All good things must come to an end: The closing Summit of TrainDL

‟We students want to be properly prepared for our future, and both the use of artificial intelligence and the handling of data will play an important role in this.” With these words, Emilia Sommer, a tenth-grade student from Stuttgart, welcomed the participants to the TrainDL Summit at the end of February.

It goes without saying that young people oftentimes know much more about digital applications than adults. By focusing on Data Literacy (DL) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) education, the project TrainDL has recognized the need for contemporary computer science education in schools across Europe. In 2021, the partners from Austria, Lithuania and Germany first started their work. Now, the “TrainDL Summit: Teaching Data Literacy and AI Competencies” provided a space for an open exchange on the current state of DL and AI in education for policymakers, teachers, researchers, students and many more.

Among the presenting experts were Carmen Köhler with a keynote on her non-linear path into data science and also two digital education experts from the US and Europe: In a joint keynote, Hannah Weissman, Director of Policy at Code.org, and Georgi Dimitrov, head of the Digital Education unit at the European Commission, discussed policy implications and the need for political action. One panel brought together teachers and policymakers from Austria, Lithuania and Germany to discuss the cross-national approaches to data literacy and AI education in Europe. All keynotes and panels are now available for a re-watch here.

Participants also had the opportunity to give their input on the policy recommendations that were developed in the project. These recommendations are based on research done on policy preconditions for the integration of AI and data competencies in school and teacher education. In this effort, the Policy Monitor has been created. Moreover, the participants had the opportunity to try out teaching materials that were tested with teachers throughout the project in a hands-on workshop.

With the Summit in the rearview, the project has now officially come to a close after its three-year duration. All materials and publications like research summaries and workshop reports can be found here: train-dl.eu/en/materials. If you have questions about the project, you’re welcome to stay in touch via traindl@gi.de.

About TrainDL

Together with partners from Germany, Austria and Lithuania, the TrainDL project ‟Teacher Training for Data Literacy & Computer Science Competences” aims to develop educational concepts for data literacy and artificial intelligence competencies and embed them in teacher and school education. The project is funded by the European Union in the Erasmus+ program.