When my son began the fourth grade, his trainer offered a thick sure packet of cursive writing worksheets. She mentioned that finishing the packet was elective, however provided that accomplished would her college students earn their “pen license” and transfer from years of pencil use to the holy grail, ink. Utilizing AI must also be earned; earned after turning into AI literate. Banning AI use in faculty lecture rooms is a pointless and exhausting endeavor. As a substitute, we must always be taught alongside our college students to change into AI literate. Our society is absolutely emerged within the AI period with almost half of US states releasing AI steering, the state of California signing legislature to incorporate AI literacy in K12 curriculum, and current steering from the US Dept of Training on AI implementation in postsecondary schooling. It’s crucial that each one of us, college students and college alike in larger ed establishments, be taught AI fundamentals and earn the fitting to make use of generative AI responsibly.
So, what does it imply to be AI literate? The reply to this query is altering every day and but, there are lots of sources to assist our college students and us construct consciousness, data, and talent in AI use. There are on-line quick programs that share lots of the similar AI literacy fundamentals, together with:
- Constructing consciousness of how AI is already being utilized in varied fields from healthcare to retail to schooling and extra
- Understanding AI vocabulary and acronyms, comparable to machine studying, deep studying, massive language fashions (LLMs), neural networks, and pure language processing (NLP)
- Critique abilities to uncover hallucinations, falsehoods, and biases within the output,
- Acknowledging privateness, security, and environmental issues
- Ability in immediate engineering, and 6. data and follow in AI makes use of in particular contexts
Collectively, with our college students, we are able to flip to many free on-line choices. Under is a brief listing I’ve found for myself and have offered to my college students:
- Components of AI: A web based course by MinnaLearn and the College of Helsinki to be taught the capabilities of AI via principle and sensible workouts.
- AI 101 for Lecturers: A collection of movies, with companion guides, on AI foundations for educators from collaborative companions – Code.org, Instructional Testing Service (ETS), Worldwide Society for Know-how in Training (ISTE), and Khan Academy.
- 2024 AI Literacy Canvas Module ( Request Type): This AI literacy Canvas module with a Inventive Commons CC BY-NC-SA license designed by the Heart for Instructing Excellence and Innovation (CTEI at Rush College, covers 4 areas of AI literacy: recognition, comprehension, important considering, and proficiency.
In the end, studying AI fundamentals does transcend quick on-line programs and requires iterative follow utilizing a wide range of AI instruments. As soon as everyone knows the fundamentals, we are able to use established frameworks to assist information extra knowledgeable discussions establishing dos and don’ts for accountable AI use in our programs. And sure, some, perhaps even many, will abuse the privilege of AI use in your class, and also you’ll discover a large splatter of blue cross-outs or black ink smudges, however it’s nonetheless higher than banning pens utterly. Let’s present avenues to enhance our consciousness, data, and abilities in AI use as all of us collectively determine learn how to handle in a future world the place AI shall be embedded in our work.
Madeline Craig is an affiliate professor and know-how integration coordinator at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY. In bettering her personal AI data and talent, she depends on her skilled studying networks on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and ISTE CONNECT whereas on the similar time taking part in with all kinds of AI instruments.
References
Klein, A. (2024, September 11). ‘A Stable Begin’: States are crafting AI steering for colleges, however have extra to do. Training Week. https://www.edweek.org/know-how/a-solid-start-states-are-crafting-ai-guidance-for-schools-but-have-more-to-do/2024/09
Lambert, D. (2024, October 4). California college students to find out about AI and media literacy quickly. EdSource. https://edsource.org/updates/california-students-to-learn-about-ai-and-media-literacy-soon?utm_source=ai-admin.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=e-newsletter&utm_campaign=the-ace-ai-literacy-framework&_bhlid=ffb2ed35f7f7c84088bcb6b4caa5765a8f6854e1
Miao,F. & Cukurova, M. (2024). AI competency framework for academics. UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.54675/ZJTE2084
U.S. Division of Training, Workplace of Instructional Know-how. (2024). Navigating Synthetic Intelligence in Postsecondary Training: Constructing Capability for the Highway Forward, Washington, DC.
