Marc Watkins – Introductory Course: AI Literacy and AI Assistance

The introductory course covers AI literacy, ethics, AI detection and how to incorporate AI-powered writing, reading, research, and feedback assistants.

What You’ll Learn In AI Literacy and AI Assistance?

AI Literacy: The Foundation 1.1 Emergent Practice

As educators, our first step into the world of generative AI is to arm ourselves with knowledge about the benefits and limitations of this technology. This pathway is designed to help you understand the mechanics of AI, empowering you to inform both yourself and your students.

Those who embark on this journey will:

• Learn about generative AI technology, data, ethics, and bias
• Prioritize the art of thinking and writing over reliance on generative text.
• Establish clear guidelines for student use of generative AI in assignments, mitigating its impact on teaching, and learning to limit its disruptive potential in the classroom.
• 1.1 Generative AI as an Emergent Practice
• 1.2 Ethical Challenges of Generative AI
• 1.3 All About AI Detection

AI Assistance: The Bridge 2.1 Introduction

For those ready to delve deeper, the AI Assistance pathway offers a more exploratory approach. This route investigates how generative AI tools outside of ChatGPT can aid students in achieving specific learning outcomes, while still reinforcing the fundamental skills of AI literacy.

Educators choosing this pathway will:

• Discover generative AI tools designed to assist students with writing, reading, research, feedback, and tutoring.
• Introduce generative AI in structured assignments that align the tools with specific outcomes, fostering student reflection on their use of the technology.
• Set clear boundaries on the level of assistance provided by certain generative AI tools to maintain a balanced learning environment.
• 2.1 Introduction to AI Writing, Reading, Research, and Feedback Assistants
• 2.2 Writing Assistants
• 2.3 Research Assistants
• 2.4 Reading Assistants
• 2.5 AI Feedback Assistants
• 2.6 AI Speech Recognition
• Academic Standards for AI

The Path Forward 4.1: Develop Your AI Literacy

How do we gather all the messy bits of information about generative AI we need to form a framework about what it means to be AI literate? One method is to start a digital garden. Maggie Appleton’s ethos of digital gardening as a method of collecting, sorting, and ruminating on information is an excellent heuristic to apply to the chaotic information space that occupies our digital moment around generative AI.

Digital gardeners embrace a work-in progress ethos to information. Ideas often need time to flourish, revision and space to nurture, and sometimes need to be left to wither when a new, better idea replaces it. At its heart, Appleton argues that digital gardening is a “different way of thinking about our online behavior around information – one that accumulates personal knowledge over time in an explorable space.” Thus, Digital Gardening is all about taking control about how you learn in our chaotic digital public spaces.

• 4.1 Introduction to Digital Gardening
• 4.2 Start Your Own Digital Garden
• 4.3 Activity: Plant Your Own Digital Garden