively low-cost entry into physical computing and robotics, especially if you pair them with craft materials or share devices between students.

Make the most of it 

However limited your access to devices is, I encourage you to:

• Look out for partners or solution providers that prioritise inclusivity and accessibility in their resources
• Consider whether you can make activities accessible on a wider range of devices and use what students may already have (check out the OctoStudio app for smartphones for example)
• Use unplugged activities, and relate them back to plugged devices when possible
• Look up devices which might be more affordable than you realised

If you have your own tips to share with fellow teachers, please comment below.

More on digital literacy

You can discover our free teacher training and classroom resources, and read about how we’ve integrated digital literacy in The Computing Curriculum.

A version of this article appears in the newest issue of Hello World magazine, which is all about digital literacy. Explore issue 26 and download your free PDF copy today.
You can also listen to our recent Hello World podcast episode exploring three teachers’ digital literacy tips for the classroom.

The post Teaching digital literacy without devices appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

For many teachers, at least in the UK, digital literacy meant booking a set of laptops (and hoping the last class had remembered to charge them) and ticking off history learning objectives by making a PowerPoint about Henry VIII’s wives. It became a bit of an afterthought. 

More recently, digital literacy seems to have been rebranded as ‘digital skills’, often framed as the capabilities young people need for the workplace of tomorrow. But I don’t think that tells the full story. 

Digital literacy beyond employability

Digital literacy isn’t just about employability; it’s about fairness and access. It’s about more than just learning to use spreadsheets (though my love for Excel remains strong); it’s about ensuring that all young people have the knowledge and confidence to navigate the digital world we live in today.

Digital literacy is about understanding the digital tools we rely on every day, securely accessing online services, making informed decisions about sharing personal information, and critically evaluating the endless stream of news and misinformation online. 

It’s also about artificial intelligence: not just playing with the latest tools, but understanding how they work, the biases built into them, and the ways they shape our lives.

True digital literacy empowers young people to engage with technology thoughtfully, critically, and confidently. And that’s something worth making space for. To truly ensure that young people have fair access to the digitally enabled world we live in, we must equip them with the skills to understand and use technology effectively. This means making space for digital literacy within the curriculum and ensuring that all teachers feel confident in delivering it.

Digital literacy as a core part of teaching

Every teacher has a role to play in helping students develop these essential skills. This requires high-quality curriculum resources that integrate digital tools meaningfully into different subjects, as well as comprehensive teacher training to ensure every educator feels empowered to teach digital literacy as part of their everyday practice. 

So, let’s not treat digital literacy like that forgotten box of tangled charging cables in the staffroom (important, but nobody is quite sure what to do with it). Instead, let’s make it a core part of teaching, just like reading, writing, and knowing how to keep a straight face when a student asks if they really need to save their work.

If we get this right, we’re not just preparing young people for the jobs of tomorrow, we’re making sure they can navigate today’s digital world safely, confidently, and with the critical thinking skills to tell fact from fiction (because let’s face it, the internet isn’t exactly short on absolute nonsense). 

Now, who’s up for making a PowerPoint about Henry VIII’s wives? 

More on digital literacy

You can discover our free teacher training and classroom resources, and read about how we’ve integrated digital literacy in The Computing Curriculum.

A version of this article appears in the newest issue of Hello World magazine, which is all about digital literacy. Explore issue 26 and download your free PDF copy today.

You can also listen to our recent Hello World podcast episode exploring three teachers’ digital literacy tips for the classroom.

The post What do we even mean by digital literacy? appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Are you looking to strengthen digital literacy in your classroom? In the latest episode of the Hello World podcast, three experienced teachers from the USA and the UK share practical tips they’ve used in their classrooms to help their students build digital literacy. Whether you’re just getting started with digital literacy or looking for new ideas, the episode is full of real-world advice you can apply straight away.

The episode also marks the launch of a new mini-series on the Hello World podcast focusing on digital literacy. Throughout the series, which totals three episodes, we’ll continue conversations that feature in the latest issue of the Hello World magazine, sharing expert insights and real-world examples from educators who are integrating digital literacy into their classrooms.

So tune in this week, then stay tuned!

Who features in this episode, and what will I learn?

We’ve got tips from three teachers whose articles feature in Hello World’s newest magazine issue.

Katie Dahlman from Bloomington, MN, USA

Get ready for some top tips from Katie Dahlman, a preschool teacher and Digital Learning Specialist in Bloomington Public Schools in Minnesota, USA. With over 16 years of experience as an early childhood educator, Katie has dedicated her time to developing engaging computer science (CS) lessons for young learners.

Katie believes that digital literacy starts with building foundational skills to prepare students for their roles as digital citizens. One of the tips Katie shares in the episode emphasises the importance of integrating computational thinking into the classroom: 

“My second tip for enhancing digital literacy in your classroom is to integrate computational thinking skills and vocabulary into your existing curriculum.”

Read Katie’s article ‘Tech tinkering and teamwork’ on pages 52–53 of Hello World, issue 26.

Curt Hitchens from Rock Spring, GA, USA

We also hear from Curt Hitchens, a computer science teacher at Saddle Ridge Elementary and Middle School in Rock Spring, Georgia, USA. Since 2018, Curt has been teaching computer science and now serves as a Virtual CS Specialist for the Georgia Department of Education.

Curt explains in the podcast that digital literacy is about equipping students with the necessary skills to use technology effectively in everyday situations and the workplace. He also shares an important tip for teachers, encouraging them to give students regular chances to engage in hands-on learning:

 “Make sure that you’re providing consistent opportunities for creation and exploration within your classes.”

Read Curt’s article ‘Computer science opportunities in rural schools’ on pages 46–47 of Issue 26.

Halima Bhayat, London, UK

The episode also features Halima Bhayat, the Head of Computing and Digital T Levels at Ursuline High School in London, UK. Halima is an Asian Women of Achievement 2021 Finalist, a digit<all> ambassador, an Amazon teacher, and the Computing at School Merton lead for all schools.

With a wealth of experience, she emphasises that digital literacy is more than about using technology — it’s about understanding how the digital world functions, how technology shapes our daily lives, and how it impacts individuals and communities.

One of Halima’s top tips for enhancing digital literacy in the classroom is to focus on touch typing. She believes that students should be equipped with fast and efficient typing skills, as so many tasks today are online.

“My first tip would be to get [your students] touch typing, get them to start becoming faster with their fingers on those keyboards, because lots of things have become online.”

Read Halima’s article ‘From switches to success’ on pages 76–77 of Issue 26.

Listen now

To hear more practical tips and discover what else our guest teachers have to say, listen to or watch the full episode here. 

We hope this episode inspires you and helps you to engage your students in computing. We’d love to hear your thoughts, your feedback, and any of your own tips on the topic of digital literacy in the comments section below.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

More to listen to next week

Next week, the podcast brings you an insightful conversation featuring Rachel Arthur, Chief Learning Officer at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Dr Jessica Hamer from King’s College London, and Becky Patel from Tech She Can.

They’ll discuss the current state of girls’ engagement in computing and explore ways to empower young women in computing at school, at university, and onwards into their careers.

You can watch, or listen, to each episode of our podcast on YouTube, or listen via your preferred audio streaming service, whether that’s Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. 

Subscribe to Hello World today to ensure you never miss a podcast episode or issue of the magazine.

The post How to bring digital literacy into your classroom: practical tips from the Hello World podcast appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

In this issue of Hello World, out today for free, we discuss what digital literacy means, how it is taught in different countries around the world, and how educators are rethinking digital literacy for their students and themselves.

Digital literacy

As the use of digital technology grows, a broader view of digital literacy is necessary. Digital literacy is more than knowing how to use software. It’s the ability to use digital technologies effectively, safely, and responsibly.

In Issue 26 of Hello World, we explore this topic in detail and hear insights from educators across the world, including:

• Becci Peters shares how Computing at School (CAS) in the UK is supporting digital literacy skills for students and educators
• Sourav Pattanayak discusses how digital literacy is defined in India, and the formal and informal ways educators are teaching digital literacy
• Sandra Hartman explores strategies for enhancing digital literacy in the US
• Gavin Davenport asks what would happen if we considered digital literacy in the same way as we consider traditional literacy

This issue also includes inspiring articles from the world of computer science education:

• Leah Dungay tells us about a programme combining physics, video games, and the Large Hadron Collider to engage young people in particle physics 
• Gina Fugate shares how digital accessibility enhances digital experiences for all
• Halima Bhayat shares her inspiring journey in computer science

And there is lots more for you to discover in issue 26.

New podcast series in audio and video

We’re also pleased to announce that the Hello World podcast has returned alongside the magazine with a miniseries also focused on digital literacy.

We asked for your thoughts on the podcast in our previous annual survey, and you kindly sent us lots of helpful feedback. Based on that, we’re trialling new episode formats, welcoming additional hosts, and bringing in more expert voices from around the world.

On Tuesday 15 April we’ll be releasing our first teacher tips episode, a shorter podcast with 3 teachers sharing practical, actionable tips for improving digital literacy in the classroom. 

The week after, Tuesday 22 April, you’ll be able to hear a brilliant conversation between the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s Chief Learning Officer, Rachel Arthur, and two special guests: Dr Jessica Hamer from King’s College London’s School of Education, Communication and Society, and Becky Patel from Tech She Can. They’ll be discussing the current state of girls’ engagement in computing — a wide-reaching and important conversation exploring how we can empower more girls in computing through school, university and their careers.

Then on Tuesday 29 April the final episode in the miniseries will be a panel debate about “digital natives” where we’ll be asking, ‘Are young people who grew up with technology around them truly tech-savvy, or are they dependent on digital tools without understanding how they work?’ James Robinson — Senior Learning Manager here at the Raspberry Pi Foundation and regular host of the podcast — will lead this discussion as global educators debate the myth of the “digital native,” uncover how it could overlook complex issues of access, skills, and education, and consider what it really takes to be tech-smart in the modern world.

More information and links to listen can be found inside the magazine.

Share your thoughts & subscribe to Hello World

We hope you enjoy this issue of Hello World, and please get in touch with your article ideas or what you would like to see in the magazine.

• Share your thoughts and ideas about Hello World and the new issue with us via the Raspberry PI Foundation social media channels
• Find out how you can write for the magazine

Subscribe to Hello World for free to never miss an issue.

The post Hello World #26 out now: Digital Literacy appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Last year, we had the opportunity to pedagogically test the new three resources on AI safety and see first-hand the transformative effect they have on teachers and students. Here’s what we found.

Romania struggles with the digital skills gap

To say the internet is ubiquitous in Romania is an understatement: Romania has one of the fastest internets in the world (11th place), an impressive mobile internet penetration (86% of the population), and Romania is leading Central and Eastern Europe in terms of percentage of population that is online (89% of the entire population). Unsurprisingly, most of Romania’s internet users are also social media users. 

When you combine that with recent national initiatives, such as

• The introduction of Information Technology and Informatics in the middle-school curriculum in 2017 as a compulsory subject
• A Digital Agenda as a national strategy since 2015 
• Allocation of over 20% of its most recent National Recovery and Resilience Fund for digital transition

one might expect a similar lead in digital skills, both basic and advanced.

But only 28% of the population, well below the 56% EU average, and just 47% of young people between 16 and 24 have basic digital skills — the lowest percentage in the European Union. 

Findings from the latest International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS, 2023)  underscore the urgent need to improve young people’s digital skills. Just 4% of students in Romania were scored at level 3 of 4, meaning they can demonstrate the capacity to work independently when using computers as information gathering and management tools, and are able, for example, to recognise that the credibility of web‐based information can be influenced by the identity, expertise, and motives of the people who create, publish, and share it.

Furthermore, 33% of students were assessed as level 1, while a further 40% of students did not even reach the minimum level set out in the ICILS, which means that they are unable to demonstrate even basic operational skills with computers or an understanding of computers as tools for completing simple tasks. For example, they can’t use computers to perform routine research and communication tasks under explicit instruction, and can’t manage simple content creation, such as entering text or images into pre‐existing templates.

Why we wanted to pilot the Experience AI safety resources

Add AI — and particularly generative AI — to this mix, and it spells huge trouble for educational systems unprepared for the fast rate of AI adoption by their students. Teachers need to be given the right pedagogical tools and support to address these new disruptions and the AI-related challenges that are adding to the existing post-pandemic ones.

This is why we at Asociația Techsoup have been enthusiastically supporting Romanian teachers to deliver the Experience AI curriculum created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind. We have found it to be the best pedagogical support that prepares students to fully understand AI and to learn how to use machine learning to solve real-world problems.

Testing the resources

Last year, we had the opportunity to pedagogically test the new three resources on AI Safety and see first-hand the transformative effect they have on teachers and students.

We worked closely with 8 computer science teachers in 8 Romanian schools from rural and small urban areas, reaching approximately 340 students between the ages of 13 and 18.

Before the teachers used the resources in the classroom, we worked with them in online community meetings and one-to-one phone conversations to help them review the available lesson plans, videos, and activity guides, to familiarise themselves with the structure, and to plan how to adapt the sessions to their classroom context. 

In December 2024, the teachers delivered the resources to their students. They guided students through key topics in AI safety, including understanding how to protect their data, critically evaluating data to spot fake news, and how to use AI tools responsibly. Each session incorporated a dynamic mix of teaching methods, including short videos and presentations delivering core messages, unplugged activities to reinforce understanding, and structured discussions to encourage critical thinking and reflection. 

Gathering feedback from users

We then interviewed all the teachers to understand their challenges in delivering such a new curriculum and we also observed two of the lessons. We took time to discuss with students and gather in-depth feedback on their learning experiences, perspectives on AI safety, and their overall engagement with the activities, in focus groups and surveys.

Feedback gathered in this pilot was then incorporated into the resources and recommendations given to teachers as part of the AI safety materials.

Teachers’ perspectives on the resources

It became obvious quite fast for both us and our teachers that the AI safety resources cover a growing and unaddressed need: to prepare our students for the ubiquitous presence of AI tools, which are on the road to becoming as ubiquitous as the internet itself.

Teachers evaluated the resources as very effective, giving them the opportunity to have authentic and meaningful conversations with their students about the world we live in. The format of the lessons was engaging — one of the teachers was so enthusiastic that she actually managed to keep students away from their phones for the whole lesson. 

They also appreciated the pedagogical quality of the resources, especially the fact that everything is ready to use in class and that they could access them for free. In interviews, they also appreciated that they themselves also learnt a lot from the lessons:

“For me it was a wake-up call. I was living in my bubble, in which I don’t really use these tools that much. But the world we live in is no longer the world I knew. … So such a lesson also helps us to learn and to discover the children in another context, – Carmen Melinte, a computer science teacher at the Colegiul Național Grigore Moisil in the small city of Onești, in north-east Romania, one of the EU regions with the greatest poverty risk.

What our students think about the resources

Students enjoyed discussing real-world scenarios and admitted that they don’t really have adults around whom they can talk to about the AI tools they use. They appreciated the interactive activities where they worked in pairs or groups and the games where they pretended to be creators of AI apps, thinking about safety features they could implement:

“I had never questioned AI, as long as it did my homework,” said one student in our focus groups, where the majority of students admitted that they are already using large language models (LLMs) for most of their homework.

“I really liked that I found out what is behind that ‘Accept all’ and now I think twice before giving my data,” – Student at the end of the ‘Your data and AI’ activities.

“Activities put me in a situation where I had to think from the other person’s shoes and think twice before sharing my personal data,” commented another student.

Good starting point

This is a good first step: there is an acute need for conversations between young people and adults around AI tools, how to think about them critically, and how to use them safely. School is the right place to start these conversations and activities, as teachers are still trusted by most Romanian students to help them understand the world.

But to be able to do that, we need to be serious about equipping teachers with pedagogically sound resources that they can use in class, as well as training them, supporting them, and making sure that most of their time is dedicated to teaching, and not administration. It might seem a slow process, but it is the best way to help our students become responsible, ethical and accountable digital citizens.

We are deeply grateful to the brave, passionate teachers in our community who gave the AI safety resources a try and of course to our partners at the Raspberry Pi Foundation for giving us the opportunity to lead this pilot.

If you are a teacher anywhere in the world, give them a try today to celebrate Safer Internet Day: rpf.io/aisafetyromania

The post Teaching AI safety: Lessons from Romanian educators appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

A key aspect of this is understanding ‘explainability’ in AI and machine learning (ML) systems. The explainability of a model is how easy it is to ‘explain’ how a particular output was generated. Imagine having a job application rejected by an AI model, or facial recognition technology failing to recognise you — you would want to know why.

Establishing standards for explainability is crucial. Otherwise we risk creating a world where decisions impacting our lives are made by opaque systems we don’t understand. Learning about explainability is key for students to develop digital literacy, enabling them to navigate the digital world with informed awareness and critical thinking.

Why AI explainability is important

AI models can have a significant impact on people’s lives in various ways. For instance, if a model determines a child’s exam results, parents and teachers would want to understand the reasoning behind it.

Artists might want to know if their creative works have been used to train a model and could be at risk of plagiarism. Likewise, coders will want to know if their code is being generated and used by others without their knowledge or consent. If you came across an AI-generated artwork that features a face resembling yours, it’s natural to want to understand how a photo of you was incorporated into the training data. 

Explainability is about accountability, transparency, and fairness, which are vital lessons for children as they grow up in an increasingly digital world.

There will also be instances where a model seems to be working for some people but is inaccurate for a certain demographic of users. This happened with Twitter’s (now X’s) face detection model in photos; the model didn’t work as well for people with darker skin tones, who found that it could not detect their faces as effectively as their lighter-skinned friends and family. Explainability allows us not only to understand but also to challenge the outputs of a model if they are found to be unfair.

In essence, explainability is about accountability, transparency, and fairness, which are vital lessons for children as they grow up in an increasingly digital world.

Routes to AI explainability

Some models, like decision trees, regression curves, and clustering, have an in-built level of explainability. There is a visual way to represent these models, so we can pretty accurately follow the logic implemented by the model to arrive at a particular output.

By teaching students about AI explainability, we are not only educating them about the workings of these technologies, but also teaching them to expect transparency as they grow to be future consumers or even developers of AI technology.

A decision tree works like a flowchart, and you can follow the conditions used to arrive at a prediction. Regression curves can be shown on a graph to understand why a particular piece of data was treated the way it was, although this wouldn’t give us insight into exactly why the curve was placed at that point. Clustering is a way of collecting similar pieces of data together to create groups (or clusters) with which we can interrogate the model to determine which characteristics were used to create the groupings.

However, the more powerful the model, the less explainable it tends to be. Neural networks, for instance, are notoriously hard to understand — even for their developers. The networks used to generate images or text can contain millions of nodes spread across thousands of layers. Trying to work out what any individual node or layer is doing to the data is extremely difficult.

Regardless of the complexity, it is still vital that developers find a way of providing essential information to anyone looking to use their models in an application or to a consumer who might be negatively impacted by the use of their model.

Model cards for AI models

One suggested strategy to add transparency to these models is using model cards. When you buy an item of food in a supermarket, you can look at the packaging and find all sorts of nutritional information, such as the ingredients, macronutrients, allergens they may contain, and recommended serving sizes. This information is there to help inform consumers about the choices they are making.

Model cards attempt to do the same thing for ML models, providing essential information to developers and users of a model so they can make informed choices about whether or not they want to use it.

Model cards include details such as the developer of the model, the training data used, the accuracy across diverse groups of people, and any limitations the developers uncovered in testing.

Model cards should be accessible to as many people as possible.

A real-world example of a model card is Google’s Face Detection model card. This details the model’s purpose, architecture, performance across various demographics, and any known limitations of their model. This information helps developers who might want to use the model to assess whether it is fit for their purpose.

Transparency and accountability in AI

As the world settles into the new reality of having the amazing power of AI models at our disposal for almost any task, we must teach young people about the importance of transparency and responsibility. 

As a society, we need to have hard discussions about where and when we are comfortable implementing models and the consequences they might have for different groups of people. By teaching students about explainability, we are not only educating them about the workings of these technologies, but also teaching them to expect transparency as they grow to be future consumers or even developers of AI technology.

Most importantly, model cards should be accessible to as many people as possible — taking this information and presenting it in a clear and understandable way. Model cards are a great way for you to show your students what information is important for people to know about an AI model and why they might want to know it. Model cards can help students understand the importance of transparency and accountability in AI.  

This article also appears in issue 22 of Hello World, which is all about teaching and AI. Download your free PDF copy now.

If you’re an educator, you can use our free Experience AI Lessons to teach your learners the basics of how AI works, whatever your subject area.

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