Try our Open Educational Resources (OERs) to Explore Technology and AI Usage in Education

Why we need more than guidelines and checklists

Over the past years, societies have become increasingly aware of the many ethical risks and challenges of technology usage in educational contexts. As a response, we see growing numbers of digital competence frameworks or guidelines to support educators and students in navigating technologies and AI in socially and ethically responsible ways. However, such frameworks and guidelines tend to remain at a high level of abstraction and risk being interpreted as mere instruments of procedural compliance (‘ticking boxes’), rather than prompting intense ethical engagement. Also, educators feel overwhelmed with carrying most responsibility for making ‘ethical choices’ around technology and AI, while being confronted with technological opaqueness as well as lack of time and support. These problems were also clearly mirrored in our ETH-TECH Awareness Raising Sessions.

(Re)Focusing on the complexity, ambiguity and emotionality of technology and AI ethics

Guidelines and checklists detract our attention from the relational entanglement, ethical ambiguities, but also the deeply emotional nature (e.g., pride, anxiety, shame or curiosity) that characterize educators’ or students’ engagement with technology and AI in practice. In other words, ethical behavior cannot be ‘taught’ in the same way as any other method, but it can rather be described as a fragile and contested space of inquiry that must be cultivated, facilitated, and protected. And we need ‘mediation tools’ which support exactly this.

Towards an ongoing development of better educational futures: make the OERs your own and contribute to the community!

Importantly, the OERs presented on this page do not only foster the collective inquiry of technology and AI ethics. They also support users to imagine (‘What if…?’) and develop (‘We collectively agree that…’) concrete future visions and practices around technology and AI that specifically fit users’ context and concerns. In line with this idea, all OERs are modular and can be adapted and reworked according to various contexts. They can be used in higher education classrooms, particularly in educator education programs, as well as in professional or faculty development contexts (e.g., workshops; strategy development). Furthermore, each OER can be deployed independently or combined with others (or with your own resources/material). Through this fostering of open, adaptable and reusable OER practice, we invite educators and students to become part of a European community of explorers, carers and learners with regards to the imagination and realization of future ethical technology usage in education.