Building AI Fluency through Authentic Student Assignments
Start Date
November 2025
End Date
November 2025
Keywords
generative AI, AI fluency, authentic assignment, meaningful learning, critical thinking
Abstract
As generative AI reshapes education, the challenge is not only to introduce new tools but to prepare students with AI fluency—the ability to collaborate with AI effectively, efficiently, ethically, and safely. This session explores how the AI Fluency Framework, organized around the “4Ds” core competencies of Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence, can be integrated into authentic coursework to strengthen enduring human skills. Drawing on assignments in media production, research analysis, and instructional planning, I will illustrate how students practiced deciding what to delegate to AI, communicating effectively with prompts, critically evaluating AI outputs, and engaging with ethical responsibility. Through structured reflection, students connected these tasks to questions of creativity, authorship, identity, and bias, reinforcing transferable skills such as critical thinking and ethical reasoning. Participants will leave with a clear framework, practical examples, and adaptable reflection prompts. Rather than positioning AI as a threat or shortcut, this session demonstrates how authentic assignments can make AI a context for supporting meaningful learning.
Learning Outcomes
- Explain how the AI Fluency Framework (Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence) can be applied in coursework to foster ethical and responsible AI use.
- Identify classroom strategies that promote creativity, critical thinking, and human skills through AI-integrated assignments.
- Adapt the 4D framework to their own context in ways that support meaningful learning.
Track
Teaching & Learning Technologies
Session Type
50-Minute Session
Building AI Fluency through Authentic Student Assignments
As generative AI reshapes education, the challenge is not only to introduce new tools but to prepare students with AI fluency—the ability to collaborate with AI effectively, efficiently, ethically, and safely. This session explores how the AI Fluency Framework, organized around the “4Ds” core competencies of Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence, can be integrated into authentic coursework to strengthen enduring human skills. Drawing on assignments in media production, research analysis, and instructional planning, I will illustrate how students practiced deciding what to delegate to AI, communicating effectively with prompts, critically evaluating AI outputs, and engaging with ethical responsibility. Through structured reflection, students connected these tasks to questions of creativity, authorship, identity, and bias, reinforcing transferable skills such as critical thinking and ethical reasoning. Participants will leave with a clear framework, practical examples, and adaptable reflection prompts. Rather than positioning AI as a threat or shortcut, this session demonstrates how authentic assignments can make AI a context for supporting meaningful learning.