Embedding AI Literacy within the Communication Basic Course
Tiffany Petricini
Associate Teaching Professor of Communication, Media and Communication
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Penn State Behrend
Description
This project is focusing on how best to integrate AI literacy into Penn State’s foundational communication course, CAS 100: Effective Speech. Petricini intends to follow an AI literacy framework to create a series of learning modules that can be easily embedded in all CAS 100 courses by all instructors who choose to do so.
“Instilling student generative AI literacy is an essential objective that Penn State has committed to in the future. Doing so will make students more successful academically, more career ready and more successful in their future careers,” Petricini said. “Doing so early in a course students typically take during their freshman year can provide more meaningful interactions with these tools in their discipline-specific classes.”
Using a scaffolded approach, the project’s focus will be for students to understand basic concepts about AI use, apply knowledge about AI, evaluate and create products using generative AI tools, and articulate ethical concerns related to generative AI tool use, particularly for AI’s role in modern communication.
The Team
Sherry Rice – Project Lead
Zach Lonsinger
Chris Lee
Qi Dunsworth (Behrend)
Cohort
2024-2026
Focus Area
Generative AI
Theme: Generative AI in Higher Education