AI-LITERATE at Media and Learning 2026: Co-designing AI Literacy Education Across Borders

The AI-LITERATE project was well represented at the Media and Learning 2026 conference, where two consortium partners shared research and insights from the project's ongoing work.

Nicola Bruno from Dataninja, Italy offered a behind-the-scenes look at how the AI-LITERATE consortium is co-designing its blended learning programme on Generative AI and disinformation. Rather than dividing curriculum development among individual authors, partners from Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Poland and Belgium built the programme together — starting from shared baseline research, identifying case studies of AI-driven disinformation across all partner countries, meeting in two live workshops, and co-creating over 30 days on a shared digital workspace. The process transformed an expansive collection of ideas into a comprehensive blended learning programme weaving together media literacy, instructional design, psychology, fact-checking and communication studies. The result is a replicable model for designing AI literacy education collaboratively across institutions and countries.

Lúcia Mesquita from Lusófona University, Portugal presented findings from a multi-country analysis of how higher education institutions in Portugal, Italy, Croatia and Poland are integrating artificial intelligence into their policies, governance and educational practices. Drawing on a multi-level analytical framework, the presentation examined institutional approaches to AI literacy, ethics, agency, risk, equity and resilience to disinformation — surfacing both shared European trends and important national differences. The key takeaway: effective AI governance in higher education demands stronger alignment between policy, institutional strategies and pedagogical practice.

Together, the two presentations reflected the project's dual commitment — to building collaborative, cross-border educational frameworks and to grounding them in rigorous analysis of how institutions are actually responding to the AI challenge.