SERVICE-LEARNING AND THE 2030 AGENDA IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STUDIES

In this paper we present the potential contributions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to sustainable and equitable development that is respectful of human rights, as against its potential risks. We argue how a particular approach to R&D, and by extension to the education of future professionals, could give this technology a decisive role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, we propose the Service-Learning methodology as a pedagogical tool for the education of intelligent technology engineers committed to the 2030 Agenda.

We illustrate our experience of virtual Service-Learnig in the context of a teaching innovation project promoted by the "Teaching Innovation for the Development of Ethical and Civic Skills and Community Methodologies in Higher Education" (COETIC) group of the Spanish National Distance Learning University (UNED). In this project, students from the UNED MSc. Degree in  Artificial Intelligence research are involved in an engineering process for developing culture-aware intelligent virtual learning environments for the collaborating African universities (Universities of Strathmore, Kenya; Porto Novo, Benin; and Dschang, Cameroon), while providing Spanish conversation  practice to the students of these universities.