The need for AI literacy in education
As the field of artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly evolves, school and district leaders are considering how applications of emerging technologies, including applications that use generative AI (Gen AI), will impact schools and districts across the United States. You need to understand what is integrated into it. There is a lot of uncertainty about what AI is, how it works, and its impact on students, families, educators, and the broader school community. School and district leaders share the challenges they face in using AI in teaching and learning. They are also concerned that existing inequalities in access to digital technologies and tools will be exacerbated, creating further structural barriers for students and communities. As we work with educators, students, and families, we hope that educators can use her AI to leverage these technologies to support all learners, especially those experiencing marginalization. I learned how important it is to understand literacy.
Just as AI is infiltrating our daily lives, it is also infiltrating entire school lives and subjects. AI literacy enables educators to understand how their AI works, how to evaluate it, and how to best adapt it to their discipline and learners. Additionally, demystifying AI will help people engage with AI technologies productively and responsibly in their social, personal lives, and careers.in digital promisewe strongly believe that AI literacy is a great place to start and is closely related to our knowledge. digital equity work.
What is AI literacy?
AI literacy apply 21st century skills, including communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.It is built on years of efforts Digital and media literacy and computational thinkingincludes elements from computer science, ethics, and additional areas beyond science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The skills and practices needed to work with AI are relevant across all disciplines. More importantly, AI has the ability to augment the learning landscape in specific areas, introducing new teaching strategies and conceptual applications. For example, students might train a machine learning system to recognize patterns in a math class, or test a text-to-speech system to see if it can distinguish between homonyms in English language arts. not.
In addition to disciplinary concepts, it also covers the appropriate use and timing of AI, the historical context of AI development, addressing bias, protecting the privacy of data shared with AI systems/tools, and ensuring fair access to AI tools. It is important to address areas such as security. , and considering that environment and human labor Considerations.
“There seems to be collective buy-in that AI has great potential to disrupt outdated education narratives. However, it has been emphasized time and time again that teachers need to professionally learn about AI. “Increasing educator competency in AI requires support across educational settings.” — EngageAI Institute forum participant, educator
Developing AI literacy through digital equity
Digital Promise develops processes, practices, and resources for districts to help educators develop AI literacy and leverage AI to enable powerful learning in K-12 learning environments. I am. These supports include:
- learning path Explicitly link classroom learning to cross-cutting initiatives such as AI. These pathways define K-12 learning opportunities across the system, are consistent across classrooms, cumulative by year, and competency-based.
- Professional learning experiences provide contextual support for educators to learn AI literacy and apply new technologies to their classrooms. We are working with many school districts to promote AI literacy in line with their ongoing efforts.
- Resources such as definitional frameworks and contextual examples are essential to support AI literacy efforts. We are developing these resources for education leaders to help them define and operationalize AI for educators.
Artificial intelligence, like other educational technologies, has the ability to reproduce existing inequalities in education. We have a longstanding commitment to equity and intentionally designing and implementing these educator supports in alignment with digital equity initiatives. We equip learners and families who have been historically and systematically excluded with the knowledge and skills they need to stay connected to their communities, provide information, and support them to fully participate in society. To deliver, we are working on three pillars: availability, affordability, and adoption.
We see the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence as an opportunity to design more inclusive learning environments. We have an ongoing partnership between learning scientists, designers, and practitioners to co-design content that is understandable, accessible, and relevant for practitioners in the field of digital equity. .
Read the new policy report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations and look Resources to improve digital equity for all learners.
For more information, Innovative School Federation how your school Verizon Innovative Learning School.
