Students begin year-long AI and media literacy programme

Students from several Sint Maarten schools have begun a year-long programme covering film-making, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality and media literacy, The Daily Herald reported on Tuesday, 22 September. The project, called “A Step Beyond”, is run by Stichting EGO, led by Ria Uiterloo, with partners including Mediawegwijs and the National Institute of Arts, and is due to run until June 2027.

It began during Dominic High School’s weekly assembly, attended by about 400 students, according to the newspaper. Students learned how different camera shots shape a story and made storyboards for their own films, and Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs sat in on an AI lesson for almost an hour.

In “Film Your Life”, the part run by Mediawegwijs, participants will document their own lives in Sint Maarten over the year. Lessons will also cover how editing can change a video’s meaning, fake news, privacy, influencers, online identity, interviewing, vlogging and podcasting. Afternoons are for teachers and school leaders, and participating schools get access to Mediawegwijs’s English-language teaching portal. This week’s lessons end on Friday, 25 September, The Daily Herald reported.