Reflections of an AI Literacy Program
By Dr. Alex Rockey, Academic Technology Professor, Bakersfield College
From unlocking our phone screens to turning on our robot vacuum cleaners, AI has become omnipresent in our lives. College instructors and students alike need to develop AI literacies to not only prepare for jobs of the future (Kumar, 2025), but also to be responsible citizens (Ng et al., 2021). With a plethora of AI literacy resources available (Mikeladze et al., 2025), it can be difficult to identify effective AI literacy materials and programs.
I’ve recently finished teaching a series of AI courses for students and educators. The first course, “Introduction to AI,” focuses on exploring the history of AI, evaluating AI-generated content, and creating AI-generated content. The second course, “Teaching in an Artificial-Intelligence Era,” focuses on understanding the benefits and limitations of AI, rethinking assessment and evaluation, and integrating AI into teaching practices. The third course, “Navigating the Future of AI,” guides instructors in exploring promising practices, discussing case studies, and considering the long-term future of AI as it relates to teaching and learning. Each course is 9-hours and is completed in two weeks. After teaching these courses, I’ve realized four key components of effective AI literacy programs.
When we create AI Literacy programs that center on understanding, play, critical thinking, and connection, we can help instructors develop the skills to navigate a continuously changing AI landscape.
Understand. First, instructors need to understand AI tools. It’s like we’ve been handed a drill, but we’re trying to use it like a saw. Many instructors do not know how Large Language Models were designed and what they were designed to do. Understanding that generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini were designed to innovate, but not to be reliable, can help us ensure we are using the tools in ways that maximize their benefits and minimize their limitations. Additionally, only going over the fundamentals of AI once at the start of an AI literacy program is insufficient. Actually developing an understanding of how generative AI works under the hood can take a lot of time. To effectively help learners understand the foundations of AI, this topic needs to be revisited frequently in increasing depth and complexity.
Play. Second, instructors need play time. It would be difficult to learn how to use a drill by reading about it in a book. To effectively learn how to use a tool, you need hands-on practice. The same goes for AI tools. Instructors need time to play with different AI tools and to reflect on their experience. Gaining first-hand knowledge of how different AI tools produce different outputs can help instructors develop an intuitive sense of the power of generative AI. Approaching AI with a sense of play can also help to lower anxiety and support instructors in developing skills that will support them in a rapidly evolving landscape. One of the challenges with teaching AI literacy is how quickly AI technologies evolve. By focusing on approaching AI with a sense of play, instructors can develop an approach that will encourage life-long learning and adaptation to evolving AI tools.
Think. Third, effective AI literacy programs incorporate critical thinking. As consumers and producers of AI-generated content, it is absolutely essential that we think critically about not only outputs, but also ethics and biases. It is especially important that instructors develop a critical approach to AI so they can help students to think critically about AI-generated outputs. By emphasizing critical thinking in AI literacy programs, we can help instructors develop approaches that work in their unique context and courses. My approach to integrating and managing AI will be very different in a first-year college writing class than in a course on Introduction to Microsoft Office. By empowering educators to think critically about AI, we can help ensure educators are able to create effective AI policies and AI-integration approaches that support student learning in their unique courses.
Connect. Finally, one of the biggest aha moments I had in my courses was the need for connection. Instructors repeatedly expressed in end-of-course feedback questionnaires how helpful it was to learn about other educators’ approaches to using and controlling AI. While there are many self-paced AI literacy programs available, there is a need for facilitated instruction on AI so instructors can connect and share their strategies. Keeping a human in the loop is a foundational approach to appropriate AI use. We never want to create content from AI without reviewing and editing as needed. The same should be true for AI literacy programs. By centering connection in our AI literacy programs, we can help to ensure that our work remains human-centered. In addition, the courses I taught were open to both students and instructors. Especially in the “Introduction to AI” course, I had both students and instructors enrolled. This was a really valuable experience for both students and instructors to get to share and discuss how AI should be integrated in our courses to support learning (and when it should not be used).
When we create AI literacy programs that center on understanding, play, critical thinking, and connection, we can help instructors develop the skills to navigate a continuously changing AI landscape. As instructors, we are in a unique position. Now more than ever, we are educating students for jobs and careers that may not yet exist (Future of Jobs Report, 2025; Su et al., 2021). While we may not know exactly how students will need to use AI in their careers, we do know that they will need to use AI to be successful (Sarala et al., 2025). It is likely that AI technologies may lead to the loss of some jobs and the creation of others (George, 2024). To help our students navigate a shifting workforce, we need to ensure that students have the ability to leverage AI without offloading learning. Instructors cannot help students develop this ability without having developed their own AI literacies. To develop AI literacies, instructors need to truly understand what AI tools were designed to do, develop approaches for learning new AI technologies, critically evaluate AI outputs, and connect with colleagues on innovative approaches. By doing this, educators can acquire the abilities required to assist kids in this novel and developing world.
References
Future of Jobs Report (January 2025). World Economic Forum. Retrieved October 23, 2025 from https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf
George, A. S. (2024). Artificial intelligence and the future of work: job shifting, not job loss. Partners Universal Innovative Research Publication, 2(2), 17-37.
Kumar, A. (2025, August 12). Why AI is replacing some jobs faster than others. World Economic Forum.
Mikeladze, T., Meijer, P. C., & Verhoeff, R. P. (2024). A comprehensive exploration of artificial intelligence competence frameworks for educators: A critical review. European Journal of Education, 59(3), e12663.
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.
Sarala, R. M., Post, C., Doh, J., & Muzio, D. (2025). Advancing Research on the Future of Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journal of Management Studies, 62(5), 1863-1884.
Su, Z., Togay, G., & Côté, A.-M. (2021). Artificial intelligence: a destructive and yet creative force in the skilled labour market. Human Resource Development International, 24(3), 341–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2020.1818513
Future of Jobs Report (January 2025). World Economic Forum. Retrieved October 23, 2025 from https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf