OERcamp.global 2025

Democracy Education in the Age of AI: Co-Agency, Open Data, and AI Literacy as Drivers of Participation

In this session, we examine how democratic learning can be strengthened when educators and students work together as co-agents to understand, shape, and critically engage with AI.
Using concrete classroom scenarios, we demonstrate how learners can not only use AI, but also create with it, manage it responsibly, and co-design AI-supported tasks in line with OECD notions of agency and participatory learning. A work in progress.

A central element is a question-driven, evidence-based approach: students begin by identifying a challenge in their local community and formulate guiding questions. Using open data, they investigate these questions systematically, analyze accessible datasets, and derive evidence that helps them understand the problem more precisely. In doing so, students develop core AI literacy skills: critical questioning, understanding data pipelines, and recognizing system limitations and biases.

The overall aim is to cultivate inclusive, participatory learning environments that promote digital sovereignty, democratic involvement, and informed, responsible decision-making in an AI-shaped world.