Adults bring experience
Do not infantilize, rush, test publicly, or assume inability. Invite questions without requiring disclosure.
AIforBC Learning · Pilot curriculum
Facilitator Guide
AI Confidence for Older Adults · Four supported sessions
Pilot material
Use with a partner-approved facilitator, local accessibility plan, device-support plan, and escalation contacts. Record issues and revise after the pilot.
Program standard
Facilitate confidence, choice, and safe habits.
Offer more than one path
Read aloud, demonstrate, provide print, support zoom and assistive tools, and let people work with a partner.
Practise with fictional data
No passwords, account numbers, private messages, medical details, government identifiers, or confidential records.
Before the first session
Partner and room checklist
- Confirm the learner group, language needs, accessibility needs, devices, accounts, and internet access.
- Provide a named partner contact for accessibility, technology, privacy, fraud-support, and incident escalation.
- Test display size, contrast, audio, captions, seating, power, Wi-Fi, printing, and a non-digital backup.
- Use an approved demonstration account with history/training settings reviewed and no personal information.
- Prepare fictional scenarios and printed cards in large text.
- State that observation is allowed and account creation is not required for the essential learning.
- Choose a maximum group size that the available facilitator and device helpers can support.
Session 01
Meet AI without the hype
Observable outcome
Learners can describe AI as a tool that produces plausible answers and may be helpful, wrong, or misleading.
75-minute flow
- Welcome, confidence baseline, and group agreements — 15 min
- Plain-language demonstration: search, AI answer, official source — 15 min
- What AI can and cannot do sorting activity — 20 min
- Guided comparison practice — 15 min
- Review, take-home card, questions — 10 min
Facilitator note
Avoid technical history and model jargon. Say what action the learner should take when unsure. Let learners observe without using a device.
Evidence to record
Record whether learners completed the practice with support, which step caused friction, which explanation worked, and what must change before the next cohort. Do not record unnecessary personal information.
Session 02
Ask for everyday help
Observable outcome
Learners can use a safe question recipe for a draft, explanation, checklist, plan, or translation.
75-minute flow
- Review and confidence check — 10 min
- Demonstrate the safe question recipe — 15 min
- Identify details that should stay private — 15 min
- Paired practice with fictional scenarios — 25 min
- Save or print a useful result and review — 10 min
Facilitator note
Use fictional names, dates, addresses, health details, and account information. Do not ask learners to share why they need a task completed.
Evidence to record
Record whether learners completed the practice with support, which step caused friction, which explanation worked, and what must change before the next cohort. Do not record unnecessary personal information.
Session 03
Check before you trust
Observable outcome
Learners can isolate a claim, locate a trusted source, compare the information, and state uncertainty.
75-minute flow
- Review the safe question recipe — 10 min
- Demonstrate a convincing incorrect answer — 15 min
- Teach stop, check, compare — 15 min
- Small-group verification activity — 25 min
- Review trusted-source examples — 10 min
Facilitator note
Choose low-consequence examples. Never use the activity to resolve an individual medical, legal, benefits, immigration, or financial question.
Evidence to record
Record whether learners completed the practice with support, which step caused friction, which explanation worked, and what must change before the next cohort. Do not record unnecessary personal information.
Session 04
Protect yourself from scams
Observable outcome
Learners can pause, use a separate trusted channel, refuse unusual payment demands, and tell someone when content may be fraudulent.
75-minute flow
- Review warning signs without fear-based language — 10 min
- Family-emergency voice scenario — 15 min
- Deepfake investment video scenario — 15 min
- Suspicious support-message scenario — 15 min
- Build a personal verification plan — 10 min
- Completion check and partner supports — 10 min
Facilitator note
Do not ask learners to disclose prior fraud or loss. Have a private path to local support and official reporting information. Do not diagnose whether a live message is fraudulent in front of the group.
Evidence to record
Record whether learners completed the practice with support, which step caused friction, which explanation worked, and what must change before the next cohort. Do not record unnecessary personal information.
Scenario scripts
Use fictional, low-pressure practice.
Community-event checklist
“Create a simple checklist for attending a fictional community event. Include what to bring and questions to ask. Do not include any real address, health need, or account information.”
Office-hours claim
Present an AI answer containing an incorrect fictional opening time. Ask learners to identify the claim and verify it on the organization’s official page or by calling an official number.
Urgent family call
A caller claims to be a relative, demands secrecy, and requests immediate payment. Practise hanging up, calling a known number, using a family verification phrase, and telling a trusted person.
Evaluation
Measure capability without creating a test atmosphere.
| Measure | Baseline | Completion evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence | How confident are you choosing whether to use an AI tool? 1–5. | Repeat the same question and invite a reason. |
| Privacy | Identify which sample details should not enter the tool. | Learner removes sensitive details from a fictional prompt. |
| Verification | Ask how the learner would check an answer. | Learner finds or names an independent trusted source. |
| Fraud response | Ask what they would do with an urgent unusual request. | Learner pauses, uses another channel, refuses payment, and tells someone. |
| Task completion | Record whether the chosen task is new. | Learner completes it independently, with support, or chooses not to use AI. |
Success includes an informed choice not to use AI. Report cohort-level patterns and accessibility issues; avoid presenting a small pilot as representative of all older adults.
Escalation
Know when teaching stops and support begins.
- For an active suspected fraud, stop the demonstration and use the partner’s private support and official reporting process.
- For health, legal, financial, benefits, immigration, or emergency questions, refer the learner to an appropriate authoritative service.
- For a privacy concern, avoid copying the information and follow the partner’s privacy or incident process.
- For distress, coercion, or accessibility barriers, offer a private conversation with the designated partner contact.