Activity Overview
This activity challenges students to redesign the YouTube recommendation algorithm to meet their needs and reduce bias.
Total Activity Time: 15 minutes
Materials:
YouTube Redesign (slides)
Options for Differentiation
- Assign students who finish their redesigns early to prepare a final presentation for the class. Preparation could include a) writing a script for themselves, b) adding a drawing of what their new YouTube would look like to users, c) practicing their presentation to get it under a certain time limit.
- Use other social media that students are more familiar with as examples to explain how different algorithms serve different purposes. For example, students might be more familiar with TickTock or Instagram. These are also AI that use recommender systems and would benefit from student redesign.
- Please note: Slide 6 is designed specifically for YouTube. If you use another recommender platform (like TickTock or Instagram) this slide will need to be revised. We recommend brainstorming types of data or datasets that these platforms might use with your students (or the students who are receiving this modification) and editing Slide 6 with them to replace what is listed in the boxes.