AI Literacy Across the Curriculum

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Doug Holton

As you have no doubt seen, AI is becoming ubiquitous in our lives and in the technologies we use every day. Generative AI is no longer an experimental tool, but a deployed technology in many of the exact fields our students are training to enter. AI Literacy has become a universal competency required for students (see UNESCO’s AI competency framework for students).

AI is advancing more rapidly than we can adapt, however. Just in the past few months, AI browser agents are emerging that can complete student’s or instructor’s work in Canvas. Used improperly, AI can result in cognitive offloading that leads to overconfidence and reduced performance.

So while there is a critical need to prepare students for an AI-driven workforce, we also need to mitigate academic integrity and learning and skill development risks from student misuse of AI.

Instead of a simple, punitive “don’t cheat” message, which research consistently shows is ineffective for changing student behavior, we can help students understand why over-reliance on AI harms their own learning and skill development in the long term, as well as how to ethically and productively use AI.

Mastering AI Literacy or indeed any literacy is also not something that can be done in a single lesson or even a single course, but is instead better distributed throughout students’ education (see for example Writing Across the Curriculum). Hence, you may find it helpful to incorporate contextualized AI literacy activities or information in your own courses. Below are some examples, if any look useful to you.

AI Literacy Modules and Activities

There are several example AI literacy resources out there. You might search Google or Google Scholar for “AI Literacy” plus the name of your discipline, but below are some general and discipline-specific examples:

General AI Literacy Modules

AI in Education is a Canvas course created by and for students.
For my college success course, I created an initial version of an AI Literacy module on Ethically Using AI for College and Career Success, which includes scenarios to help students understand ethical uses of AI but also how improperly using AI as a shortcut for their own thinking hurts their grades and performance in the long term. It also includes a validated Generative AI Literacy assessment test (GLAT) and an activity to design their own AI learning tools. Students will also be trying out Google’s Career Dreamer AI tool to explore their career interests.
Montgomery College has also shared a free short ebook on AI Literacy for Career & College Success, inspired by Elon University’s 2025 Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence.
There are a few other AI Literacy modules in Canvas Commons, too, such as this AI Literacy module from Cabrillo College.
Promoting Critical AI Literacy through Online Video-based Discussion – Video discussion boards can be done with Canvas Studio: see How do I embed Canvas Studio media in a discussion reply in Canvas as a student?