This summer, I worked alongside Dr Suganthi John, Dr Marcus Perlman and Dr Jeannette Littlemore on their project ‘Exploring AI to Promote Literacy and Oracy in Primary and Secondary Education’. The wider aim of the project is to create an ESRC Centre to research how technology is shaping communication, one key aspect being Education and how young people interact with evolving technology. I was instantly drawn to such a forward-thinking and relevant topic, as I have had experience working in schools and developing AI tools so it would be interesting to draw the two concepts together.
My role was to research AI literacy (how to understand and use AI applications) from Early Years learning to higher education. I was also asked to present this information at the Arts and Humanities Teacher Event and write up a literature review. The research was truly fascinating – I learned how AI and digital tools are implemented into classrooms based on age range. For example, primary schools focus on making AI toys and games for children to engage with. It was also interesting to find that AI learning is emerging across the globe, as most of the sources were from international journals. In my first week, I condensed the sources I found into four common themes: AI in primary schools, secondary schools, teacher perspectives and higher education. I found that most research situated nicely into either of these categories, so I read
and summarised the key sources for my presentation.
My favourite part of the internship was presenting my research at the Arts and Humanities Teacher Event. From this, I had multiple discussions with teachers and it was interesting to see how the research aligned with their own experiences. My final area of research was to look into current projects (both inside and outside of the UK) that focus on developing AI literacy from KS1 to higher education. I then combined this research with previous sources to form a literature review.
The most difficult part of the internship was writing up a literature review as I had 20 sources to explain and compare. To help with this, I returned to my original four subsections (primary education, secondary education, teachers’ perspectives and higher education) and listed sources into their appropriate categories. I drew similarities and limitations between each source and created a section at the end for the conclusions reached. This process definitely improved my writing and analysis skills – something that will help me during the course of my degree in the future.
This project was so interesting to work on. As an English Literature student, it was insightful to research how AI and humanities subjects can work alongside each other. For example, the organisation BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) uses researchers from humanities subjects to solve the ethical issues when using AI. Additionally, I was reassured that digital tools are not a replacement for humans; instead, AI is a valuable addition to the classroom/workplace.
Studying a field that is as innovative and dynamic as AI was a rewarding experience. After this internship, I feel as though I have a clearer direction of what career I want to pursue and I have developed valuable skills that will allow me to do so. I encourage everyone who is interested to apply to the CRI, as working mine has been the highlight of my summer!