Does it feel like you just got a grasp on teaching digital literacy, only for AI to rewrite the rules? If your head is spinning amid the rapid developments in technology and the skills that students need in today’s workforce, you aren’t alone. While the world is changing fast, the field of adult education is uniquely positioned to help learners navigate shifts in workplace and digital skills.
What is AI Literacy?
AI literacy is the ability to use and evaluate AI technology responsibly. It goes beyond simple technical skills. AI literacy builds on the foundational workforce skills you already teach, including digital literacy. (For more on defining workforce skills, see Integrating Workforce Preparation Across All Adult Education Programming in this newsletter.)
These workforce skills are prerequisite competencies that help prepare our learners for AI literacy.
For most learners, adult education is a bridge to a more stable career path. AI literacy is essential to that bridge because nearly two-thirds of all jobs are now exposed to some degree of AI automation. Our learners risk being left behind during the 12 million job transitions projected by 2030, which will most heavily impact lower-wage occupations. Including AI literacy in instruction for adult learners ensures that they can use emerging technology for the good of society and their own career advancement.
You’re Already Teaching It!
Before you can effectively use generative AI tools like chatbots, you need to master skills such as navigating a browser, interpreting search results, and protecting your personal information. To use AI at work, for example, a worker must first be comfortable navigating web-based platforms and protecting sensitive company data.
Most programs are already doing this type of explicit digital skills instruction using tools like Northstar. Many more are building digital resilience by integrating technology into their classrooms and advising programs, using strategies such as EdTech Routines. By treating digital literacy as an essential program practice, we ensure that AI does not widen existing digital divides but instead becomes an on-ramp to opportunity. Once those basics are in place, we can move toward the most important human skill: critical thinking.
Human Skills for Career Growth
AI is a tool, not a catch-all solution. While AI is excellent at processing data, it lacks human context, empathy, and ethical reasoning. AI also makes mistakes, sometimes called “hallucinations.” Employers don't just need people who can send a message to a chatbot; they need workers who can verify AI outputs against trusted sources.
By leaning into these evaluative skills, which are already core to adult education, we prepare learners to be the humans-in-the-loop who act as the final authority over the machine. This is the difference between offloading simple tasks to AI and strategically using AI as a thought partner to solve problems and generate ideas. These types of competencies are discussed in more depth in CampGPT for Adult Education, as well as in this 30-minute, self-paced Teaching with Generative AI Crash Course. Mastering these higher-level skills allows us to move from being users to becoming directors of technology, leveraging AI as a tool and becoming resilient in our changing economy.
Keep Up the Good Work
Your programs are already building the infrastructure for this future. By taking the next step to integrate AI literacy into your program, you are teaching lifelong skills that support every learner by building the digital resilience they need to thrive in a changing economy.
