Tag Archives: education

Reimagining Course Design with AI: Practical Strategies for Global Learning

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As part of the SDL (Self-Directed Learning) Collaborative Corner on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) at North-West University, Prof. Tom Mackey, Empire State University, presented an interactive session on Reimagining Course Design with AI: Practical Strategies for Global Learning. The virtual event brought together educators and researchers to explore innovative ways of redesigning courses with artificial intelligence (AI) to support OER and multimodal learning.

The presentation drew on examples from the Digital Media Arts program at Empire State University, highlighting practical strategies from courses such as Digital Storytelling, Information Design, and Ethics of Digital Art & Design. In doing so, it connected the application of AI in course design with a metaliteracy perspective, underscoring the importance of reflective, ethical, and collaborative learning.

Explore the Session

The full session recording is now available, offering an in-depth look at the key themes and interactive discussions (click on the image):

Key Takeaways

  • Revise course content and learning activities with AI to expand opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and creativity.
  • Create original images with AI to enhance open resources and support multimodal learning experiences.
  • Develop transparent and ethical AI use policies to ensure responsible student engagement with emerging tools.
  • Design rubrics for AI-assisted and multimodal projects to provide clear, equitable assessment frameworks.

These approaches demonstrate how AI can be integrated as an effective tool across disciplines and learning environments. Educators are encouraged to consider how such strategies can be adapted to their own teaching practices, fostering inclusive, innovative, and globally connected learning opportunities.

For a closer view of the concepts and examples shared, the slide deck provides a visual overview of the session. Respond to the workshop prompt on slide 26 to reimagine your own learning activity with AI:

This presentation contributes to the ongoing dialogue about the role of AI in education and its potential to empower learners and educators in designing flexible, reflective, and future-ready courses. It offers a metaliteracy perspective to further emphasize the importance of ethical engagement, critical reflection, and collaborative learning in applying AI to course design.

If you have ideas or case studies about integrating AI and metaliteracy into your own course design, we invite you to reach out. We would be glad to feature your approaches as a guest post on the Metaliteracy blog and share your insights with our global community.

Tom and Trudi

Digital Story: Embracing Metaliteracy in the Digital Age

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We welcome this guest blog post from Riaz Laghari. He is an English language teacher, researcher, and writer from Pakistan. His work focuses on digital literacy, education, language, and critical thinking. As a passionate lifelong learner, he is dedicated to exploring how pedagogy and technology intersect to promote responsible digital citizenship.

I completed the Coursera MOOC Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World offered by Empire State University. It was an incredibly enriching experience that broadened my understanding of how learners engage with information in today’s digital environment.

This story published in Medium entitled Embracing Metaliteracy in the Digital Age reflects my personal journey and learning process. It emphasizes the importance of being a responsible digital citizen in today’s interconnected world. Through the narrative, I explore how embracing metaliteracy has helped me understand the significance of critical thinking. It also highlights the importance of ethical information sharing. Collaboration in digital spaces is another key aspect I have come to appreciate. As I state in the article:

Metaliteracy has transformed my approach to digital engagement, equipping me with the tools to navigate the online world responsibly, ethically, and collaboratively.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, being an informed and ethical participant in online spaces is more important than ever. In this piece, I reflect on my personal journey as a digital citizen. I also consider my professional journey. My experiences are guided by the principles of metaliteracy. This article highlights how this model has influenced my way of learning. It details how I teach and share information. It shows how I evaluate online sources and engage responsibly in digital communities.

As I state in the article:

In my experience, embracing metaliteracy has meant developing a heightened awareness of my role in the digital ecosystem. It’s about recognizing that the content I create and share impacts others, and therefore, I must engage with this content thoughtfully and critically. This responsibility extends to both professional and personal digital spaces.

Besides my own journey, I also apply metaliteracy concepts in my teaching. I encouraged my students to reflect critically on the sources they use. I urged them to recognize their role as both consumers and producers of information. I also motivated them to collaborate more mindfully in digital spaces. For instance, I integrated reflective blog writing into the curriculum. I also added peer feedback activities. These methods helped promote metacognitive awareness. They fostered a more participatory learning environment. It was particularly effective in helping students become more responsible and confident digital citizens.

As I conclude in my Medium article:

As we continue to interact with the ever-expanding digital landscape, it is crucial for all of us to embrace metaliteracy. By doing so, we can foster a more informed, ethical, and connected world, where information flows freely and responsibly.

Riaz is an English teacher, and writes about language and political discourse in Pakistan. You can find his work on Medium and via his personal blog. If you would like to share your personal or professional experience with metaliteracy, feel free to reach out.

Exploring Metaliteracy and AI at ICIL 2024 Africa Conference

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The 3rd international Conference on Information Literacy (ICIL – Africa 2024) took place at Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. It featured a virtual presentation by Prof. Tom Mackey from Empire State University. The topic of Tom’s talk was Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Literacy. This presentation explored the revolutionary changes in generative artificial intelligence (AI). It highlighted the groundbreaking potential of information literacy, AI literacy, and especially metaliteracy to transform learning. This talk explored the core theme of the conference “Information Literacy Revolution: Get Ready.” It also looked ahead to the future of literacy in a world of generative AI. Metaliteracy serves as a comprehensive pedagogical framework that prepares meditative learners as individual and collaborative producers of digital information. It also prepares them as effective communicators and participants in rapidly-evolving information environments.

Tom’s presentation examined several key themes:

  • AI offers considerable potential for supporting artistic creativity and learning
  • AI challenges our understanding of originality and the original production of information
  • The problem of mis- and dis-information is exacerbated through AI
  • Metaliteracy offers a holistic model for effectively engaging learners with AI technologies
  • The metaliteracy goals and learning objectives reinforce the application of metaliteracy in practice

Metaliteracy emerged from information literacy and developed into a comprehensive model with several core components. It aligns with emerging AI Literacy models while focusing on learning in wide-ranging information environments. This approach provides a holistic and open framework to prepare learners as ethical producers of generative content.

We want to know how you engage with metaliteracy in your teaching and learning with AI. To share your techniques for applying AI and metaliteracy, please contact Tom Mackey or Trudi Jacobson directly. We welcome your ideas about a guest blog post!

Empowering Learners with Metaliteracy in AI Education

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Prof. Thomas Mackey from Empire State University presented the keynote “Developing Metaliteracy to Empower Learners for the Generative AI Revolution” at the XI INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CURRICULUM AND EDUCATIONAL POLICIES in Santa Marta, Colombia. The Universidad del Magdalena hosts this annual international conference and this year’s event explored the central theme “Challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in education.” The symposium is sponsored by the Vice-Rectorate for Research and supported through the Faculty of Education Sciences at The Universidad del Magdalena. Thanks to Matilde Bolaño-García for the invitation to keynote at this global event!

Here’s the slideshow of the Metaliteracy and AI Keynote:

Tom’s keynote offered several takeaways:

  • The development of AI is both a revolution and evolution
  • Several international organizations have defined ethical frameworks for engaging with AI
  • Generative AI contributes to the proliferation of mis- and disinformation
  • Metaliteracy supports the design of effective learning activities with generative AI
  • Metacognitive reflection is key to the learning process when working with AI
  • Reflecting on their learner roles, especially the producer role, reinforces active engagement with AI
  • The analysis of AI ethics is reinforced through metaliteracy’s civic-minded characteristic
  • Digital storytelling and the inventive production of AI-generated content support learners in discovering their authentic voice

This international conference offered a chance to engage with educators and learners from around the world. It emphasized the value of exploring generative AI through the lens of metaliteracy. The keynote emphasized the core components of metaliteracy including the learning domains, roles, and characteristics. It focused on how these elements work together to support learners in developing a metaliteracy mindset. This mindset prepares them for wide ranging information environments that are increasingly mediated by AI.

If you are interested in learning more about metaliteracy, please explore the many open resources via this blog as a starting point. Additionally, we want to know how you engage with metaliteracy in your teaching and learning with AI. If you have an idea for a guest blog post, feel free to reach out to Tom Mackey or Trudi Jacobson directly.

-Tom