Tea, Coffee, Artificial Intelligence?

The national eTwinning conference, held from 16 to 18 May 2025, explored the theme of citizenship education. Alongside the keynote address and practice-sharing sessions, several workshops were offered to participants, including two focused on artificial intelligence. Despite the growing prevalence of generative AI, the need to raise awareness and provide training for members of the education community remains critical. Concerns around fear, sovereignty, societal impact, innovation, obsolescence, and democracy are all closely linked to the rise of generative AI in the public sphere and were naturally reflected in the conference programme.

As eTwinners are innovative educators, it was essential to offer them a format that accounted for the wide diversity in their knowledge and practices regarding AI—particularly generative AI. To this end, the workshop adopted the format of a Café IA.

Cafés IA are free, citizen-focused events designed to foster understanding and dialogue around artificial intelligence. Open to all audiences, they offer a welcoming and informal environment for discussion and experimentation, supported by educational resources developed by the French National Digital Council. In the context of this workshop, the discussions were grounded in civic values, and the outcomes included initial drafts of future eTwinning projects.

Participants were welcomed in a tea-room atmosphere and, following an introductory session, engaged in reflection on the civic implications of AI. They then shared their ideas collectively with a view to developing future collaborative projects. All materials and session plans were made available so that each participant could freely adapt, reuse, or modify them to facilitate their own Café IA.

Author: Isabelle Dufrêne