In many schools, there is a lack of progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) due to knowledge gaps, legal uncertainties, lack of technical resources and the assessment of pedagogical implications. Through close cooperation with the Hamburg School Board (BSB) and the State Institute for School Development and Teacher Training (LI) Since May 2023, ARIC has launched several initiatives such as the ARIC School Days-program, which ARIC Train the Trainer-format and the ARIC Community of Practice AI & School implemented to address these challenges. These programs offer teachers continuous training and networking opportunities to promote AI skills and integrate them into the classroom. The success of these activities is based on continuous exchange, feedback loops and the close collaboration of all stakeholders involved. The positive results and interest from other federal states underline the importance of these joint efforts for sustainable education.
Challenges in the integration of AI in schools
Time and again, I come across statements that there is far too little movement in schools when it comes to AI. The reasons for this are complex and largely correspond to those I hear when I carry out consultations in companies. Above all, there is a lack of:
- AI expertise, exacerbated by the particular challenge posed by the high speed of AI development,
- Legal certainty, particularly with regard to data protection issues,
- Uncertainty regarding the suitability of commercially available AI systems with regard to the training data used, potential bias, quality of content, etc.
- technical resources and a functioning WLAN connection,
- Orientation in the evaluation of pedagogical consequences of AI development and in dealing with the further development of teaching,
- Financing the costs of AI applications.
Further training as the key to the solution
The common thread linking many topics is the lack of AI expertise. Further training for players in this area – and my experience from similar situations in the business world shows this – also supports progress in several of the other areas mentioned.
Cooperation with the Hamburg Education Authority and the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development
This made it all the more important that the education authority (BSB) contacted us three months after the publication of ChatGPT to organize the school management conference “#dms Explorationen: AI in School and Society” in May 2023, with lectures, workshops and a marketplace of projects, initiatives and companies that could contribute to the topic of AI in schools. This resulted in a very close collaboration between ARIC, BSB and LI, which has produced some innovative cooperation formats that I would like to present below based on the positive experiences gained. Perhaps this experience report on the chosen path in Hamburg and the lessons learned can help to bring AI literacy into schools in other regions and expand it further.
Our collaboration formats
ARIC School Days
As an immediate measure, we introduced the ARIC School Days shortly after the school management conference in May 2023. This is a regularly recurring training format to which teachers from all of Hamburg’s almost 400 state general and vocational schools are invited. First, the participants receive 45-60 minutes of basic AI training from ARIC experts in our AI showroom with AI exhibits, with the opportunity to ask questions. Afterwards, the participants will be taken over by BSB and LI. In a neighboring room, the current status of the introduction of AI in Hamburg will also be presented by the authority in 30-45 minutes and the LI will demonstrate the wide range of further training courses on offer, for which teachers can register, also rounded off with a question and answer session.
Right from the start, each ARIC School Day offered enough slots for a three-digit number of teachers, and (only in the early days) registration was limited to a maximum of four teachers per school. This enabled us to reach many schools very quickly, where the participants could in turn act as multipliers.
ARIC Train the Trainer
We then set up the demand-oriented ARIC Train the Trainer format, in which the LI trainers are trained in a training course lasting just under three hours. This is a format that can be used to meet the technological information needs of those who shoulder the majority of the AI skills transfer to teachers in a needs-based and content-rich manner.
ARIC Community of Practice (CoP) AI & School
And finally, we founded the ARIC Community of Practice (CoP) AI & School, a regular, peer-to-peer exchange format for Hamburg teachers who want to network specifically on the topic and exchange ideas with others in order to be inspired, share experiences and clarify specific questions.
Accompanying measures by ARIC and LI
On the ARIC side, these formats are flanked by presentations to teaching staff, panel discussions and talks at schools, school tours in ARIC’s own AI showroom and workshops for pupils.
The LI has developed extensive lecture and workshop content that actually shows concrete starting points for each subject as to how AI can be integrated into lessons at school: both as a tool for pupils and teachers and as lesson content. And these are continuously developed, updated, supplemented and used in further training.
Success factors of the Hamburg Way
Lessons learned
What are the key success factors of the Hamburg Way with regard to the conception of cooperation in terms of content and the organization of cooperation, also with regard to the actors involved?
- a continuous exchange at working level, which ensures that there is a regular exchange of information on new developments in the market and in the school and that personal contact is maintained at the same time
- close collaboration, including the incorporation of the strengths and opportunities of all parties with regard to the continuous (further) development of needs-based formats
- Constant feedback loops with conscious questioning of the status quo and targeted considerations for optimization as well as creativity and agility in designing new formats,
- a pragmatic and flexible way of thinking and working,
- a clear focus on skills development for multipliers in order to disseminate and apply knowledge as quickly as possible
- to have united all the key players within the cooperation for an effective approach, i.e. the triad of AI expertise (ARIC), institutionalized teacher training and pedagogical expertise (LI – represented by the newly established AI competence center) and institutional framework provider (BSB)
- Beyond the mere representation of institutions, in my opinion it was crucial to have contact persons in all institutions that were important in this concept who were not only responsible for the topic of AI, but who also behaved accordingly in the best sense: the mindset is essential.
- With regard to the content concept, it is important to offer teachers not just a one-off event, but a sustainable learning path that is continuously available and effective. This is provided above all by the workshops offered by the LI. With the CoP, we offer an additional networking and exchange opportunity outside of fixed content. This allows us to address current topics and issues that teachers are dealing with and provide orientation in the group, especially for topics that need to be newly developed for schools.
“A joint social effort is needed to lead our schools into the future”
Better and faster together
A joint social effort is needed to lead our schools into the future. Now, after just over a year of the cooperation described above, which we have opted for in Hamburg, I am convinced that the Hamburg path that we have chosen together with the BSB and LI has proven itself and is a best case within a wealth of necessary measures on the way to empowering schools in dealing with AI.
In the meantime, we have also been approached by other federal states to exchange experiences with our formats, with interest in setting them up as formats in other regions too. We are particularly pleased about this because we are convinced that this would only benefit the use of AI in schools and is therefore a development that we can only encourage on the basis of our positive experiences. I hope that this experience report can support you on this path.
“And at the end of the day, of course, the same applies as in my experience in all organizations in transformation processes: structures, formats and concepts are important. But at the end of the day, it’s the commitment, openness and cooperation style of the people involved that determine success or failure.”
Thanks to the committed players
My special thanks therefore go to (in alphabetical order) Johanna Catón, Britta Kölling, Verena Lawrenz and Katrin Wenzel – also on behalf of the large number of very committed managers and staff at the BSB and LI that I have gotten to know over the years and who unfortunately cannot all be listed here. They are actively and proactively involved in the work that is being done around skills development and the use of AI in Hamburg schools.
And, of course, the very vibrant ecosystem of players in Hamburg who are committed to AI in schools – be it providers of AI education programs such as Diana Knodel from Fobizz or non-profit initiatives, projects and companies such as Julia Freudenberg’s Hacker School, who all make an important contribution.
And of course, all of this would be for nothing if there weren’t so many teachers who are committed to this development and who apply and further develop the new findings. My thanks to all the participants in our formats, workshops and lectures who have used and continue to use this knowledge for themselves and their pupils!
Conclusion and outlook
Now, at the end of the school year and looking back on almost a year and a half of close cooperation, it makes sense to take stock of this first phase of cooperation as part of the chosen Hamburg path for AI literacy in schools. As an association of cooperation partners, we have succeeded in providing timely and sustainable orientation through information in a time of confusion and disorientation caused by ChatGPT. In any case, this is an important success that confirms the chosen path, as the extensive positive feedback from participants on the measures emphatically demonstrates.
And what happens next? We have now reached a stage where the teaching staff generally have a decent (in some cases already very good) basic knowledge of AI. The LI itself now also has veritable AI expertise in the education sector in the individual subject areas, so that we are currently retooling our cooperation formats based on the circumstances and needs of the current situation. But that is the subject of a future article…
A contribution by Marina Tcharnetsky
Marina Tcharnetsky is CBDO of ARIC and ARIC Ambassador.
Further links on the topic:
- Vocational training at school in the age of AI
- AI week at Hamburg grammar schools
- Premiere ARIC School Days
- ak23 Alumni conference “Our future”
- Girls and Boys Day at ARIC
- KI in the super election year – event for teachers and those active in child and youth work
- How do I bring AI literacy into schools?
