S1E3: AI Literacy: Helping Learners Think Critically About AI

Are your students using AI without really understanding it? This episode of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, makes the case that AI literacy needs to be a consistent design intention running through the full learning experience. A one-time tutorial, a first-week policy conversation, or an add-on module isn't enough. Students who use AI without understanding how it generates outputs, where it breaks down, or what ethical stakes are involved aren't developing critical judgment. They're outsourcing their thinking. Jennifer walks through five design considerations for embedding AI literacy intentionally into your learning experience: What does AI literacy and AI fluency mean for your specific learners, in your discipline, at their stage of development? Are you creating opportunities for students to examine AI as a system built by people with human assumptions embedded in it? Where in your existing course do students already evaluate sources, weigh evidence, or question assumptions? Those are your natural integration points for AI literacy. Are your assignments and assessments building evaluative judgment alongside proficiency or primarily rewarding the polish of the result? What structures do you have in place that make AI use visible and reflective? And what are you modeling in your own practice about what a thoughtful relationship with these tools looks like? The episode closes with a preview of Episode 4, which takes up another concern of educators: As AI takes on a greater presence in a course, what is the role of human interaction and connection? Check out our other free resources for educators: 🎙️ Next Path Design Podcast Library: https://nextpathdesign.com/podcast 🔗 Design Brief Library as a podcast supplement: https://nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs 📬 Next Path Insights Newsletter: https://nextpathdesign.com/newsletter 00:00 Welcome and Recap 01:29 The Lit Review Wake-Up Call 02:18 The Literacy Gap 04:12 Five Design Considerations 08:49 Start with the Human Stakes 12:23 Embed AI Literacy in Existing Moments 15:37 Design for Evaluative Judgment 19:05 Make AI Use Visible and Reflective 21:54 Wrap Up and Next Steps 22:13 Design Brief and Episode 4 Preview