At the Faculty360.org 2025 Summit, hosted virtually by Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, Tom Mackey delivered a presentation titled “Developing Metaliterate Learners for Generative AI.” The summit theme, Beyond the AI Hype: Faculty Futures in a Changing World, provided the context for a session that introduced metaliteracy as a holistic pedagogical framework for teaching and learning with generative AI. The presentation examined how the model supports critical thinking, knowledge production, and collaborative learning in AI environments.
The talk outlined the key elements of the metaliteracy framework and illustrated how its learner domains, roles, and characteristics guide effective engagement with generative AI. The 2025 revision of the Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives was discussed as a transferable resource for educators seeking to support ethical, reflective, and empowered engagement with AI across disciplines.
Several examples of learning activities from the Digital Media Arts program at Empire State University illustrated how the integration of AI and metaliteracy can foster creativity, critical reflection, and informed decision-making. The session also introduced new versions of the metaliteracy diagrams, offering updated visualizations that show how the framework enhances multiple modality learning in a wide range of educational settings.
The slide deck from this presentation is now available and can be accessed below.
If you would like to contribute your own take on these ideas, particularly as they relate to the metaliteracy framework and the updated Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives, we would be glad to work with you on a guest blog post.
Framed around the idea of learners as “humans in the loop” (Wu, et. al., 2022), the session highlighted diverse case studies that offered practical strategies for empowering individuals to engage with AI critically, ethically, and collaboratively.
Representing the team in person were Matt Moyo (North-West University, South Africa), Kristine N. Stewart (Zayed University, United Arab Emirates), and Tom Mackey (Empire State University, USA), (all pictured above). The panel also drew on the important contributions of Brenda Van Wyk (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Megan Eberhardt-Alstot (Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology, USA), and Kristen Schuster (University of Southampton, UK).
The case studies showcased during the session reflected a wide range of perspectives and areas of inquiry, including Generative AI and the Metaliterate Learner, Responsible Use of AI in Postgraduate Research, Misrepresentation in AI, Inclusive Curriculum Design, and the Ethics of AI in Digital Media Arts. Together, these themes underscored the value of metaliteracy as a framework for engaging with AI while emphasizing the human capacity for metacognitive reflection, ethical responsibility, and collaborative knowledge construction.
If you would like to share your own explorations with AI and Metaliteracy, feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to share via our Metaliteracy.org blog.
Tom and Trudi
Reference
Wu, X., Xiao, L., Sun, Y., Zhang, J., Ma, T., & He, L. (2022). A survey of human-in-the-loop for machine learning. Future Generation Computer Systems, 135, 364–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2022.05.014
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.
We are excited to invite contributions to our forthcoming book, “AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution” edited by Dr. Nicola Marae Allain and Dr. Thomas P. Mackey. This new volume will be published in fall 2025 for the Innovations in Information Literacy series edited by Trudi E. Jacobson for Bloomsbury Publishing (Rowman & Littlefield).
This pioneering book will feature theories and case studies about empowering learners with metaliteracy as reflective producers, informed writers, and active participants for the technological, pedagogical, and cultural revolution inspired by generative AI (Heaven, 2022, Mackey & Jacobson, 2011, 2022).
We are interested in groundbreaking approaches to metaliteracy education that encourage learners to engage with innovative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, among many others, for creating artistic, literary, scientific, and scholarly forms of generative text, image, and video. Each chapter will focus on developing ethical metaliterate learners with autonomy and agency who are capable of producing individual and collaborative knowledge with AI (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011, 2022). We encourage imaginative chapters about the effective use of AI through the lens of metaliteracy and related literacy models, such as the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and the ACRL Visual Literacy Framework.
We welcome proposals from educators and practitioners, including librarians, teachers and professors worldwide, particularly those offering case studies with solid theoretical foundations and transferrable pedagogical strategies. We are seeking authors from wide-ranging disciplines, such as the Arts and Humanities, Digital Media Arts, Social Sciences, Composition Studies, Library and Information Science, Nursing, Business, and STEM. Chapter themes will also address the relevance of AI and metaliteracy to adult learning and workforce development and the importance of designing inclusive AI-driven learning experiences to advance digital equity, and accessibility for students with disabilities. The book will present methods for assessing the effectiveness of teaching metaliteracy competencies and highlight collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. We aim to provide international perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of empowering learners with generative AI and metaliteracy, exploring innovative theories and case studies that provide future directions for AI-driven learning environments.
Submission Guidelines
Proposals should include the following information:
Title: The concise and descriptive title for your proposed chapter.
Abstract: A summary (300-500 words) outlining the main objectives, theoretical foundation, metaliteracy components, generative AI tools, assessment methodology, and expected contributions of your chapter.
Author Information: Names, affiliations, and contact details of all authors.
Biographical Note: A brief biography (150-200 words) of each author highlighting relevant expertise and experience.
Please submit your proposals by December 15, 2024, to Tom.Mackey@sunyempire.edu. Selected authors will be notified by February 1, 2024, and full chapters will be due by May 1, 2025. Final chapters should be between 20 and 25 pages (double-spaced) and follow the formatting guidelines that will be provided upon acceptance.
Important Dates
Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: February 1, 2025
Full Chapter Submission Deadline: May 1, 2025
Expected Publication Date: November 1, 2025
We look forward to receiving your innovative and insightful contributions that will help shape the future of metaliteracy for the generative AI revolution. For any inquiries or further information, please contact Nicola Marae Allain at Nicola.Allain@sunyempire.edu or Tom Mackey at Tom.Mackey@sunyempire.edu.
Join us in this groundbreaking project to advance education and empower learners with metaliteracy worldwide for the generative AI revolution!
Editors
Nicola Marae Allain, Ph.D. is the Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at SUNY Empire State University, where she has held faculty (tenured) and administrative roles since 2002. Her research and leadership have focused on digital learning, immersive and virtual environments, and emerging technologies. She holds a PhD in Media and Communication from the European Graduate School, a MA in Dramatic Art, Dance and Music from the University of California, and a BA in English from the University of Ottawa. Allain’s interdisciplinary background in arts and humanities complements expertise in higher education technologies and systems, digital media arts, visual pedagogy, and digital communication. Throughout her career, Allain has demonstrated a commitment to developing an aptitude for lifelong learning among students and faculty, while supporting the agency and autonomy of learners within active and authentic learning environments. Her leadership in faculty development and curriculum design has modeled innovative strategies that scale across disciplines, and were widely adopted by SUNY Empire and institutions in New Zealand. Her decade-long role on the SUNY Innovative Instruction Research Council led to collaborations with the SUNY Faculty and Teaching with Technology (FACT2) Committee AI Task Group. Allain co-authored the SUNY FACT² Guide “Optimizing AI in Higher Education” (May 2024), for which she contributed sections on the social impact and creative applications of AI. She has previously collaborated on metaliteracy initiatives, courses and publications. Her recent articles focus on curriculum innovations in digital humanities, mindfulness, and leadership in higher education settings. Fluent in several languages, Allain is also a translator of French poetry and Classical Chinese literary texts.
Thomas P. Mackey, Ph.D. is Professor of Arts and Media and Program Coordinator for the BA and BS programs in Digital Media Arts at Empire State University. He is Academic Coordinator for online courses in Arts and Media. Dr. Mackey is the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities (2022) and the Dr. Susan H Turben Chair in Mentoring (2021–2022). He has an honorary appointment as Extraordinary Professor, Research Unit Self- Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University, South Africa. Dr. Mackey originated the metaliteracy framework with Prof. Trudi E. Jacobson to prepare learners as individual and collaborative producers of new knowledge. He has published four books with Prof. Jacobson on metaliteracy, including the first co-authored manuscript on this topic entitled Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy (2014). They co-edited two volumes Metaliteracy in Practice (2016) and Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World (2019). Their most recent book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (2022) is the recipient of the 2024 Divergent Publication Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research. Dr. Mackey’s latest book is a co-edited volume with Dr. Sheila Marie Aird entitled Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives (2024). He has presented both nationally and internationally about metaliteracy and generative AI and has designed learning assignments in several courses to engage learners in the generative AI revolution.
ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. Retrieved July 20, 2024, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework.
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2011). Reframing information literacy as a metaliteracy. College & Research Libraries, 72(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-76r1.
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2022). Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers. ALA Neal-Schuman.
Book image created in DALL-E using the prompt: “Visualize a dynamic book cover for AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution” (October 28, 2024).
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!
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.
Metaliteracy.org 