For students
The classroom is not the starting point. The real work is.
HxDF is not beginning with a cohort. It is beginning with real problems in real community organizations, and student learning grows out of that work rather than being invented ahead of it. Nothing for students is running yet, and this page says exactly where each piece stands.
Can a student join something right now?
No. Nothing for students is running. HxDF is starting with organizations, because a student program built before there is real work to learn on ends up teaching a simulation. The first student step is a small apprenticeship alongside live projects, and the AI Operations Lab, described further down this page, comes after that. What a student can use today is the free guides, and the tools as they are built.
- Running today
- Nothing for students
- First student step
- Apprenticeship, alongside real projects
- Usable now
- The published guides
The order
Five steps, and the student part is at the end on purpose.
A program built after there is real work has actual problems, actual partners, and actual mentors who have done the thing. A program built before it has a syllabus.
- 01
Real community problems
HxDF audits organizations and builds fixes. This happens first, and it is the thing everything else grows out of.
- 02
HxDF builds, and learns
Doing the work produces something a curriculum cannot: real constraints, real failures, and real problems worth learning on.
- 03
Tools and resources
What is learned becomes free tools and published guides. Any student, family, or educator can use these today without a program.
- 04
Student apprenticeship
Future conceptA small number of students working alongside real projects. This is the first student step, and it comes before a cohort rather than after it.
- 05
AI Operations Lab
ProposedThe full cohort program, once there is real work to learn on, screened mentors, agreed partner sites, and safeguarding in force.
The AI Operations Lab · Proposed
When it runs, it will be closer to a studio than a class.
A community organization brings a process that is costing them time. Your team figures out how it works, designs something better, builds it with AI and digital tools, tests it with the people who will use it, and presents what changed. Then it runs without you.
What you leave with
- 01
Capability profile
A skills record showing what the student can independently do.
- 02
Portfolio project
A documented real problem and the tested solution, prototype, or workflow intervention delivered to the partner.
- 03
Impact evidence
A before and after measure such as time, throughput, accuracy, or completion.
- 04
Responsible AI review
A written explanation of risk, verification, privacy, and human oversight.
- 05
Public showcase
A presentation or demonstration for families, partners, and sponsors.
The outcome is not a grade. It is something you built, running, and the ability to explain it.
Proposed first pilot
Targets, not history.
Nothing below has happened yet. These are the plans the first cohort is being designed around.
- Students
- 15 Oakland high school students
- Length
- 8 to 10 weeks
- Cohorts
- one cohort
- Partners
- about 3 nonprofit partners supplying real problems
Six stages · The design
Explore. Command. Architect. Deploy. Demonstrate. Reflect.
Every stage produces something you can show. Click through.
Stage 01 of 06
Explore
Understand how digital systems and AI actually behave, and how they fail.
Students open the hood on feeds, recommendation systems, AI models, and the platforms that decide what they see. They learn where these systems break, who benefits when they do, and how to tell.
What a student can say afterward
“I know why my feed looks the way it does, and I can explain it to someone else.”
Evidence of capability
Can explain a digital system and name its assumptions or failure points.
Stage 02 of 06
Command
Break a problem into tasks, direct AI tools, verify what comes back.
Prompting, task decomposition, structured research, and verification. Students learn to give clear instructions, constrain a system, and check its output before trusting it.
What a student can say afterward
“I can get useful work out of an AI tool, and I know when it's wrong.”
Evidence of capability
Reliably produces useful AI assisted work and catches errors before acting on them.
Stage 03 of 06
Architect
Map a real workflow, find the bottleneck, design the solution.
A partner organization brings a real bottleneck. Students map the workflow, find the friction, define inputs and outputs, and design a solution with humans, tools, data, and controls in the right places.
What a student can say afterward
“I turned a messy problem into a blueprint someone could actually follow.”
Evidence of capability
Produces a tested workflow blueprint with decision points and safeguards.
Stage 04 of 06
Deploy
Build it, test it with real users, fix what breaks, measure the difference.
Students build the workflow, automation, or prototype, test it with the people who will use it, fix what breaks, and measure the change against the baseline.
What a student can say afterward
“Something I built is in the hands of a real organization, and I know what it changed.”
Evidence of capability
A tested solution, prototype, or workflow intervention delivered to the partner, with a before and after result. Deployed where the partner is ready.
Stage 05 of 06
Demonstrate
Present the problem, the solution, its limits, and what changed.
A public showcase for families, partners, and sponsors. Students present the before and after, walk through the system, and explain its limitations and what they would not automate. Explaining the limits is part of the grade.
What a student can say afterward
“I can stand in front of adults and explain what I built and where it falls short.”
Evidence of capability
A presentation or demonstration a partner organization would recognize as accurate.
Would feed the future Student Digital Home concept.
Stage 06 of 06
Reflect
Document what worked, what failed, and how to improve it responsibly.
Every project ends with a written reflection and a responsible AI review covering risk, verification, privacy, and human oversight. The project, the evidence, and the reflection go into the student's own record, and become the base for the next project.
What a student can say afterward
“I can say what I'd do differently, and why. And I have proof of what I can do.”
Evidence of capability
A documented reflection, a responsible AI review, and a portfolio entry in the student's own words.
Would feed the future Student Digital Home concept.
Real problems
The kinds of problems you will take on.
Project types from the program design. The first cohort's actual projects will be listed here with partner permission.
01
AI assisted intake workflow
A community program that takes requests by phone, email, and walk in
Design an intake workflow that captures the request once, routes it to the right person, and tracks the followup, with staff reviewing every step that touches a real person.
02
Verification protocol
A youth organization worried about manipulated images and rumors
Build a simple protocol for checking whether a photo, video, or claim is real before it spreads, and teach it to peers.
03
Knowledge system
A nonprofit whose families speak four languages
Create an FAQ system that answers common questions in the family's language, with human review before anything is published.
04
Reporting workflow
A small organization that spends days each month assembling reports
Automate the repetitive steps of a recurring report while keeping staff in control of what goes out and why.
05
Administrative automation
A community group that loses volunteers between sign up and first shift
Map the gap, redesign the onboarding sequence, automate the reminders, and measure how many people make it to their first day.
06
Workflow blueprint
A neighborhood nonprofit with one painful process
Document the process, redesign it, pilot the change, and measure time saved.
What capable means
Seven things you will be able to do.
HxDF teaches a capability stack, not a tool. The tools will change. These will not. Each one has a test: can you show it?
Photographs will come from HxDF programs, with permission. No stock imagery.
- Understand
How digital systems, algorithms, AI models, platforms, and workflows behave.
Evidence Can explain a system and identify its assumptions or failure points.
- Question
How to verify information, test outputs, identify bias, and recognize manipulation.
Evidence Can challenge an AI or digital output before acting on it.
- Direct
How to give clear instructions, structure prompts, define objectives, and constrain systems.
Evidence Can reliably produce useful AI assisted work.
- Architect
How to map a problem into a workflow with humans, tools, data, and controls.
Evidence Can design a functioning process or automation blueprint.
- Deploy
How to test, document, improve, and hand over a real solution, and launch it where the partner is ready.
Evidence Can demonstrate a tested project with measurable results.
- Protect
How to manage privacy, identity, security, synthetic media, and operational risk.
Evidence Can identify and mitigate common digital and AI risks.
- Measure
How to define success and quantify efficiency, quality, reach, or opportunity.
Evidence Can show before and after evidence.
Mentors
You will work with people who do this for a living.
AI, systems, product, operations, design, and safety mentors from the Bay Area's working world. They do not give you the answer. They help you find it, test it, and defend it.
Safety
Built to be safe, not just supervised.
Screened adults, supervised sessions, AI tools chosen and configured for your age, and a rule we teach from day one: never put personal information into an AI system that does not need it. Every project ends with a responsible AI review you write yourself.
Future concept
Future conceptA digital home for everything you are becoming.
Your growth should not disappear when a program ends. The Student Digital Home is a future concept: a private by default space that follows you, with journal, projects, growth, portfolio, and a time capsule. You would own it and decide who sees what. It does not exist yet, and it comes after the real programs.
My Journal
My Projects
My Growth
My Portfolio
My Future
My Time Capsule
My Companionfuture
My Opportunities
Further out
Eight things HxDF has not built.
Concepts for students and children, all future, each published with the thing it is designed against. Nothing aimed at children is built before independent child safety and privacy review.
For parents and guardians
Questions parents ask first.
More on families, safety, and the household side of technology in Navigate.
Does my student need to know how to code?
No. The Lab teaches students to understand systems, direct AI tools, map workflows, and build practical solutions. Code shows up only when a project needs it. Curiosity and willingness to work on a real problem are the requirements.
How much time does it take?
The Lab is designed as a cohort of roughly eight to ten weeks, with one working session a week plus project time. Exact schedule, location, and dates will be published with enrollment for the first cohort.
Who will my student work with?
A small team of peers, an HxDF instructor, and volunteer mentors who do this work professionally. Every adult who works with students is screened before placement, and every session is supervised.
What does it cost?
The Lab is designed to be delivered at no cost to students and families, funded by sponsors. This will be confirmed before enrollment opens.
What does my student leave with?
A completed project for a real organization, a written reflection, a capability profile, and a portfolio entry they can use for scholarships, internships, and applications.
Student and family interest
Tell us you're interested.
A parent or guardian should complete this. Students 13 or older can fill it in with a parent beside them. We will contact the parent or guardian listed when enrollment opens, with dates, location, and everything a family needs to decide.
Adults who want to help