Erasmus+ | KA220-SCH | School Education | Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey

Environmental crises -floods, wildfires, droughts – are no longer abstract threats for many of the students we work with. And yet most school programms still treat disaster education as peripheral: a unit somewhere in science, a poster about climate change. ALKI was designed to close that gap.

ALKI -AI Learning and Knowledge Integration for Future-Ready Environmental Crisis Solutions – brings together partners from Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, and Turkey to embed AI-driven, simulation-based crisis education into real school contexts. My role across the project is as learning designer and researcher, and the two functions are genuinely inseparable here.

The research work begins before anything is designed. A structured needs assessment across 660+ students and educators maps prior knowledge, risk perception, and familiarity with digital tools. This matters because learning design built on assumptions rather than evidence tends to miss the people it most needs to reach. The survey findings directly inform the instructional architecture that follows.

Methodology and learning theory

The design draws on several theoretical frameworks simultaneously: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle structures the progression from concrete experience to reflection and active experimentation; Problem-Based Learning and Project-Based Learning anchor the student workshops in real-world complexity; Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles ensure the materials work for diverse learners, including those with dyslexia, ADHD, and sensory impairments; and Social-Emotional Learning is woven throughout, because crisis readiness is not only cognitive – it requires emotional regulation and collective trust.

Technology

Technologically, the project integrates AI-powered adaptive simulations that personalize crisis scenarios based on learner responses, digital mapping tools for real-time crisis tracking, and gamified role-playing exercises. The ALKI Academy – an LMS with open-access resources – is designed to outlast the project itself.

What stays with me as a designer is the bottom-up logic. Students from disaster-affected regions don’t receive knowledge passively – they become ambassadors, run school missions, and co-create AI-based solutions in hackathons. The shift from awareness to genuine readiness is where learning design has its most demanding and most important work to do.

Running October 2025 – November 2027. Partners include the Regional Directorate of Education Thessaly, Alpha Omega Research and Consulting, Doukas School, the University of Perugia, Idea-Re, Doğa Schools, and La Salle-Buen Consejo.