There’s a lot of discussion in higher education about “AI literacy” and the need to teach it but less clarity about what AI literacy really is. Once we understand what AI literacy is, we will see how and why we need to teach it.
Think back to your first year as a college student. In September and October, you were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, walking in with a fresh stack of notebooks, organized notes, color-coded highlighters, and every intention of being the student who stayed ahead. For the first few
Traditional instructor-led videos, such as introductory videos and module overviews with assignment details, can offer students valuable guidance. But these are often prerecorded for repurposing and may not align with the students’ immediate needs or any portion of the course when they need the most
Many of us worry that generative AI will do students’ thinking for them. But what if the process of generating AI content—in this case, an image—actually forces a deeper level of critical analysis? To facilitate critical thinking skills about AI, we designed an assignment that
Feedback is one of the most important influences on learning, and providing it is one of an instructor’s most important duties. But it’s no secret that many, if not most, faculty consider providing students with feedback to be drudgery. AI provides a way to offload
Although a range of pedagogical methods use storytelling, evidence of their connection to academic outcomes in specific disciplines is lacking. We present a form of biographical storytelling with the potential to improve academic outcomes. It has five components: narrative structure, characters, emotional resonance, imagery and
While AI is being used to make self-tests, study aids, and a wide range of other learning materials, tutoring systems have arguably the most potential to improve student understanding and performance. Programmed to mimic human tutors, these systems engage in a Socratic dialogue with the
Teaching and learning scholars have widely recognized undergraduate research experiences (UREs) as high-impact practices that substantially influence student retention, learning, and professional outcomes (Lopatto, 2004; Williams & Xu, 2020). Though much research about UREs has focused on experiences in the sciences, UREs provide a foundation
Educators are always looking for ways to make learning more engaging and accessible. Thinglink is an interactive media platform that allows instructors to turn visual content into clickable interactive experiences. By adding “hot spots,” instructors can embed text, audio, video, or links to web resources.
AI has opened a world of new opportunities for student learning. I have discussed how instructors can easily add interactions to their learning material, tutors to their classroom, and digital laboratory simulations that allow students to test how a process changes with different inputs. But
