When my son began the fourth grade, his trainer supplied a thick certain packet of cursive writing worksheets. She mentioned that finishing the packet was optionally available, 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 changing into AI literate. Banning AI use in faculty school rooms is a pointless and exhausting endeavor. As a substitute, we must always be taught alongside our college students to turn into AI literate. Our society is totally 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 latest steering from the US Dept of Schooling on AI implementation in postsecondary training. It’s crucial that every one of us, college students and school alike in larger ed establishments, be taught AI fundamentals and earn the correct to make use of generative AI responsibly.
So, what does it imply to be AI literate? The reply to this query is altering day by day and but, there are lots of sources to assist our college students and us construct consciousness, data, and ability 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 training and extra
- Understanding AI vocabulary and acronyms, similar 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 apply in AI makes use of in particular contexts
Collectively, with our college students, we are able to flip to many free on-line choices. Beneath is a brief listing I’ve found for myself and have supplied 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 by 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 Expertise in Schooling (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 Middle for Instructing Excellence and Innovation (CTEI at Rush College, covers 4 areas of AI literacy: recognition, comprehension, vital considering, and proficiency.
In the end, studying AI fundamentals does transcend quick on-line programs and requires iterative apply utilizing quite a lot 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 huge splatter of blue cross-outs or black ink smudges, but it surely’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 work out easy methods to handle in a future world the place AI will likely be embedded in our work.
Madeline Craig is an affiliate professor and know-how integration coordinator at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY. In enhancing her personal AI data and ability, she depends on her skilled studying networks on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and ISTE CONNECT whereas on the similar time enjoying 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. Schooling 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 study 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 Schooling, Workplace of Instructional Expertise. (2024). Navigating Synthetic Intelligence in Postsecondary Schooling: Constructing Capability for the Highway Forward, Washington, DC.
