Digital literacy, AI, and the liberal arts: From taxonomies to heuristics for teaching and learning

This talk is organized by AI@AUP for the AUP community, but participation is open to all interested members of the AMICAL Consortium.

This talk addresses how institutions can respond thoughtfully to generative AI by shifting attention from rules and compliance to shared frameworks for digital literacy. Drawing on a multiliteracies approach, the talk situates AI within longer histories of teaching, learning, and technological change, emphasizing that digital literacy is contextual, evolving, and fundamentally tied to educational values. Focusing on the liberal arts classroom, the discussion explores how AI can confound but also clarify assumptions about teaching and learning, and argues for framing academic integrity as a habit of practice rather than a punitive mechanism. Grounded in the institutional priorities of human interaction, local educational goals, and critical digital literacy, the talk offers both conceptual language for campus-wide deliberation and practical pedagogical strategies faculty can adapt in their courses.

About the speaker

Stuart A. Selber, Professor of English at Penn State and recipient of the university medal for innovative uses of technology in education, studies how literacy and technology intersect and evolve in contemporary settings. He has published eight books on digital writing, including widely adopted textbooks in technical communication. His current book project, Gen AI in College Writing Programs, under contract with the University of Chicago Press, critically examines AI as a writing platform. A frequent keynote speaker, Selber’s insights have appeared in The New York Times Magazine and on National Public Radio.

The event will be held on Zoom (see our online event guidelines) and recorded. If you register for the event, you will be emailed a link to the recording.