Developing AI Literacy and Skills: How Can Institutions Do It?

The Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey published earlier this August found that students felt that they were insufficiently prepared for an AI-enabled future.  58% of students felt that they did not have sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and 48% said that they did not feel adequately prepared for an AI-enabled workplace in the future. 

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At the same time, the survey also revealed that 86% of students already used AI in their studies, with more than half using AI on a weekly basis at least. Despite such widespread use, students still felt unprepared and inadequate in their AI competencies. 

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AI competencies are essential for employability

Such anxieties may point to an increasing feeling among students that it is not enough to simply know how to use basic AI tools - to succeed, students must be able to use and work with AI competently. 

AI competency is a key concern for students, as they perceive it as an expected and essential skill for jobs of the future, with the development of AI assistants and generative AI capabilities making AI use more widespread and embedded into workflows across different industries. 

To develop AI competency, students need to be AI literate and be able to effectively use AI tools to empower their work, through developing basic understandings of machine learning and skills such as  prompt engineering. Higher education institutions need to respond to this new market expectation in a timely manner, in order to continue producing highly-skilled, employable graduates. 

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Developing AI literacy and skills can help promote accountable AI use

Developing students’ AI literacy and skills is also important for higher education institutions to work towards preserving academic integrity in an environment of increasing AI dependence. 

The DEC survey found that 72% of students expected their universities to provide more courses on AI literacy and training on the effective use of AI tools. Institutions can respond to this expectation by providing AI literacy courses that cover how AI models are built and trained, and educate students on the concerns and potential oversights that come with AI, such as inbuilt biases or AI hallucinations. A more practical approach to developing AI competencies would be to hold AI skills workshops that provide training on the effective use of popular AI tools like ChatGPT.

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This will help students get a better idea  of what goes into the results produced by AI, and what they are putting into their assignments. A clearer understanding of the trustworthiness and accuracy of AI content also helps to develop expectations of taking accountability of AI use and assistance in their work. This allows students to implement and deploy AI in their studies more judiciously and make the best use of AI resources. 

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AI literacy for all, including faculty

Higher education institutions should provide similar training to faculty and staff, so that they can oversee and encourage responsible AI integration in their classrooms. 59% of students expected universities to increase the use of AI in classrooms, while 73% indicated that they expected their universities to provide training for faculty on the effective use of AI tools. AI-competent educators will be able provide more thorough oversight on AI use, and promote accountability regarding AI usage. Equipping educators with the skills for effective AI use may thus be a baseline expectation among students before any further integration of AI in classrooms. 

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By training both faculty and students in AI literacy and skills, institutions can create a culture of responsible AI use in education and to ensure students are prepared for an AI-enabled future.

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Considering student feedback on AI integration and training may be useful

Institutions should be receptive to gathering and considering student feedback on AI integration and training in their schools. With 71% of students in the survey expressing that they wanted to be involved in decision-making processes on AI integration, it is clear that students are keen to have a say on how and which AI tools are used in their education. Student opinions are important for institutions to consider in any process, and in this case, can help to identify areas in which AI literacy and skills training should be prioritised, or what AI tools

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Yet, of this 71%, only 34% feel that their institutions actively seek feedback on AI integration from them, leaving students both unheard and under-utilised. Institutions can and should do more to utilise student feedback as a resource.