Generative Artificial Intelligence Skills in Schools (GenAIsis) Project Outcomes
Generative Artificial Intelligence Skills in Schools (GenAISiS) was a project funded by the Responsible Ai UK programme (RAi UK) and a partnership between CILIPS, Robert Gordon University, and school librarians across Scotland.
The project aimed to foster critical conversations with young people around using generative AI effectively, safely, ethically, and creatively. Led by researchers from Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) School of Law and Social Sciences and School of Computing, Engineering & Technology, the project, co-created with school librarians, created innovative educational cartoon video stories with pupils and a toolkit. The project complemented videos with lesson plans, discussion prompts, and curated resources on GenAI use, transparency, trust, bias, inclusion and privacy. The project successfully transformed complex research into engaging narratives, amplifying young voices on AI-driven misinformation, data safety and bias.
Young participants helped shape cartoon characters to express their own experiences and concerns, exploring both the opportunities and risks of GenAI. Grounded in children’s rights, the project promotes media and information literacy by examining global UN Sustainable Development Goals challenges – poverty, inequality, climate change – exploring how AI generates and influences content, both textual and visual.
The project reached over 600 participants through a series of high-impact workshops and events this included school-based sessions at Hazlehead Academy and Forfar Academy, which introduced over 200 students to AI concepts.
Multimedia outputs, including cartoon animated videos and an openly accessible toolkit with activities and resources together with young people’s testimonials have supported public engagement and resource dissemination. The project progress was published in a openly accessible blog.
Marcie Hudson, a pupil from Hazlehead Academy, Aberdeen, said:
“I found this project intriguing, entertaining, and educational. Learning about different AI platforms, such as Copilot and GPT-3, which I had never heard of before, was quite enjoyable. It was also exceptionally fun to explore these AI platforms and uncover how they worked. I found out that AI transfers words into numbers to understand what they are being told, which I thought was extremely captivating.”
Andrew Rodriquez, Eastwood High School, East Renfrewshire, said:
“I feel very grateful to be part of this project, I enjoyed doing the voice overs and it was also fun making the different characters. I learned to use AI better I think. When I was looking for images, for example, I realised the need to find the right prompts to do so. I do feel that I understand AI a bit better after being in this project.”
Raia Florence, who attends Forfar Academy, said:
“I was excited to take part in this project because it’s a fascinating topic which I’d never been taught anything about before. I enjoyed being creative with my learning and having some control over what we were doing. I feel much more educated about GenAI now and I feel able to use it responsibly.”
The project was celebrated across the media, including highlights on STV news, which you can click here to see. In June we supported an in person flagship workshop at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow bringing together 45 stakeholders, including the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, highlighting the project’s policy relevance.
Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills introducing the project.
CILIPS were also delighted to support a national online workshop towards the end of the project, which received almost 300 registrants, positive feedback and valuable suggestions, along with exciting opportunities to collaborate further. Participants of the webinar said:
“𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒.”
“𝐴𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡”
“𝐴𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛.”
“𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔”
“𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡”
“𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝐸 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝐸, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡!”
“𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐹𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.”
The research team were diligent in sharing the project and it’s working at various conferences (including CILIPS25) and events throughout the project’s lifetime, this later won the project an ‘Engaging the Public with Research’ award at a local research festival.
Huge congratulations and thanks from everyone at CILIPS to the project team, Dr Konstantina Martzoukou (RGU), Dr Pascal Ezenkwu (RGU), Emma Grey (Forfar Academy), Ioannis Panayiotakis (Eastwood High School), Diane Scott (Hazlehead Academy) and Research Assistants, Beulah Lowry and Palika Vithana.