Development of an Online Workshop in Developing AI-Driven Mobile Application: Design and Analysis of Aidea Workshop 2021

Abstract

Technology literacy is one of the most important skills of the 21st century. Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a vital role in today’s life. It deliberately and unintentionally infiltrates a part of every human life on Earth. Understanding its essence is not only a challenge for computer scientists or software engineers, but also for every world citizen who does not wish to be left behind in the past world. In addition, many AI developers are mired in models that are elegant but not feasible to implement in the real world. In this study, we introduce an end-to end process of an online workshop in developing AI-Driven mobile application for solving real problems that participants encountered in daily life through the lens of design thinking that is entirely inspired by Green oak! application. This ranges from teaching them a basic understanding of artificial intelligence, essential algorithms to building model architecture with a ready-made platform (Microsoft Azure and PerceptiLabs), and how to brainstorm with team members in order to work together effectively. In addition to opening up participants’ worldview towards AI, this workshop model also develops their soft skills by practicing logic, discussing issues, and interacting within and between teams. We brought the developed workshop model to experiment with a sample of Generation Z people in Thailand who attended the “Aidea Workshop 2021” event. In summary, we found that 100% of workshop participants understand basic knowledge about AI, be able to develop a simple model from an assigned database, 4 out of 5 participants can pass a quiz (get 6 of 8 marks) we created to assess the effectiveness of each activity, 98% want to pass on the knowledge from the activity to the people around them and want this activity to happen again, and over 90.9% are interested in learning more about AI and the mathematics behind it. All of this was done in response to our research team’s ultimate goal of being a middleman to transfer technology knowledge to people in society to make the digital ecosystem a reality.