An Essential Digital Competency: AI Literacy

ArInLi (Artificial Intelligence Literacy) is an Erasmus+ KA210 project developing AI literacy as an essential digital competency across entire educational communities. It connects four European secondary schools — Colegio San Buenaventura (Spain), ISS Guglielmo Marconi (Italy), Gümüşyaka Anadolu Lisesi (Turkey), and Burggymnasium Friedberg (Germany) — with four universities and two technology companies to learn, create, and disseminate good practices in AI education.

About this initiative 

The project was created to address a critical and growing gap: while AI is rapidly transforming every aspect of society and the labour market, most educational systems still lack structured, ethical, and inclusive approaches to AI literacy. Teachers feel unprepared, students use AI tools without understanding their implications, and families are largely unaware of the risks and opportunities these technologies present. 

ArInLi was designed precisely to address this triple deficit (in teachers, students, and families) simultaneously and systematically, aligning its approach with the DigComp 2.2 and DigCompEdu European frameworks and the Digital Education Action Plan 2021–2027.

Why is this a good practice?

What makes it distinctive is commitment to the idea that equity and innovation are allies, not opposites. The project operates in highly vulnerable contexts, such as the Batán neighbourhood in Madrid (ranked 8/179 in territorial vulnerability), Torre Annunziata in Naples, and rural Silivri near Istanbul. These results demonstrate that high-quality AI education can and must reach all students regardless of their socioeconomic background.

• Five mobilities (Italy, Turkey, Germany, Spain, virtual) combine hands-on workshops with university seminars from partners at the University of Salerno, Bahçeşehir University, the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM), and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)
• Real-world industry sessions with Bosch Siemens and Eonesia on AI applications in manufacturing, logistics, and language learning

Methodologically, ArInLi applies Kolb's Experiential Learning cycle across all mobilities and Johnson & Johnson's cooperative learning model, forming mandatory multinational teams where linguistic and cultural diversity becomes a pedagogical asset rather than a barrier.

Future-oriented thinking

Artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated permanently into the ordinary curriculum (not as an extracurricular workshop) across four subjects: Spanish Language, English, Philosophy, and Robotics, all formally evaluated with specific rubrics and approved in the Educational Project of all four partner schools, ensuring continuity beyond Erasmus+ funding.

The Train the Trainer model guarantees sustainability: 8 trained coordinators have reached 60+ teachers and 800+ students without external funding. All resources (a multilingual website in 5 languages, 82-page e-book with ISBN, catalogue of 153 evaluated AI apps, teacher's guide, AI-generated podcast and YouTube videos) are freely accessible to any school worldwide.