Research Guides: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Teaching AI Literacy

Why AI Literacy?

AI Literacy is just another extension of existing principles for general Information Literacy, which encourages skill sets that empower individuals to interact constructively and ethically with information and technology, whether it is for personal, professional, or academic purposes.

AI Literacy is the ability to:

Critically engage with AI technologies
Communicate and collaborate effectively with AI
use AI as a tool online, at home, and in the workplace

Long, D., & Magerko, B. (2020). What is AI Literacy? Competencies and Design Considerations. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 598.

Information Literacy at UM

Faculty librarians at the Mansfield Library have developed a robust information literacy curriculum to help students succeed in higher education and prepare to navigate the information landscape as individuals, democratic participants, and workers in our communities. In November 2024, librarians revised the curriculum to acknowledge how AI literacy integrates into information literacy competencies.

A Framework for AI Literacy

The following table represents one of the many suggested frameworks for AI Literacy. Frameworks are intended to provide an approachable breakdown of concepts that, all together, make an AI literate individual. While the framework is intended to support you in your course development, it should not be viewed as prescriptive.

AI Literacy skill set

Provided definition

Potential current uses

"Know & Understand AI"

“Know the basic functions of AI and how to use AI applications.”

Integrating the history of AI tools; orienting students to the basic elements and limitations of Large Language Models (LLMs); identify relevant AI tools for student use in courses and when/how to use them

"Use & Apply AI"

“Applying AI knowledge, concepts, and applications in different scenarios.”

Using AI as a tutor, as a reviewer of student-produced for a course, etc.

“Evaluate & create [with or in] AI”

“Higher-order thinking skills (e.g., evaluate, appraise, predict, design) with AI applications.”

Evaluate the bias and accuracy of AI-produced content; create with tools that use AI technology or create AI-based tools.

“AI ethics”

	“Human-centered considerations (e.g., fairness, accountability, transparency, ethics, safety).”

Providing space to discuss course-specific and discipline-specific intersections of ethical AI use; debating these boundaries and applications, etc.

Table created by Oregon State University, Promoting Students' AI Literacy.

Based on Ng, D. T. K., Leung, J. K. L., Chu, S. K. W., & Qiao, M. S. (2021). Conceptualizing AI literacy: An exploratory review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2, 100041. https://10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100041

Other AI Literacy Frameworks

Leo, L.S. - Evaluating AI Literacy in Academic Libraries
The study proposes a framework defining core components of AI literacy tailored for libraries. The results offer insights to guide professional development and policy formulation as libraries increasingly integrate AI into their services and operations.
UNESCO - AI Competency Framework for Teachers
The first ever global framework of its kind, it has been designed to inform the development of national AI competency frameworks and professional training programmes for teachers, ensuring that they advance education as a public good. The framework aligns with UNESCO’s mission by advocating for a human-centered approach that integrates AI competencies for teachers with principles of human rights and human accountability.

Guide Discussions on AI With your Students

Potential of AI	Concerns around AI	Example Discussion Questions
Generate blog posts, emails, social media posts, or website content and more based on keywords, topics, or data	Gender and racial bias in AI algorithms	How can AI tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly help people with their writing? What are some of the concerns about gender and racial bias in AI tools? How can we mitigate gender and racial bias in generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini?
Create lesson plans, example problem sets, examples of content, etc. for students	Students may cheat or rely too much on AI AI may generate false data	What are the ethical implications for using AI tools for content creation in courses? What kind of citation or credit should be expected of instructors and students in our course when AI tools are used?
Exploring new forms of art and media from AI-generated images and creative works	Diminished human creativity and expression Copyright or intellectual property concerns with how AI systems gather data	What are some of the potential benefits of using AI tools for art and media creation? How can we ensure that AI tools are used in a way that benefits human creativity?
Reduction in errors in basic coding, writing samples, and so on	Lack of basic skill development and over-reliance on AI tools	{Insert example basic skills} are important in our field. How can we both use AI tools in our course while ensuring you learn basic skills to be able to grow as an expert in the field? How can we ensure that AI tools are used in a way that promotes basic skill development, including {important basic skills}?

Table is content adapted from NC State University's Teaching Resources: Developing an AI Syllabus Statement & Driving Class Discussion.

Additional Resources for Teaching AI Literacy

AI Pedagogy Project
This is an evolving collection of curated assignments that integrate AI tools from educators around the world.
Teaching About AI
The News Literacy Project provides resources, lesson plans, online quizzes, and more to help educators teach about AI.
News Literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits, and skills (2024)
In this inaugural News Literacy in America report, the News Literacy Project engaged SSRS to survey 1,110 American teenagers ages 13-18 to learn about their information attitudes, habits and skills and assess the state of
news literacy education in the United States.