ith artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology on a sharp rise, an increasing number of AI–based applications impact learners’ daily activities and, consequently, their development and wellbeing. Despite the promising potential of AI, many educational challenges remain unaddressed primarily because the design of AI–based applications is typically driven by technological advancements rather than learners’ educational needs. Consequently, challenges such as equity and fairness in education remain unsolved. Global Citizenship Education (GCEd), the idea of empowering learners to assume active roles both locally and globally in building more peaceful, inclusive, and secure societies, is a prime example of an area with challenges that could benefit from AI–based solutions.
This begs the question: What are the main challenges of GCEd that can be addressed with AI–based solutions, and what should these AI solutions look like to be used for the best interest of the learner in a safe way? These questions are examined with the acknowledgement of the complexity of the current societal challenges that need wider coordinated actions.
Challenges in global citizenship education
GCEd is a strategic area of UNESCO’s Education Sector program aiming to foster international solidarity and inspire learners to positively contribute to their local and global communities. With a significant number of successful examples, it contributes to human rights, peace, multicultural, and sustainable development education, all characterized by commitments to equality and social justice.
However, there are still some fundamental challenges that remain unsolved, such as its fragmented application. GCEd programs are less frequently incorporated by schools in low– and middle–income countries, and globally, one in four teachers do not feel ready to teach themes related to sustainable development or global citizenship and peace.
One proposed strategy for GCEd implementation is international collaboration in education. While this is already implemented at a certain level, participation and international collaboration among students, including less privileged students, is of paramount importance. However, connecting students from different parts of the world and providing suitable settings for their collaboration and the development of skills such as cross–cultural understanding and social justice is challenging for educators to achieve with conventional methods.
This is where learner–centered designs of AI systems for GCEd as one of educators’ tools can play a catalytic role.
Designing an AI–mediated approach for global citizenship education
One possible solution is leveraging AI–mediated Global Citizenship Education (AI–GCEd) to scaffold learners’ international collaboration and empower them to develop the skills for global participation and cross–cultural understanding while grasping the global nature of challenges such as human rights violations, inequality, and poverty. This approach necessitates a nuanced understanding of the classrooms’ dynamics, similarities, and cross–cultural differences.
To learn more about these nuances, classroom observations were conducted in Tokyo, Japan, and Bududa, Uganda in a qualitative pilot study, through a participatory action research approach, to examine how children from different socio–economic settings and cultures perceive the concept of fairness. In a follow–up study with the same classrooms, students discussed their local challenges in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, revealing diverse priorities in how they imagine their future collectively. While the findings of those studies have been informative regarding students’ perspectives, challenging instances in the implementation of the sessions, such as imbalanced social power dynamics were identified—suggesting technology that allows only the connection of such classrooms may not be sufficient and generation of appropriate content could optimize the interaction.
Designing culturally and socially sensitive and human–rights–based AI systems to facilitate harmonized interactions among global classrooms could bolster learners’ collective, project–based activities for GCEd. By enabling interactions in distributed hybrid spaces for fair participation and offering personalized content and innovative approaches to cultural nuances, AI–based systems could emerge as a powerful educational tool to develop students into active promoters of more peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable societies.
In this vein, responsible and transparent approaches must underpin the design, development, and use of AI solutions—alongside stakeholder accountability—considering the potential risks AI systems pose to society, particularly for vulnerable populations. Respecting people’s rights to privacy and non–discrimination, their online safety, and their agency, to mention a few, should be central for AI systems in educational settings. First regulations on AI, such as the European Commission’s AI Act, have already been put in place and design recommendations for AI and children’s rights have been developed, such as the ones by UNICEF and the European Commission.
From local to global and back to local
A safe online distributed space that is responsibly crafted with human rights and learners’ needs in mind could improve the universal adoption of GCEd. This would unlock new opportunities for learners worldwide to engage equally in environments whether they are local or global; physical or virtual with an impact on an individual, community, and societal level. Appropriately educated citizens that do not only have the skills for global participation but also the mindset and values to empower everybody from their local communities to participate in global dialogues, will transform our future cyber–physical societies into a space where human rights are universally upheld.
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Can artificial intelligence transform global citizenship education?
Bringing technology to kids in Kathmandu who are lacking access. Image by Tribesh Kayastha from Unsplash.
June 11, 2024
With AI on the rise, the impact on education presents many, unaddressed challenges. Global Citizenship Education (GCEd), the idea of empowering learners to build peaceful, inclusive, and secure societies locally and globally, could benefit from the responsible use of AI, writes Vicky Charisi.
W
ith artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology on a sharp rise, an increasing number of AI–based applications impact learners’ daily activities and, consequently, their development and wellbeing. Despite the promising potential of AI, many educational challenges remain unaddressed primarily because the design of AI–based applications is typically driven by technological advancements rather than learners’ educational needs. Consequently, challenges such as equity and fairness in education remain unsolved. Global Citizenship Education (GCEd), the idea of empowering learners to assume active roles both locally and globally in building more peaceful, inclusive, and secure societies, is a prime example of an area with challenges that could benefit from AI–based solutions.
This begs the question: What are the main challenges of GCEd that can be addressed with AI–based solutions, and what should these AI solutions look like to be used for the best interest of the learner in a safe way? These questions are examined with the acknowledgement of the complexity of the current societal challenges that need wider coordinated actions.
Challenges in global citizenship education
GCEd is a strategic area of UNESCO’s Education Sector program aiming to foster international solidarity and inspire learners to positively contribute to their local and global communities. With a significant number of successful examples, it contributes to human rights, peace, multicultural, and sustainable development education, all characterized by commitments to equality and social justice.
However, there are still some fundamental challenges that remain unsolved, such as its fragmented application. GCEd programs are less frequently incorporated by schools in low– and middle–income countries, and globally, one in four teachers do not feel ready to teach themes related to sustainable development or global citizenship and peace.
One proposed strategy for GCEd implementation is international collaboration in education. While this is already implemented at a certain level, participation and international collaboration among students, including less privileged students, is of paramount importance. However, connecting students from different parts of the world and providing suitable settings for their collaboration and the development of skills such as cross–cultural understanding and social justice is challenging for educators to achieve with conventional methods.
This is where learner–centered designs of AI systems for GCEd as one of educators’ tools can play a catalytic role.
Designing an AI–mediated approach for global citizenship education
One possible solution is leveraging AI–mediated Global Citizenship Education (AI–GCEd) to scaffold learners’ international collaboration and empower them to develop the skills for global participation and cross–cultural understanding while grasping the global nature of challenges such as human rights violations, inequality, and poverty. This approach necessitates a nuanced understanding of the classrooms’ dynamics, similarities, and cross–cultural differences.
To learn more about these nuances, classroom observations were conducted in Tokyo, Japan, and Bududa, Uganda in a qualitative pilot study, through a participatory action research approach, to examine how children from different socio–economic settings and cultures perceive the concept of fairness. In a follow–up study with the same classrooms, students discussed their local challenges in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, revealing diverse priorities in how they imagine their future collectively. While the findings of those studies have been informative regarding students’ perspectives, challenging instances in the implementation of the sessions, such as imbalanced social power dynamics were identified—suggesting technology that allows only the connection of such classrooms may not be sufficient and generation of appropriate content could optimize the interaction.
Designing culturally and socially sensitive and human–rights–based AI systems to facilitate harmonized interactions among global classrooms could bolster learners’ collective, project–based activities for GCEd. By enabling interactions in distributed hybrid spaces for fair participation and offering personalized content and innovative approaches to cultural nuances, AI–based systems could emerge as a powerful educational tool to develop students into active promoters of more peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable societies.
In this vein, responsible and transparent approaches must underpin the design, development, and use of AI solutions—alongside stakeholder accountability—considering the potential risks AI systems pose to society, particularly for vulnerable populations. Respecting people’s rights to privacy and non–discrimination, their online safety, and their agency, to mention a few, should be central for AI systems in educational settings. First regulations on AI, such as the European Commission’s AI Act, have already been put in place and design recommendations for AI and children’s rights have been developed, such as the ones by UNICEF and the European Commission.
From local to global and back to local
A safe online distributed space that is responsibly crafted with human rights and learners’ needs in mind could improve the universal adoption of GCEd. This would unlock new opportunities for learners worldwide to engage equally in environments whether they are local or global; physical or virtual with an impact on an individual, community, and societal level. Appropriately educated citizens that do not only have the skills for global participation but also the mindset and values to empower everybody from their local communities to participate in global dialogues, will transform our future cyber–physical societies into a space where human rights are universally upheld.
