The Essentials of AI for Life and Society: An AI Literacy Course for the University Community

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Biswas, Joydeep, Fussell, Don, Stone, Peter, Patterson, Kristin, Procko, Kristen, Sabatini, Lea, Xu, Zifan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Biswas, Joydeep
Fussell, Don
Stone, Peter
Patterson, Kristin
Procko, Kristen
Sabatini, Lea
Xu, Zifan
author_facet Biswas, Joydeep
Fussell, Don
Stone, Peter
Patterson, Kristin
Procko, Kristen
Sabatini, Lea
Xu, Zifan
contents We describe the development of a one-credit course to promote AI literacy at The University of Texas at Austin. In response to a call for the rapid deployment of class to serve a broad audience in Fall of 2023, we designed a 14-week seminar-style course that incorporated an interdisciplinary group of speakers who lectured on topics ranging from the fundamentals of AI to societal concerns including disinformation and employment. University students, faculty, and staff, and even community members outside of the University, were invited to enroll in this online offering: The Essentials of AI for Life and Society. We collected feedback from course participants through weekly reflections and a final survey. Satisfyingly, we found that attendees reported gains in their AI literacy. We sought critical feedback through quantitative and qualitative analysis, which uncovered challenges in designing a course for this general audience. We utilized the course feedback to design a three-credit version of the course that is being offered in Fall of 2024. The lessons we learned and our plans for this new iteration may serve as a guide to instructors designing AI courses for a broad audience.
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
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spellingShingle The Essentials of AI for Life and Society: An AI Literacy Course for the University Community
Biswas, Joydeep
Fussell, Don
Stone, Peter
Patterson, Kristin
Procko, Kristen
Sabatini, Lea
Xu, Zifan
Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
We describe the development of a one-credit course to promote AI literacy at The University of Texas at Austin. In response to a call for the rapid deployment of class to serve a broad audience in Fall of 2023, we designed a 14-week seminar-style course that incorporated an interdisciplinary group of speakers who lectured on topics ranging from the fundamentals of AI to societal concerns including disinformation and employment. University students, faculty, and staff, and even community members outside of the University, were invited to enroll in this online offering: The Essentials of AI for Life and Society. We collected feedback from course participants through weekly reflections and a final survey. Satisfyingly, we found that attendees reported gains in their AI literacy. We sought critical feedback through quantitative and qualitative analysis, which uncovered challenges in designing a course for this general audience. We utilized the course feedback to design a three-credit version of the course that is being offered in Fall of 2024. The lessons we learned and our plans for this new iteration may serve as a guide to instructors designing AI courses for a broad audience.
title The Essentials of AI for Life and Society: An AI Literacy Course for the University Community
topic Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07392