Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-boys-using-laptop-in-the-classroom-11025019/

This week we had guest speaker Jessie Miller come in and chat to us. Something that really stuck with me is the idea that we should be promoting digital and media literacy in our students because the internet & AI are not going anywhere. Instead of ignoring these topics within the classroom or forbidding their use within the classroom, teachers should be open and willing to have conversations with their students so that students can think critically about what they are seeing or hearing on the internet. For example, Jessie mentioned a story in which a teacher was mad at a principle and so he created an audio using AI to make it seem like the principle was saying racist comments about students. He also mentioned another story where someone was altering photos of classmates in inappropriate ways using AI. As more and more of these issues pop up, it becomes increasingly important that students can think critically about what they are seeing or hearing and consider wether or not it is real or AI generated before jumping to conclusions.

To help students become more digitally literate, Jessie spoke about the 4 C’s of digital literacy as a sort of guide on how teachers should/could engage with AI in the classroom.

The 4 C’s are:

  1. critical thinking (showing students how to evaluate wether content is AI generated)
  2. creativity (allowing students to use AI to generate and refine ideas)
  3. communication (modelling and practicing effective interactions with AI)
  4. collaboration (promoting group activities to explore AI use)

I appreciated him mentioning this because I think in the future I could use this as sort of a guideline on how I can promote digital literacy in my students. It is also a good reminder to not shy away from having conversations with our students about AI in the classroom and that AI can even be a beneficial teaching tool/point!

This TedTalk below reinforces how we need to adapt to the changing world with AI, that it is not going away, and not to shy away from it as both a tool for teaching our students and teaching point. Take a look if you’re interested!