Teaching information literacy and metaliteracy in a world of generative artificial intelligence (AI) was discussed among a global team of educators at the University of Hildesheim from August 5 to 9, 2024, The grant-funded meeting of the Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM) facilitators further strengthened cooperation in teaching and research related to these themes. This was the first time the entire IPILM team was brought together in person for research and planning about the IPILM virtual exchange and related research agenda. Participants of the workshop included: Tessy Thadathil (Symbiosis College of Arts & Commerce Pune, India), Tom Mackey (Empire State University, USA), Emina Adilović (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina), Stefan Dreisiebner (Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria), Joachim Griesbaum (University of Hildesheim, Germany), Justyna Berniak-Woźny (Tischner European University, Poland), and Subarna Bhattacharya (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, India). The meetings were supported by Ms. Magdalena Dresler, a student from the University of Hildesheim.

Funding for this in-person workshop was provided by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture through the INTENSIV funding format, which supports European and international cooperation in science and research. During the meetings, the teaching collaboration among this global team was assessed and opportunities for sustainable improvement, scalability, and institutional anchoring was discussed. The team evaluated the most recent IPILM virtual exchange in the summer of 2024 and developed plans for the 2024-25 academic year. Additionally, the team developed a research agenda for the next two years to advance cooperative research among the partner institutions.

The grant-funded workshop provided participants with a platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities of teaching topics related to generative artificial intelligence (AI) through the lens of information literacy and metaliteracy. Information literacy, understood as the ability to effectively identify, evaluate, and use information, is of great importance in the face of increasing digitization and the spread of misinformation. Metaliteracy emphasizes the learner as an active producer and ethical participant in social information environments (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaliteracy).

The IPILM workshop is part of the ongoing commitment at the University of Hildesheim to promote international education and research in these critical competency areas. It supports the innovative virtual exchange initiated by Prof. Griesbaum and Professor Thadathil and developed by this international team. The IPILM team members and participating institutions are similarly committed to this global partnership and support the further development of this innovative collaboration.

To learn more about this initiative, read the peer-reviewed article by members of the IPILM team:

Griesbaum, J., Dreisiebner, S., Mackey, T. P., Jacobson, T. E., Thadathil, T., Bhattacharya, S., & Adilović, E. (2023). Teaching Internationally, Learning Collaboratively: Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM). Communications in Information Literacy, 17 (1), 260–278. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2023.17.1.4