This CS Ed Week, AI4ALL Open Learning speaks to the Educators Behind the Movement
The Open Learning curriculum empowers teachers of all subjects to bring AI education to their students and classrooms.
AI is a fast-growing field that is already impacting your students’ lives. With AI4ALL Open Learning, you can get your students started on the pathway to shape this technology. AI education goes beyond an interest in computer science and technology — it can be applied to any field and has the potential to be a powerful tool for social good. AI4ALL Open Learning provides teachers with a curriculum to teach AI and gives students the opportunity to contribute to the field of AI and beyond, through critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and consideration of social impacts.
AI4ALL Open Learning empowers high school teachers to bring AI education to their classrooms through a free, adaptable AI curriculum. The curriculum is written for high school classrooms and can be implemented in any subject–English, Social Studies, Computer Science, Career Technical Education, or other classes. All curriculum is approachable for people without programming backgrounds. Learn more from the teachers using our curriculum and join the community at bit.ly/OpenLearningTeachers.
Melvin Anderson, Program Manager, ExploreSkillz, Washington, D.C.
“We work with youth from marginalized/ HUD communities. Our students lack the exposure and tools required for AI learning. Simply providing access along with the association to individual sectors will provide the edge needed to capture student attention.”
Why did you decide to bring Open Learning to your students?
Having the ability to deploy a curriculum that does not require a technical background for instructors was important to the success of our project. Our target audience lacks the exposure and tools required for AI learning. Simply providing access, along with the association to individual sectors — fashion, movies, tech — exposing students to opportunities for economic mobility in sectors they’re already interested in, is the edge needed to capture student attention.
What would you like your students to take away from their Open Learning class?
A clear understanding of the fundamentals of AI, along with the ability to connect AI to their daily activities.
Cyndy Lilagan, Computer Science Teacher, Jones College Prep High School, Chicago, IL
“The “Bytes of AI” modules are short units used to introduce AI within our students’ potential fields of study. The material is culturally relevant, engaging, and interesting.”
Please describe your experiences with Open Learning.
I have used “Bytes of AI” for the last two years. The modules used in class were AI & the Environment, AI & Drawing, and AI & COVID-19. The students create portfolios by synthesizing the Bytes of AI material into infographics, slide presentations, and websites with Google Drawing, Google Slides, and Google Sites.
For independent study, students additionally chose: AI & Dance and AI & the Criminal Legal System. Many students benefit from an AI education since they do not realize that computers are interwoven into every field of study with AI, extending the possibilities of how our problems will be solved in the future.
What would you like your students to take away from their Open Learning class?
I hope my students take away an interest in learning more about how artificial intelligence works and how it can be used in their future fields of study.
Seyit Tumturk, Educational Facilitator, Ulnooweg Education Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia
“Coming in with a fresh perspective to the industry, UEC expects to have students understand the role of AI today and learn the fundamentals of AI to be able to put their knowledge to practice in real life.”
Why did you decide to bring Open Learning to your students?
As the name AI4ALL implies, we wanted to bring a simplified approach to teaching AI given the low numeracy skills of our audience, so that every student can understand and learn. Additionally, to be able to teach AI from non-traditional subject matters of interest further engages youth that may otherwise shy away from STEM fields.
How do you see your students benefiting from AI education?
Indigenous students and their culture, at its core, have insightful and creative ways of thinking about the world. Being confident with powerful technology like AI will benefit students both in their academic life and careers, but. also open up doors to create and implement AI solutions for their own communities.
Ariel Cintron-Arias, Associate Professor of Mathematics & Statistics, Eastern Tennessee State University
“My decision to adopt Open Learning was influenced by the accessibility of the technology tools across devices. The tools that accompany the lessons are web-based apps that are free and easy to use.”
Please describe your experiences with Open Learning.
This Fall 2021, I have been using materials from Open Learning in two undergraduate courses (Linear Algebra and Mathematical Modeling) and one community club (a mixture of undergraduate students, graduate students, and high school teachers). In Linear Algebra, I used subsets of the lessons for Natural Language Processing. In Mathematical Modeling, I used lessons from Bytes of AI and Explore AI. In the community club, I employed a 10-hour sequence where most of the content came from Bytes of AI. The response from all my learners has been extremely positive.
How do you see your students benefiting from AI education?
Currently, the undergraduate mathematics curriculum at East Tennessee State University does not include AI. When undergraduate students gain early exposure to machine learning or natural language processing, they may walk away after graduation with more precise professional goals. The clarity and intuition they develop from an AI education will become building blocks for career pathways with 21st-century skills.
Do you have any advice for other educators thinking about teaching AI with Open Learning? What resources did you find most helpful?
Having coding skills in a language like Python or R is not a prerequisite. Using the Open Learning materials as a learner first is a great step before doing so as a teacher.
About AI4ALL Open Learning
AI4ALL Open Learning offers two free membership options, Trailblazer Membership, for individual educators, and Activator Membership, for schools, districts, and organizations with 10+ educators serving high school populations in which greater than 80% of students have been historically excluded from the field of AI.
Learn more about the available membership options, and let us know which option is best for your classroom! Membership options are available to high school educators in North America.
Open Learning curriculum aligns with NGSS Engineering, ISTE, Common Core Language Standards; Open Learning curriculum maps to CSTA standards. For information on how specific Bytes or curriculum modules align with various standards, see the teacher guides for each Byte or curriculum module.
