Looking for a fun, free and engaging way to have discussions about the opportunities and risks of AI in education? Well look no further, as 9ine are excited to present Turing Trials, a fun and interactive card game which schools can use to have conversations about AI’s impact in education, including on data privacy and child safeguarding. In this article we take you through what Turing Trials is, how it can support your school and why we have created it.  

What is Turing Trials? 

Turing Trials is a card game designed to help schools explore AI in education in an engaging, interactive way. It supports schools in fostering discussions on AI’s impact in education, including on data privacy and child safeguarding. It is perfect for school administrators, educators, and technical staff and can be used in workshops to increase AI literacy across the school. It enables colleagues to collaborate, navigate real-life AI scenarios and make strategic decisions which affect students, staff and school operations. Turing Trials is not just great for staff at schools though, it can be used with students to have conversations with them about the opportunities and risks of AI, and what their thoughts and feelings are about how it is, and should be, used in the school. 

In the game, you will play as part of the Crisis Council, presented with a scenario where AI is being used in education. You will need to think about the level of risk that this scenario brings to the school. Would you say this is a high risk scenario, a medium one or a low one? You’ll need to identify the issues with the situation that have led you to deciding that risk level, and what safeguards you would like to put in place to bring the risk level down. At the end of play, you’ll have to decide whether you would feel comfortable in accepting this risk level on behalf of the school and why, or whether you think there is more you would like to do (or know) to mitigate the risk further. 

Whether it’s staff, teachers, students, or a combination of these playing the game, the conversation will vary. Different schools may have different risk tolerance levels, and different individuals may have different social norms about the use of AI in education. Individuals may feel differently about the issue of bias depending on their ethnic background, and different schools may feel differently about equity depending on their school’s policy for this. What we believe is great about the game is that it gets people talking about these topics in a semi-structured way, helping individuals to learn together, and from each other. 

When and how can I access Turing Trials?

Turing Trials is available for download from our website now. Here you will be able to download the full card deck, as well as our card game facilitator guide which includes an overview, instructions for the game and helpful tips for those running the game in a workshop or in the classroom. This includes what some of the right answers might be, or further discussion you might want to prompt. You will also be able to access a short instructional video that you can play at the start of a class or workshop for a quick overview.

We will also be hosting two webinars on Friday 28th March to launch Turing Trials. In these webinars we will be taking you through the purpose of the game, how it works and how you can play it at your school. If you would like to register for these webinars which will take place at 08:30am and 15:30pm GMT you can sign up now.  

Why have 9ine created Turing Trials? 

At 9ine we believe in being intentional about supporting teachers and staff with integrating AI into the curriculum and navigating the challenges that it presents to schools. The rapid advancement of AI introduces a fluidity to the training your staff require. We believe that this goes beyond simply providing high-level, standardised AI literacy training (although we offer this too), or teachers being provided with another slide deck which bullet points the risks and challenges. It is about equipping the whole school community with the expertise and support needed to create a safe, secure, and compliant digital learning environment. 

We also believe in conversations and creativity (two key aspects of learning and education) and 9ine are here to support all schools, which is why we believe in making this available free of charge. We think Turing Trials will inspire conversations on AI and whilst we’ve used our creativity to make it, we believe it can inspire the creative and critical thinking on AI that schools will need to use it ethically and compliantly. As technology evolves, certain risks—such as biased or discriminatory data sets, censored or politicised content, emotional dependency on chatbots, and even the creation of deep fakes—can rapidly intensify, demanding continual oversight and updated strategies. Schools must not only be aware of these emerging concerns, but also have tangible mechanisms in place to support teachers’ confidence in managing a safe digital environment.

Often at 9ine we get asked ‘how can I even begin to know all the risks which AI will pose to my school?’, and while the use cases to which AI can be applied and the risks it might create and exacerbate may be infinite, we fundamentally believe that starting the conversation on these things and equipping schools with the tools they need to have them, is a great starting point. As schools also need to clearly demonstrate responsibility and accountability around privacy, AI governance, and child safeguarding obligations, we believe that using Turing Trials will be a great asset to you in beginning to do this. We would love your feedback and suggestions on the game, as we plan to keep adding to it and to keep supporting schools in using AI in an ethical and compliant way.

How else can 9ine help me?

Alongside Turing Trials, at 9ine we offer a number of other products and services that can help schools in meeting your Artificial Intelligence compliance requirements, these include: 

• 9ine Academy LMS: Our AI Pathway is your school's learning partner for AI ethics and governance. With differentiated course levels you can enrol staff in an Introductory course to AI, then for those staff with a greater responsibility, enrol them in Intermediate and Advanced courses. There’s also specialist courses for AI in Safeguarding, Child Protection and technology. This training goes deeper into the themes which Turing Trials can help you to explore, providing the knowledge your staff need to keep your school safe, secure and compliant. 
• Application Library: A solution that enables all staff to access a central searchable library of all EdTech in the school. The library contains all information staff need to know about the AI in use (if there is), privacy risks, safeguarding risks and cyber risks. With easy to add ‘How to’ and ‘Help’ guides, Application Library becomes a single, central digital resource. Through implementing Application Library your school will identify duplication in EdTech, reduce contract subscription costs and have a workflow for the request of new EdTech for staff to follow. Does Turing Trials identify any areas where this product would have helped your school in knowing how to use an AI system properly?
• Vendor Management: Removes the pain, and time, from evaluating and vetting third party vendor contracts, privacy notices, information security policies and other compliance documents. Vendor Management provides a thorough, ‘traffic light’ based approach to inform you of vendor privacy, cyber, AI, and safeguarding risks. Vendor Management supports you to demonstrate to parents, staff and regulators how you effectively evaluate and manage technology you choose to deploy. Look out for the scenario in Turing Trials where the Vendor Management Process wasn’t completed in full and discuss what that meant for the school. Would it have been helpful if someone had already completed that process for you?
• AI Readiness Toolkit: 9ine’s AI Implementation Toolkit simplifies the process of creating policies, processes and assessment templates with our ready to use templates and expert support. A comprehensive toolkit of actions schools need to take to implement AI compliantly, and how they need to integrate these with other areas of compliance, such as safeguarding and data privacy. Does Turing Trials leave you with a number of questions about what your school needs to do next? Our readiness toolkit can help you with what your school needs to deal with the scenarios the game presents.

We hope you download Turing Trials, use and enjoy it and hope to see you on one of our webinars this week! 

9ine company overview

9ine equips schools to stay safe, secure and compliant. We give schools access to all the expertise they need to meet their technology, cyber, data privacy, governance, risk & compliance needs - in one simple to use platform. For additional information, please visit www.9ine.com or follow us on LinkedIn @9ine.