Youth in the Digital and AI Era: Connection, Participation, and the Future of Work
Explore how AI, algorithms, and digital platforms are transforming youth experiences and society.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
3 hours100% online
How it works
Youth in the Digital and AI Era: Connection, Participation, and the Future of Work
This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.
Question the algorithms shaping the next generation
Algorithms recommend what we watch. Platforms shape how we connect. AI increasingly influences what we see, share, believe, and even imagine for our futures.
But what does growing up in an AI-driven world actually mean?
On this online course, you’ll examine how digital technologies and artificial intelligence are reshaping youth experiences, social connections, and everyday life.
Across three weeks, you’ll investigate how AI and digital society are transforming the ways people connect, participate, and prepare for the future.
Unpack life in the digital age
Begin by exploring what it means to grow up surrounded by platforms, data, and connected technologies.
You’ll examine how online communities, algorithms, and digital technologies shape social connections, wellbeing, and belonging, while reflecting on how online and offline experiences increasingly overlap.
Investigate participation, identity, and digital inclusion
Digital spaces create opportunities, but they can also introduce new challenges.
Attention then turns to youth participation, online visibility, and the ways platforms influence who gets heard, included, or excluded.
You’ll engage with ideas around digital inequalities, support networks, and experiences of marginalisation in an increasingly connected world.
Navigate the future of AI and youth
AI is changing more than technology - it’s changing expectations around education, work, and opportunity.
You’ll examine how automation and AI are reshaping future careers, emerging skills, and social systems, alongside the ethical questions these changes raise.
By connecting ethical AI with youth experiences, the course encourages a more thoughtful understanding of how young people might shape - and be shaped by - the future of digital society.
Syllabus
Week 1
Youth in the Digital Age
Introduction to Course and Definitions of Youth
In this activity, we'll introduce the course and course team. Then, we'll look at definitions of youth and what it means to be young in the 21st century.
Rise of the Digital Age & Growing Up in the Digital Age
In this activity, we will consider how new digital technologies change the experience of growing up.
Online Interactions & Online Communities
This activity invites learners to explore Mark Wong's research on so-called "hidden" or socially withdrawn young people by reading selected sections of an academic article and examining the young people's own accounts.
Youth Wellbeing in the Digital Age
In this activity, we will consider strategies and policies for ensuring the wellbeing of young people in the digital age.
End of Week 1 Activities
For the final activity of the week, test your knowledge and see how much you've learned so far!
Week 2
Youth Civic Participation in the Digital Age
Welcome to Week 2
In this activity, we'll provide a short introduction to this new week of the course.
Key Concepts: Digital Participation and Online Activism
In this activity, we will explore key concepts that help us understand some general context on how political and civic participation has transformed as a result of new digital technologies.
Opportunities and Forms of Activism in the Digital Age
In this activity, we'll think about how technology has produced new opportunities, and challenges, for activism.
Risks and Democratic Challenges
In this activity, we will consider the bigger picture; have digital technologies had a negative effect on democratic society?
Slacktivism
In this activity, we will consider if the new forms of activism provided by digital technology are genuinely effective.
Policy Responses to Social Media and AI
In this activity, it is time to consider whether government responses to digital technologies can help us reduce the risks and harms.
End of Week 2 Activities
For the final activity of the week, test your knowledge and see how much you've learned so far!
Week 3
Youth and the Future of Work in the AI Age
Welcome to Week 3
In this activity, we'll introduce the third week of the course and discuss some of the biggest changes in work and employment for young people.
Youth Employment, Technology, and Political Economy
In this activity, we put recent technological changes into historical and political context.
The Changing Youth Labour Market
In this activity, we consider how the labour marker facing young people has changed in recent years. We use the video game industry as an example of these changes.
What Future for Youth Employment?
In this activity, we push back against some of the narratives that claim certain futures are "inevitable" and consider how best we can respond to technological change.
End of Week 3 Activities
For the final activity of the week, test your knowledge and see how much you've learned so far!
Who is this accredited by?
The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Evaluate youth policy approaches in relation to digital and AI-driven transformations
- Explore and apply research evidence, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual tools to support independent learning and critical reflection on the social impacts of digital technologies and AI
- Compare similarities and differences in how youth, policy, and digital governance are conceptualised and organised across cultural and national settings
- Identify how local and global technologies, including artificial intelligence, platforms, and data-driven systems, shape young people’s experiences, wellbeing, and social and political participation in contemporary digital societies
Who is the course for?
Designed for undergraduate learners, this course is suitable for anyone interested in AI, youth experiences, and digital society. It’s ideal for those curious about how technology influences identity, participation, wellbeing, and the future.
Who will you learn with?
Dr Ionut Cioarta is a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, UK. He teaches across various courses and topics, including Youth Policy, Designing Activism for Policy Change, Environmental Justice.
I'm a Lecturer in Social and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. My areas of interest include housing, social security, inequality, and wellbeing.
I'm a Professor of Social and Digital Policy at the University of Glasgow. My expertise is on racial justice, AI governance and policy, and public participation.
I'm a PhD student at the University of Glasgow where I research work in the creative sector, specialising in the video game industry. My teaching covers politics as well as creative work.
Who developed the course?
The University of Glasgow
Founded in 1451, the University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world. It is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK research universities.
Established
1451Location
Glasgow, Scotland, UKWorld ranking
Top 70Source: QS World University Rankings 2020
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Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Buy this course
$54/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Subscribe & save
$349.99 for one year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Start learning today
Free
Try this course - with limits
- Limited to 3 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
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