Combining human and artificial intelligence for enhanced AI literacy in higher education

This paper seeks to contribute to the emergent literature on Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy in higher education. Specifically, this convergent, mixed methods case study explores the impact of employing Generative AI (GenAI) tools and cyber-social teaching methods on the development of higher education students' AI literacy. Three 8-week courses on advanced digital technologies for education in a graduate program in the College of Education at a mid-western US university served as the study sites. Data were based on 37 participants' experiences with two different types of GenAI tools–a GenAI reviewer and GenAI image generator platforms. The application of the GenAI review tool relied on precision fine-tuning and transparency in AI-human interactions, while the AI image generation tools facilitated the participants' reflection on their learning experiences and AI's role in education. Students' interaction with both tools was designed to foster their learning regarding GenAI's strengths and limitations, and their responsible application in educational contexts. The findings revealed that the participants appeared to feel more comfortable using GenAI tools after their course experiences. The results also point to the students' enhanced ability to understand and critically assess the value of AI applications in education. This study contributes to existing work on AI in higher education by introducing a novel pedagogical approach for AI literacy development showcasing the synergy between humans and artificial intelligence.