The “Courage companion” – an AI-supported environment for training teenagers in handling social media critically and responsibly

Aprin, Farbod; Malzahn, Nils; Lomonaco, Francesco; Donabauer, Gregor; Ognibene, Dimitri; Kruschwitz, Udo; Hernández Leo, Davinia; Fulantelli, Giovanni; Hoppe, H. Ulrich

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29800-4_30

The “Courage companion” – an AI-supported environment for training teenagers in handling social media critically and responsibly

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Citation

Aprin F, Malzahn N, Lomonaco F, Donabauer G, Ognibene D, Kruschwitz U, Hernández-Leo D, Fulantelli G, Hoppe HU. The “Courage companion” – an AI-supported environment for training teenagers in handling social media critically and responsibly. In: Fulantelli G, Burgos D, Casalino G, Cimitile M, Lo Bosco G, Taibi D, editors. Higher education learning methodologies and technologies online: 4th International Conference, HELMeTO 2022, Palermo, Italy, September 21–23, 2022, Revised Selected Papers; 2022 Sep 21-23; Palermo, Italy. Cham: Springer; 2023. p. 395-406. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-29800-4_30

Abstract

The provision of toxic content and misinformation is a frequent phenomenon in current social media with specific impact and risks for younger users. We report on efforts taken in the project Courage to mitigate and overcome these threats through dedicated educational technology inspired by psychological and pedagogical approaches. The aim is to empower adolescents to confidently interact with and utilize social media and to increase their awareness and resilience. For this purpose, we have adopted approaches from the field of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, namely the provision of a virtual learning companion (VLC). The technical system is a browser-based environment that allows for combining a controllable social media space with a VLC as a plugin. This environment is backed by an API that bundles Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing algorithms for detecting and classifying different types of risks. The pedagogical scenarios that are supported by this technical environment and approach range from chat-based dialogues to more complex narrative scripts.