Common Sense Media and Day of AI have teamed up to create an AI Literacy Toolkit for Families. It’s free and offers resources to engage families in learning about AI and discussions around its potential impact on school and everyday life.
The toolkit is available on the websites of both Common Sense Media and Day of AI. While the links are organized slightly differently on each site, the content is the same. Both point to the Start Here! document, which offers an accessible five-step approach to using the materials. It is complete with links, so you can get everything you need right there, if you desire.
Five Steps to Get Started
The Start Here! document consists of five steps.
Step 1: Review the materials.
This section includes an AI Literacy Family Video, an AI Literacy Toolkit for Families, and an Implementation Guide for Schools. The video is 3 minutes long and explains what AI is, how it works, where it appears in daily life, and how to get started talking about it with young people. Within the implementation guide, there is also a facilitation guide to support with hosting workshops for families and school community stakeholders.
Step 2: Decide how you’ll share.
To help you decide how you’ll share this information with your school and community, the document offers a list of options to consider, such as using the school website, parent newsletters, and social media. It even includes a slide deck that you can use when hosting a family night. The customizable set of slides includes a suggested agenda, the 3-minute video, and an overview of the toolkit.
Step 3: Use customizable templates.
This step is an extension of the previous one, and it includes a link to customizable announcement templates that you can use to communicate through your preferred channel of choice: social media, newsletters, websites, or something else. The templates are nice because they give you specific language and links that you can start with before customizing and sending out to your local stakeholders.
Step 4: Distribute the toolkit.
Now that you have reviewed what’s available, determined how to share the resources, and generated a well-crafted message to distribute, it’s time to take action. Send out the AI Literacy Toolkit for Families and the related video in whatever format works best for you and your school community.
The toolkit is filled with guided activities that families can experience with their children. It includes a guide for using the video, tips for parents and caregivers, conversation cards that offer short questions to discuss as a family, and fun activities. The activities include options like conducting an AI scavenger hunt and simulating how AI works through an AI guessing game.
Step 5: Encourage continued engagement.
While sharing is the first step, much of the power of this will come through the conversations that follow. In fact, although the toolkit offers educational materials, much of it is intended to serve as that conversation starter.
This step suggests sending follow-up reminders for families to review the content, invites them to share their feedback or personal stories, and suggests offering additional learning opportunities, like a follow-up session or perhaps more digital literacy activities.
The toolkit is straightforward, simple, and can be implemented with very little effort on the part of already-busy teachers and school leaders.
If you want to explore further, you can dig into the links and find additional resources, such as Tips for Talking About AI with School Boards or PTAs. Both Common Sense Media and Day of AI have lots of additional media-related resources to check out as well.
AVID Connections
This resource connects with the following components of the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework:
- Instruction
- Leadership
- Culture
- Relational Capacity
- Opportunity Knowledge
- Break Down Barriers
- Advocate for Students
Extend Your Learning
- AI Literacy Toolkit for Families (Common Sense Media)
- AI Literacy Toolkit for Families (Day of AI)
- Start Here! (Common Sense Media and Day of AI)