Page 109 - digital citizenship

June 6, 2024

When surveyed last spring, half of teachers felt that
artificial intelligence (AI) would make their jobs more
challenging. Even more noteworthy, 96% reported not
receiving any training on the topic of AI. In our own
small survey at New York’s NYSCATE Annual
conference last November, we saw a range of emotions
on the topic from excitement to fear. Teaching digital
citizenship, a broad multidisciplinary subject, was
already challenging. But how to incorporate emerging AI
technologies into it?

In our work, we aim to mitigate those fears or feelings of
overwhelm with simple ideas for incorporating both AI
and digital citizenship into the classroom.

First, how do AI and digital citizenship intersect? Some
areas of overlap are easier to find, particularly around
media literacy. Who owns the content when created
through a user prompt in an AI system? AI has made it
easier to develop deep fakes and other mis- or
disinformation. Deciphering what is real, what is fake