The 27-month TRAILS project (2023-1-ES01-KA220-SCH-000157262) held its kickoff meeting in Porto, Portugal this past January. The project, funded by the European 2023 Erasmus+ call for the promotion of projects concerning education, training, youth and sport, is being coordinated by TIDE. TRAILS aims to help teachers produce learning activities that enable students to experience using AI (with a particular focus on generative AI) in a transparent, responsible, and constructive manner.

Partners in the project include Tallinn University, social enterprises (Kokoro Association, Associació de Mestres Rosa Sensat), and three schools (Institut Catarina Albert, Tallinn French School, Colégio de São Gonçalo de Amarante). Project activities are to take place in Spain, Portugal, and Estonia.

The project is centred around 3 multi-day training events in which language education teachers from the three participating countries gather to learn about AI in education, prepare learning activities for their students, and co-design project outputs (a teacher professional development course and supporting technology). The first training event was hosted at UPF in early March with 8 school teachers from the three countries attending. While reflecting on their participation in the Trails professional development event, one of the teachers wrote about their perception of willingness to learn of the participants:

‘My main takeaways from this experience are teachers’ understanding and level of experience using AI tools are very different. They are all eager to learn but need space and time to experiment with AI technology for teaching and learning’.

Another teacher stated their wish to share their learnings with their school colleagues:

‘I recommend it to my peers because I hope, in the very near future, to start discussing with my colleagues how we can enhance teaching & learning by using generative AI tools’.

Teachers and trainers both shared that they enjoyed the opportunity to learn together, share experiences and cultural perspectives, and work toward innovating educational practices by using generative AI tools in language learning.

Further information on TRAILS and its progress will be available on the TRAILS project website and TIDE group website. For researchers, educators and educational institutes interested in knowing more about the project, please contact [email protected].

TRAILS website: https://trails.upf.edu/