What is Literacy in the Age of AI?

The way we learn and communicate is being fundamentally reshaped by generative AI, a force as significant as the printing press. Traditional definitions of literacy are now insufficient. This shift demands a new “grammar” of literacy that embraces multimodal interaction, algorithmic processes, and AI’s synthetic capabilities. AI both generates and interprets content, raising the question of whether students should still laboriously learn to write when a machine can do it instantly and flawlessly. Join us as we talk with Dr. Mary Kalantzis and Dr. Bill Cope, renowned professors from the University of Illinois. We’ll discuss how their cutting-edge research explores how AI can support literacy by scaffolding human effort. This AI-assisted practice fosters “cyber-social literacy learning,” an approach that merges traditional literacy with the ethical and social competencies needed to navigate the AI landscape. We’ll explore how to harness the transformative potential of AI while preserving human agency and creativity. Hosted by: Alexa Raad and Leslie Daigle. Further reading: Literacy in the time of Artificial Intelligence  Generative AI Comes to School (GPTs and All That Fuss): What Now? Multiliteracies: Life of an idea A multimodal grammar of artificial intelligence: Measuring the gains and losses in generative AI On cyber-social learning: A critique of artificial intelligence in education The views and opinions expressed in this program are our own and may not reflect the views or positions of our employers.