GHFC Research Brief: Digital Promise's AI Literacy Framework

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly woven into the fabric of academic and professional life, higher education leaders face a critical challenge: how to equip students, faculty, and staff with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate this technological landscape. Digital Promise's framework "AI Literacy: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate, and Use Emerging Technology" offers a comprehensive approach to addressing this challenge.

The framework identifies AI literacy as encompassing "the knowledge and skills that enable people to critically understand, evaluate, and use AI systems and tools to safely and effectively participate in an increasingly digital world." This literacy is built upon three interconnected modes of engagement: Understand, Evaluate, and Use.

The Three Pillars of AI Literacy

The framework's three components work in concert:

Understand: Acquiring foundational knowledge about what AI can do and how it works, creating the basis for informed decision-making.

Evaluate: Centering human judgment and justice to critically assess the benefits and costs of AI systems to individuals, society, and the environment.

Use: Applying AI tools thoughtfully and responsibly based on sound understanding and evaluation.

At the core of this framework are the values of human judgment and centering justice, ensuring that AI applications in education are equitable and ethical.​

Actionable Strategies for Higher Education Leaders

Building on Digital Promise's work, here are five actionable strategies for implementing AI literacy in higher education:

1. Develop Comprehensive AI Policies and Guidelines

Create responsible use policies that address both opportunities and risks, prioritizing digital equity and ensuring human oversight in AI design, adoption, and use. Consider developing an AI Bill of Rights specific to your institution. Form cross-functional teams including IT, academic affairs, and student services to craft policies that balance innovation with safety.

2. Integrate AI Literacy Across the Curriculum

Rather than creating isolated AI courses, weave AI literacy throughout existing programs. Encourage faculty to incorporate AI literacy components relevant to their disciplines, helping students understand how AI affects their specific fields of study.

3. Establish AI Literacy Professional Development Programs

Implement ongoing professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, recognizing that AI literacy and effective teaching with AI requires dedicated resources and consistent support. Create communities of practice where educators can share experiences and best practices.

4. Foster Critical Evaluation Skills

Emphasize that AI literacy builds on familiar domains such as digital readiness, media literacy, and computational thinking. Design learning experiences that apply 21st century skills including communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity to AI contexts. Teach students to question AI outputs and understand limitations.

5. Promote Ethical Engagement with AI

Develop programming that helps students reflect critically on the ethical dimensions of AI use. Project-based learning approaches can be particularly effective in fostering both problem-solving competence and ethical understanding. Create case studies that challenge students to consider the broader implications of AI applications.

Moving Forward

Implementing AI literacy is not just about understanding technology; it's about preparing students to navigate a world where AI is ubiquitous. By adopting the strategies outlined in Digital Promise's framework, higher education leaders can ensure their institutions are at the forefront of ethical and effective AI integration.​

As Barnard College's approach demonstrates, there is no need for institutions to mandate either wholesale adoption or rejection of AI. Instead, higher education leaders should focus on building the AI literacy that enables informed decision-making about whether and how to incorporate AI in academic settings.

By implementing these strategies, higher education institutions can prepare their communities not just to adapt to AI technologies, but to shape their development and application in ways that align with educational values and advance human potential. In doing so, they will position themselves at the forefront of responsible innovation in the AI era.

For a more in-depth exploration of the framework and additional resources, you can access the full report here: AI Literacy: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate, and Use Emerging Technology.