Applying AI across educational contexts isn’t a singular journey—it’s a vast landscape, ever-changing, and rich with possibility. Rather than searching for a single answer, educators need a multidimensional map to guide their exploration of AI’s potential in learning.
For many educators, the rise of AI in education has felt like an epic quest that was thrust upon them with little warning. Faced with rapid change, countless academic communities have approached this challenge by seeking a singular solution—a holy grail of AI literacy—that would answer their questions and future-proof their work.
But this monolithic approach to building AI skills has caused many of us new troubles and woes due to one crucial fact—AI isn’t static, and neither is our relationship with it.
Moving away from this solitary quest, I like to liken the exploration and development of AI literacies to a safari—a rolling exploration of the unknown, requiring keen observation, adaptability and an openness to the unexpected. The skills and mindsets needed to navigate this evolving landscape aren’t about arriving at one final answer; they’re about learning how to make sense of AI’s role in education as it continues to unfold.
So, how can we shift from a binary approach—either AI literate or not—to embracing a more fluid and evolving set of AI literacies that are interconnected, context-sensitive and growing over time?
The Eight Dimensions of AI Literacies
The work to develop a taxonomy of AI literacies began with a commissioned study by UNESCO IITE and Shanghai Open University to collect a series of findings on the competencies and skills needed to ethically and impactfully use AI across a variety of academic contexts. Through conversations with educators across six continents and 25+ countries, we grouped their perspectives and practices across eight key AI literacies. An evolution of Doug Belshaw’s Essential Elements of Digital Literacies, the Eight Dimensions of AI Literacies can be divided into two groups: four skillsets (what we do) and four mindsets (what we know and feel).
Skillsets: How We Use AI
- Cultural AI Literacies – Recognizing the connections between people, AI-informed resources and tools, and points of engagement within AI tools and AI-enabled environments.
- Creative AI Literacies – Engaging in ideation and generative actions using AI, focusing on how AI can add value and introduce new possibilities within specific contexts.
- Constructive AI Literacies – Utilizing AI tools to build, remix, and generate new content, applying AI capabilities.
- Communicative AI Literacies – Leveraging AI technologies to convey ideas effectively, recognizing the sociocultural practices and nuances that AI interprets and influences in different settings.
Mindsets: How We Think About AI
- Confident AI Literacies – Developing the ability to solve problems and manage learning within AI-driven environments by understanding and harnessing their unique features and potentials.
- Cognitive AI Literacies – Expanding intellectual capabilities by engaging with AI-enabled processes and environments.
- Critical AI Literacies – Examining the power dynamics and ethical considerations inherent in AI practices, reflecting on the broader societal impacts of AI-driven decisions and actions.
- Civic AI Literacies – Employing AI knowledge and skills to contribute positively to society, using AI to foster community empowerment, engagement, and societal progress.
Observing AI Literacies in Action
In the same way that this study situated AI literacies as an evolution of digital literacies, when we create approaches for exploring AI literacies, we don’t need to start from scratch. AI literacies draw upon the same mindsets and competencies we’ve always used to assess new educational technologies. What we need now is a shared vocabulary to help us communicate the purpose and function of AI in ways that resonate with our learning communities.
Additionally, just like digital literacies, AI literacies are interconnected—they don’t exist in silos. This appeared in the research most prominently across several groupings of AI literacies. For instance, critical AI literacies help educators assess whether AI-generated content is culturally affirming, linking back to cultural AI literacies. Cognitive AI literacies play a key role in prompting AI models effectively, intersecting with communicative AI literacies to shape meaningful AI-generated outputs.
Furthermore, AI literacies are shifting based on our usage and understanding of both the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in education. This was seen in the conversations with global leaders on AI in their contexts, that while the current focus in education is on constructive AI literacies—understanding how AI tools function—they think that this will change over time. As AI evolves, educators can expect a shift toward creative AI literacies, especially for instructional designers and faculty integrating AI into their teaching practices.
Continuing the Exploration
The journey of AI literacies is not about mastering a fixed set of skills but about embracing an evolving, participatory process of discovery. To deepen your understanding, you can explore the full Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy, which provides a detailed breakdown of the eight dimensions and their applications across different roles. And if you have seen AI literacies emerging in your own work and want to support our ongoing research, you can contribute to an open database of case examples, where educators are invited to share examples of AI literacies in practice. Submissions can be anonymous or credited to ensure that the collective knowledge of AI literacies continues to grow.
For those looking to build their AI literacies in a structured way, a free Brightspace mini-course called AI Literacies Unlocked offers a guided learning experience that supports educators, instructional designers, and leaders in developing their AI competencies. And in the coming months, new publications from UNESCO IITE will share findings from this research, offering further insights into how AI literacies can be leveraged in global educational contexts. These publications, along with other open knowledge products and community engagement opportunities, can be explored on the Opened Culture website.
AI literacies are guideposts—not fixed destinations. By embracing them, we empower ourselves to navigate AI’s evolving role in education with confidence, curiosity, and creativity. The road ahead is unwritten, and we each play a part in charting its course. Let’s move forward together, embracing the unknown not as something to fear but as a space of possibility.
Want more? Sign up for AI Literacies Unlocked: The Essential Skills & Mindsets for the Future of Learning. Hosted in Brightspace, this free, self-paced mini-course will equip you with the foundational mindsets and skillsets to engage with AI more effectively.
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