Anchoring Ethical Technology (AI and Data) Usage in the Education Practice (ETH-TECH)
The Erasmus+ project Anchoring Ethical Technology (AI and Data) Usage in the Education Practice (ETH-TECH) will be carried out from fall 2024 to spring 2027 at the Helmut Schmidt University, the University of Padua (Italy), the University of Barcelona (Spain) and the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj (Romania). The aim of the project is to investigate existing approaches in the higher education training of prospective teachers and/or educational scientists to address ethical technology/AI use and to train students to deal with technology in a correspondingly reflective manner. The project is based, among other things, on the “Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for Educators” published by the EU in 2022. In addition to this analysis of the current situation in all four project countries, however, the project also aims to develop approaches to promote the ethical use of technology that go beyond mere guidelines or checklists and instead promote ethical reflection on (educational) technologies in the sense of navigating complex situational dilemmas and combining awareness with the ability to act.
SMASCH – Smarte Schulen
The SMASCH (Smart Schools) project, led by Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg since 2021, first in collaboration with KU Leuven and, since 2024, with PH Zurich, supports schools in developing sustainable, pedagogically meaningful and context-based digitisation concepts. The approaches of UNBLACK THE BOX hereby serve as an important foundation for the critical investigation and (re)design of digitalization and datafication in education practice. During the first phase of the project, the focus was on working with individual schools. Results of this work have been processed and are now publicly available on the so-called SMASCH Labcademy platform. Since 2025, the project shifted the focus towards linking digitization-oriented school development with transnational cooperation. For this reason, a platform is designed on which schools from (currently) Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland and Denmark test concepts and practices in transnational tandems.
Critical Big Data and Algorithmic Literacy Network (CBDALN)
https://www.bigdataliteracy.net/
The Critical Big Data and Algorithmic Literacy Network is an international network for researchers from all disciplines and practitioners who are interested in critical data literacy – education about big data and datafication. The network was founded in 2020 with the goal of promoting interdisciplinary dialogues about concepts and concrete approaches for a critical data education and strengthening the exchange between theory and practice.
On its website, the network provides a glossary for digital sovereignty (‘Glossar Digitale Souveränität’), which explains core terms in the area of data, digitisation and media education. The CBDAL Network has further developed a freely accessible database for ‘critical data literacy resources‘. The database includes websites, games, videos, teaching material and many more resources for a critical education about data. It can be filtered by topics, languages, formats and target groups. This database in particular offers a valuable collection for the educational approaches of UNBLACK THE BOX.