KLAR4500 – Plain Language, AI Literacy and Democracy in the EU
Course description
Course content
Initiatives for what is often called plain language, clear language or lay language in governmental communication with citizens have gained momentum in recent years. The?ISO Standard for plain language communication?was issued in 2024 and is currently being implemented and translated into multiple languages. The EU commission and national governments (including Norway, Sweden, the US and New Zealand) have formal guidelines and/or legislation in place to ensure that governments communicate in a clear manner that enables citizens to ‘find, understand and make use of’ governmental information. This makes plain language initiatives a key feature of democracy.
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Yet despite a growing momentum for the importance of plain language, the reality is of course far more complex. Multiple dilemmas and challenges arise in the face of plain language policy and practice: How to ensure that clarity is not gained at the cost of specificity and correct information, e.g. in complex legal issues? How to facilitate that plain language is not reduced to proof reading, but is implemented in a manner that also transforms how governments relate to their constituents? How to enable plain language in the multilingual setting of the EU? How to ensure that plain language enables accountability, transparency and citizens’ empowerment, and not becomes a tool for deception, misinformation, and concealment of citizens’ rights?
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Furthermore, with the expansion of digital platforms and generative AI tools for preparing and circulating documents, governmental text production is undergoing massive changes that may both threaten and strengthen citizens’ empowerment. How may AI tools help empower citizens in their interaction with governments? How may they help governments do their work in a more efficient manner while also ensuring ethical, transparent and knowledge-based conduct? What knowledge and skills must be developed among organisations, bureaucracies, and citizens to build strong AI literacy across the EU and its member states?
Learning outcome
Knowledge:
- Overview of the history and state-of-the-art of plain language initiatives internationally
- Overview of key governmental systems in Europe (national and international)
- Overview of key document genres within politics, bureaucracy and law
- Basic understanding of AI legislation and AI literacy initiatives at the EU level
- Basic understanding of large language models and generative AI, including AI ethics
Specific skills:
- Critically apply principles of plain language in practical textual communication
- Critically apply generative AI tools relevant for plain language
- Articulate the relation between language, texts and democracy
General skills:
- Methods of digital source criticism
- Recognise and distinguish documents in the most common legal and governmental genres
Admission to the course
Students must be enrolled in a Master`s Degree Programme at University of Oslo or one of the Circle U. Partner Universities. Contact your home institution regarding questions about getting the course approved as part of your degree.?
The number of participants on this course is limited to a total of 31 students. In case of more than 24 eligible applicants from partner universities (7 spots are reserved for UiO-students), eligible applicants will be pooled together and chosen at random to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to participate. Please note that applicants are not guaranteed admission to the course even if they are qualified.
You must cover your own expenses for travel and stay for the physical week in Louvain. Students may apply their home university for short-term funding through Erasmus+. For UiO students see our information page about Erasmus funding.
How to apply:?
UiO-students:?
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Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb. 7 spots have been reserved for UiO students who apply for admission in the first round of course registrations (2-10 December). Those who are not admitted in this round can apply for admission by 6 January.?
Partner Universities:?
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Partner Universities apply for admission?through this web form?- https://nettskjema.no/a/570838 Deadline: March 1.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Students must be admitted to an MA programme
The course assumes a high proficiency in written and oral English.
Overlapping courses
- 5 credits overlap with KLAR2500 – Plain Language, AI Literacy and Democracy in the EU.
Teaching
The course consists of:
- a mandatory one-day digital seminar (to be held one month in advance of block seminar)
- a mandatory one week block seminar from the 22th to the 26th of June 2026 at the Louvain campus in Brussels, Belgium.
- one mandatory written assignment to be approved (pass/fail) between the digital seminar and the physical course week. The assignment will be given at the end of the digital seminar. The assignment must be approved for the student to attend the physical course week in Louvain and to qualify to sit for the exam.
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The course week will include lectures in the morning and supervised group work in the afternoon. The week will also include a field trip to the European Commission.
The course is organised through Circle U and will have lecturers from across the alliance: UiO, UC Louvain (Brussels), University of Pisa, Humboldt (Berlin) and King’s College London.
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Specified amount of teaching and student activities:
- Digital seminar: 6h lectures?
- Physical course week: 4*3h lectures + 1 field trip (4h)?
- Supervised group work: 2*3h
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Total: 18h lectures + 4h field trip + 6h group work.
Examination
To qualify for the course week in Louvain and the exam, your mandatory written assignment must have been approved (pass).?
The exam is a group exam to be prepared during the course week and presented on the last day of the course week in the format of a mini-conference. The exam assignment will be given on the first day of the physical course week.
Language of examination
The examination questions are given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about?the grading system.
Resit an examination
A term paper or equivalent that is passed may not be resubmitted in revised form.
If you?withdraw from the exam?after the withdrawal deadline, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- How to use AI as a student
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.