Best for
Project-based learning, presentations, digital design tasks, and summative or formative assessment in AI ethics units.
Digital Technologies / English / Social Inquiry • Years 9-10 • Assessment-ready
AI Ethics Project Rubric
Use this rubric to make expectations explicit for AI ethics design projects. It helps kaiako and ākonga see that success is not just about polished slides or clever tools, but also about tikanga, harm prevention, fairness, and community accountability.
Use the rubric, then generate your local version
Once the class understands the base criteria, use Te Wānanga to generate a version matched to your project brief, year level, or local context.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use timing: Introduce at the start of the project, revisit mid-way, and use again before final submission.
- Best grouping: Whole-class unpacking first, then student self-check or peer feedback.
- Prep: Decide whether you want the rubric to stay generic or include a local issue, iwi context, or school-specific AI challenge.
- Teaching move: Keep reminding students that quality includes ethics, not just technical polish.
Resources already provided
- Clear criteria for tikanga, harm prevention, and communication
- Grade-band language students can understand
- Teacher moderation support
- Curriculum companion for planning and reporting
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning what quality looks like in an AI ethics project.
- We are learning how to judge design decisions using fairness, harm prevention, and tikanga.
- We are learning how to communicate ethical thinking clearly and persuasively.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain the criteria in student-friendly language.
- I can use the rubric to improve my own project before submission.
- I can show that ethics and cultural care are part of quality, not extras.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This rubric is strongest when the curriculum links are explicit for digital systems, ethical inquiry, communication, and project work. Use the companion page to support planning, moderation, and reporting.
Project task summary
Design an AI tool, process, or response that is shaped by tikanga and community care. Present:
- a prototype or concept mock-up
- a short ethics justification
- a spoken explanation of how the design protects people, not just efficiency
Assessment criteria
| Criterion | What strong work shows |
|---|---|
| Tikanga integration | Design choices are clearly tied to values such as manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, or tino rangatiratanga. |
| Problem-solution fit | The project responds to a real issue and explains why the proposed AI approach is appropriate. |
| Harm prevention | The student identifies likely harms and designs specific protections or safeguards. |
| People over profit | The project shows who it serves and how community wellbeing is prioritised over convenience or commercial logic. |
| Prototype and communication | The concept is understandable, coherent, and well explained to an audience. |
Student self-check before submission
- Have I named the problem clearly?
- Have I explained who may be harmed or excluded?
- Have I shown how tikanga shapes the design?
- Have I made it clear who controls the technology and why that matters?
- Could someone else understand and evaluate my idea from what I have presented?
One thing I still need to strengthen before submitting:
How I will address it:
Teacher moderation prompts
- Is the tikanga language genuinely shaping the project, or just added on top?
- Has the student identified specific harms and realistic safeguards?
- Does the project show an Aotearoa context, not just a generic tech solution?
- Would a community affected by this tool feel represented and protected?
Teach this tomorrow
Print / share
- This rubric
- The project brief students are working from
Decide before class
- Whether students will self-assess, peer assess, or co-construct examples of each criterion
- Whether you want the rubric adapted for your local project focus
Look for by the end
- Students know what quality means before they present
- Assessment expectations are visible, fair, and culturally grounded
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Curriculum alignment for this handout has not yet been verified against the live curriculum statements. A generated placeholder that stood here was removed on 2026-08-29 because it matched no real statement.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, data and knowledge are not neutral — they carry whakapapa and obligations. Māori Data Sovereignty (Mana Motuhake i ngā Raraunga) holds that Māori have the right to govern, own, and interpret data about themselves and their communities. When digital systems are designed without this understanding, they risk perpetuating colonial patterns of extraction: taking knowledge from communities without accountability or benefit-sharing. The concept of kaitiakitanga extends naturally to the digital realm — guardianship of what is collected, stored, and shared about us is as important as guardianship of land, water, and living knowledge systems.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.