AI and Teen Programming: How does it match up?

 

                                                                    Image by Micah Miner

 

Digital Citizenship is key to creating a kind future society. If one can be respectful and caring in an anonymous field--nameless and faceless--and feel accountability regardless of their anonymity, then I find that to be promising for the world. With that being said, teaching Digital Citizenship to teens should be of the highest priority in our increasingly technological world. Can we trust AI with such an important task? We shall see! 

For today's blog post, I prompted ChatGPT to create a program meant for a public library setting, for high schoolers in particular. This is what it generated in whole: 

📚 Digital Citizenship Program for High Schoolers

Hosted by: [Your Library Name]

Program Title: “Digital YOU: Navigating the Online World with Confidence”

Target Age Group: Grades 9–12 (ages 14–18)

Duration: 4 weekly sessions (1.5–2 hours each)

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🎯 Program Goals

• Teach teens to be responsible, respectful, and safe digital citizens.

• Encourage critical thinking about online behavior and media.

• Build awareness of digital footprints, privacy, and cyberbullying.

• Provide hands-on experience with tools and resources.

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🗓️ Program Outline (4 Weeks)

Session 1: What is Digital Citizenship?

Topics Covered:

• Definition & importance of digital citizenship

• Rights & responsibilities online

• Digital footprints & online identity

Activities:

• Icebreaker: “What's your digital day?” (Students map out how they use the internet in a typical day)

• Group discussion: “Would you post that in real life?”

• Mini video & quiz: Common Sense Media video on digital footprint

Take-home Challenge:

• Google yourself and write a reflection: “What does the internet say about me?”

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Session 2: Privacy, Security & Scams

Topics Covered:

• Protecting personal information

• Password safety

• Phishing & online scams

• Surveillance & data tracking

Activities:

• Interactive game: “Phishing Detective” (spot the scam emails)

• Build a strong password competition

• Library Tech Staff Q&A on data privacy

Take-home Challenge:

• Use a password manager or change weak passwords at home.

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Session 3: Media Literacy & Fake News

Topics Covered:

• How to fact-check information

• Understanding bias and algorithms

• Spotting misinformation

Activities:

• Meme breakdown: Truth vs. exaggeration

• “News Detective” – a game where students investigate whether articles are real or fake

• Use tools like Snopes, Media Bias/Fact Check

Take-home Challenge:

• Find and report one piece of misinformation from social media

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Session 4: Online Respect & Well-being

Topics Covered:

• Cyberbullying and digital drama

• Digital etiquette (netiquette)

• Screen time & mental health

Activities:

• Role-play scenarios: How to respond to online conflict

• Group brainstorm: “Rules for a Healthy Online Life”

• Guided journaling on social media and self-worth

Wrap-Up:

• Students create their own “Digital Citizenship Pledge”

• Certificates of completion + optional showcase of student reflections/posters

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📋 Logistics & Materials Needed

• A/V setup (projector, screen, speakers)

• Computers or tablets (optional for activities)

• Printed worksheets, pledge templates

• Internet access

• Optional guest speakers (cybersecurity expert, mental health professional)

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💡 Optional Add-Ons

• Parent Info Night: Tips for guiding teens online

• “Teen Tech Help” Table: Peer-to-peer support led by teen volunteers

• Poster or video contest: “What does a good digital citizen look like?”

Seems pretty great on the surface! I have to give Chat some credit--it came up with a really solid lesson plan :). Except that is just what it is--a lesson plan! Not a public library program. 

 

When working with the public, it is unrealistic to expect them to attend four different sessions on one topic, especially when it comes to teens. You will get either increasingly lower attendance, or you will have folks try to join in on lesson three and you'll have to turn them away--which is a not ideal for various reasons. 

 

Instead, one must think of a creative, engaging program that can be done in an hour, an hour and a half at the most when it comes to an educational program. For example, while taking in bits and pieces of Chat's answer, I would propose a program where students fill out a profile of themselves full of things that they already have, or would, post on social media. Whether that be pictures, tweets (X's?), video's, video captions, comments, or any other presence, they would collect it onto a "profile". Then, these profiles would be scattered and shared across other participants, so everyone gets a profile that is not theirs. From there, each person would write up a paragraph explaining what they think this person is like solely based off of their online presence. What type of assumptions will they make? Are those assumptions fair? Are they actually you? 

Hopefully, participants will learn that the assumptions they make about others online are most often not the truth. This is a large lesson to be learned that will help shape how they interact with other people online. Moreover, it helps teach them how they, themselves, can be viewed by those looking in, and it can help them decide how they wish to present themselves to the world. 

 

I would also provide snacks, of course :). Snacks are a great way to get teens to come in!

Overall, Chat did a solid job. It just needed to be tweaked a bit! It could not take into account the humanistic side of things--you would have to prompt it to keep the program under an hour and a half. Which is fine, of course, in the end Chat is simply an amalgam of human output that uses an insane amount of water for every use. I appreciated the ideas it offered, however, and I see its usefulness as a tool for librarians. I just wish it didn't have such a huge environmental impact!