Steven Crawford

As artificial intelligence has gained prominence in society over the past few years, a divide has emerged among its users. Early adopters are quickly integrating these tools into various aspects of teaching and learning, while others remain hesitant to use or even consider them. This divide presents challenges in bridging gaps, as individuals interpret the term “artificial intelligence” in various ways. This has led to confusion among students, who are uncertain about whether they are complying with faculty members who have implemented “no AI rules” in their courses, as faculty interpretation and application of these rules can differ significantly.

Establishing a Common Foundation

The Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation (MCLI), a department within Maricopa Community Colleges’ District Office, in collaboration with the district’s AI Task Force, recognized that a technology literacy workshop was needed to help establish a common vocabulary and to introduce how AI may be used in various teaching and learning scenarios by both faculty and students.

As the AI Task Force reviewed goals for an AI literacy workshop, we found an article by EDUCAUSE on this topic.¹ Faculty developers from Barnard College developed a structure by adapting a framework for AI literacy that utilizes Bloom’s Taxonomy. We found that the framework of (1) Understand AI, (2) Use and Apply AI, (3) Analyze and Evaluate AI, and (4) Create AI was not only practical but also ideally suited to our needs. We also identified that we need to focus on the first two levels of the framework, as our goal was to build a common language and understanding of the use of AI tools.

As MCLI began developing the first workshop, our primary goal was to provide participants with a broad understanding of AI. While recent advances in generative AI are fascinating, we wanted to ensure that participants recognize AI’s presence in our daily lives for many years. This is illustrated by defining AI and highlighting that spell and grammar-checking tools in document applications have been considered AI tools for over 20 years. We guide participants through recent developments in large language models, their evolution, and best practices for using these tools. This self-paced workshop, focused on the understanding level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, includes auto-graded knowledge checks and an activity in which participants can create course-related content using various generative AI tools. The self-paced nature of the workshop helps participants feel comfortable and in control of their learning journey.

MCLI is also developing a second workshop in the series focused on using and applying AI. This workshop will emphasize the use of generative AI tools and explore how to critically evaluate their responses.

Initial Response

We have received positive feedback from the first offerings of the Understanding AI workshop. One participant commented in our evaluation, “[I] appreciated the course for its coverage of key AI concepts, making it easier for beginners like me. Very engaging materials and resources and real-life case studies kept the content interesting.” Another participant stated, “I liked the approach to showing different drawbacks to AI and the way the course talked about using education to combat against those drawbacks.”

Next Steps

By emphasizing AI literacy, we can shift the conversation from whether AI should be used to a more nuanced discussion about when and how it is appropriate to use AI. We are developing a facilitator’s guide for our workshop to support this shift, enabling instructional technologists and faculty developers throughout the district to conduct the workshop as either an asynchronous online course or an in-person session. Additionally, we will complete the development of our Use and Apply AI workshop, which will focus on utilizing various AI tools and evaluating their responses.

¹ EDUCAUSE. (2024, June 3). A Framework for AI Literacy. EDUCAUSE Review.