AI use is prevalent in the United States. In a recent Pew Research Center poll, “62% of U.S. adults reported that they interact with AI at least several times per week, and 46% of teens reported that they use chatbots at least several times per week.” U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework
Because It is likely that students will continue to use AI tools in their personal, school, and work lives, it is important that they receive information, guidance, and support in learning about AI and how to use it effectively, critically, and responsibly. That is, it is crucial that they become AI literate. AI literacy has been defined as “a set of competencies that enables individuals to critically evaluate AI technologies; communicate and collaborate effectively with AI; and use AI as a tool online, at home, and in the workplace.” (Long & Magerko, 2020)
According to a similar definition, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy refers to the ability to understand, use, and think critically about artificial intelligence. It includes knowing how AI tools work, using them responsibly and creatively, and recognizing their strengths, limits, and ethical and environmental impacts. AI literacy helps students make informed decisions about AI in academic, professional, and everyday settings.” What is AI Literacy?
Several sources have enumerated the components of AI literacy. Most commonly, they include understanding how AI works, knowing how to use it, being able to evaluate its outputs, and being aware of the ethical issues involved. For example, according to Harvard University’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, supporting students’ AI literacy means “helping students understand what generative AI tools are, how they work, and where their strengths and limitations lie.” This includes “how AI generates content, why it can sometimes produce errors or ‘hallucinations,’ and how to responsibly use and cite these tools”. AI Literacy & Ethics
Similarly, the US Department of Labor recently developed an AI literacy framework that focuses on five areas of AI knowledge:
- Understand AI principles: Know core AI concepts, capabilities, and limitations.
- Explore AI uses: Examine AI tools and their use, and how AI can complement human expertise.
- Direct AI effectively: Understand how to prompt AI and provide appropriate context to produce effective outputs.
- Evaluate AI outputs: Assess AI outputs for accuracy and relevance; learn how to further refine those outputs.
- Use AI responsibly: Learn how to employ AI ethically, protect critical information, and ensure accountability for outcomes.
U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework
The Student Guide to AI Literacy, created by the MLA-CCCC Task Force on Writing and AI, lists a more detailed set of competencies comprising Generative AI literacy for students. These include
- Have a basic understanding of how GenAI technologies work.
- Understand the policies and frameworks for the ethical use of GenAI outlined by your instructors and institutions.
- Know how to prompt GenAI to produce useful outputs.
- Evaluate the relevance, usefulness, and accuracy of GenAI outputs.
- Monitor your own learning as you use GenAI tools.
- Recognize that GenAI is fundamentally different from human communication.
- Understand the potential harms of GenAI, both those inherent to the technology and those that arise from misuse.
How can students learn these literacies? The US Department of Labor has also developed these 7 key principles for the effective delivery of AI learning:
- Enable experiential learning: Create hands-on learning experiences in real-world situations.
- Embed learning in context: Integrate learning into existing processes or characteristics of a given industry.
- Build complementary human skills: Use AI to augment human judgment, creativity, communication, and problem-solving.
- Address prerequisites to AI literacy: Address barriers such as foundational digital literacy and broadband access.
- Create pathways for continued learning: Create routes to develop enhanced and specialized AI skills.
- Prepare enabling roles: Equip managers, educators, and others to support people’s AI learning.
- Design for agility: Develop processes to quickly update content and delivery methods as AI evolves.
U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework
Harvard University’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning takes a broader perspective and recommends the following steps in communicating with students about AI use in a course:
- Include an AI policy on the syllabus.
- Post the policy on the course Canvas site, mention it in assignment prompts, and discuss it during class and individual meetings.
- Require students to disclose use of AI and the purpose for which it was used.
- If students are not permitted to use AI, design assignment that minimize AI’s utility (e.g., personal reflections, oral presentation, or in-class assignments).
- Model responsible AI use by being transparent about how your use it (e.g., preparing materials, generating content, or providing feedback).
- Encourage students to use AI thoughtfully and effectively as an aid in learning (e.g., generating study questions, analyzing content from multiple perspectives, or critiquing AI-generated output).
- Address ethical issues
- Academic honesty
- Bias and fairness
- Responsible use of technology (e.g., privacy, data security and environmental impact, and copyright and intellectual property)
Similarly, Caltech Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach offers the following general recommendations to instructors regarding teaching student AI literacies:
- Have frequent discussions with your students about learning. Discuss your course learning goals and why they are important. Use exam-wrappers, reflection questions, in-class quick writes, and class discussions to help students discover their own best methods for learning.
- Set clear guidelines with your students about what is allowed within the policies of your course. Issues to address include: Is AI use ever permissible or is it completely off-limits? Does its use need to be cited in work turned in? Consider having the class co-author a policy together after discussion.
- Provide incentives for the behaviors and habits that are associated with strong learning — for trying — as well as producing. Offer and assess (and reward) the numerous processes that are needed to be a strong learner in your course: reading, viewing, speaking, improving, reflecting on one’s learning, etc.
- Discuss the limitations and the value of using AI tools. Are there ways students can use AI to improve their editing and revising skills? How can students verify facts that may bey misrepresented by these tools? Can students learn to refine and improve work that is AI-generated?
- Keep equity in mind. Not every student will want to use or afford to create an account for these AI tools.
Resources for Teaching in the Age of AI
Thus, AI literacy includes skills such as “recognizing when and how generative AI is used, assessing the reliability and validity of AI-generated outputs, identifying the ethical and social implications stemming from the design and use of generative AI applications, and creating and communicating with generative AI systems in appropriate ways.”
Ethical AI for Teaching and Learning
Instructors can support students in attaining AI literacy by addressing these issues with them, both directly and indirectly, so that they can become “informed students, engaged citizens, and effective members of their chosen profession”.
Promoting students’ AI literacy
Sources
American Psychological Association
U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Should College Students Be AI Literate?
Oregon State University Ecampus
Promoting students’ AI literacy
Wheaton College Library Guides
What is AI literacy?
University of California/Davis College of Letters and Science
What is AI Literacy?
Modern Language Association Style Center
Student Guide to AI Literacy
Drexel University Teaching and Learning Center
Student Guide to AI Literacy
Harvard University Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
AI Literacy & Ethics
Caltech Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach
Resources for Teaching in the Age of AI
Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Generative Artificial Intelligence
Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Ethical AI for Teaching and Learning
Stefan Bauschard. Education Disrupted: Teaching and Learning in an AI World substack
Teaching AI Literacy and Developing Human Skills