Online workshop: How to explain AI to students without technical knowledge

In this microMOOC, you will discover a range of short activities designed to develop students’ AI literacy, which you can incorporate into your course with little or no adaptation. The activities are designed to help students understand where artificial intelligence is used, how models learn from data, why they can make mistakes, how to use generative AI responsibly, and how to reflect on the ethical and future implications of AI in their field, their studies and everyday life.

The MicroMOOC will be delivered asynchronously via the Moodle online learning platform, so you can complete it at your own pace and in your own time.

• MicroMOOC availability period: from 20 July 2026 onwards
• Scope of activities: 6 teaching hours
• Method of completion: self-directed, at your own pace and in your own time
• Location: Moodle online classroom
• Delivery and moderation: Maja Kosmač, University of Ljubljana Digital Centre
• Target audience: higher education lecturers and other staff involved in the teaching process at the University of Ljubljana
• Requirement for obtaining a certificate: submission of a mini-plan of activities for developing digital literacy within one’s own course
• Registration form: link
• Contact for further information: maja.kosmac@uni-lj.si

Artificial intelligence is already part of academic, professional and everyday life. Students use it to search for information, write, translate, summarise, learn, programme, create images and carry out numerous other tasks. However, they often encounter it even in contexts where it is not explicitly labelled as artificial intelligence – for example, in recommendation systems, web search engines, speech recognition, content filtering or navigation.

The question, therefore, is no longer whether students will use artificial intelligence, but whether they will use it thoughtfully, critically, responsibly and in a way that supports their learning. Higher education lecturers have an important role to play in this. They do not necessarily need to be familiar with all the tools or the technical details of how they work, but it is important that they know how to help students develop a fundamental understanding, critical judgement and responsible use of AI.

MicroMOOC offers practical examples of activities through which you can introduce students to the basic concepts and functioning of AI without the need for programming, mathematics or technical explanations. The activities emphasise AI literacy as a broader competence that encompasses an understanding of data, models, errors, limitations, responsibility, transparency and ethical judgement.

• to present the starting points for developing students’ AI literacy in higher education,
• to demonstrate how the basic concepts and functioning of AI can be introduced to students in an experiential and non-technical way,
• to present eight short activities that educators can adapt to their own subject,
• encourage reflection on data, models, errors, notifications, privacy, security, accessibility, ethics and the future role of AI,
• support educators in drawing up their own mini-plan of activities for developing students’ AI literacy.