AI CIRCLS held a “project incubator” Expertise Exchange on the topic of Literacy and Artificial Intelligence. For the purposes of this project incubator, we drew on our definition of literacy from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language and the National Council of Teachers of English (see definition here). This includes language-related literacies like reading, writing, speaking, etc., but also expands the definition of literacy to include skills that are useful to synthesizing and presenting information in today’s media/information-rich environments.

This expertise exchange aimed to bring together interdisciplinary teams to ideate research proposals relevant to community partners, educators, learning scientists, computer scientists, and social scientists. Over the course of several months, a dedicated space and structure was provided for ideating research ideas, and resources were offered to support grant writing, especially related to future submissions to the National Science Foundation’s Request for Proposals for Research on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning (NSF RETTL RFP).

Participants (see list below) focused on ideating research by brainstorming the future for literacy and educational technology and worked backward to create projects. This incubator intentionally centered equity and justice frameworks, mutually beneficial community partnerships, and responsible/ethical AI. Some participants have continued their collaboration and a subgroup of participants have been developing a synthesis of lessons learned from the Incubator to be submitted as a journal publication in 2024.

Project Incubator Participants 2022:

Malihe Alikhani
Chidi Asoluka
Roghayeh (Leila) Barmaki
Tina Cheuk
Aakash Gautam
Kip Glazer
Ligia Gomez
Layne Jackson Hubbard
John Licato
Lin Lin Lipsmeyer
Joshua Littenberg-Tobias
Rachna Mathur
Katie McCarthy
Megan Pattenhouse
Yolanda A. Rankin
Sulare Telford Rose
Jennifer Sabourin
Stephen Uzzo
Ryan Watkins
Joanna Weidler-Lewis
Marjorie A. Zielke

If you’re interested in learning more, please let us know. We welcome any feedback and input that our community has to offer. Please reach out to us with any thoughts or recommended topics for future exchanges!