Enhancing AI literacy for educators: Where to start and to what end?

As AI has become an integral part in current teaching and learning practices, educators’ capacities to use AI technologies effectively and responsibly are closely tied to the quality of instruction and student learning outcomes. To provide a comprehensive examination for cultivating the relevant capacities, this study conducted a systematic literature review about AI literacy for educators. Informed by Bloom’s Taxonomy, we investigated the existing research with a layered progression structure from five dimensions: definitions of educators’ AI literacy, fundamental knowledge for understanding of AI, AI educational practices, educators’ perspectives of AI applications, and pedagogies of integrating AI. The findings of this study revealed three key dimensions (i.e., human-AI interactions, harnessing AI tools, and ethical and societal implications) of educators’ AI literacy and highlighted the importance of interrelationships among these dimensions. Furthermore, our study identified the fundamental knowledge that educators need to understand, the instructional scenarios in which the AI applications are applied, the associated opportunities and challenges, and the pedagogical approaches that have been proposed to effectively scaffold educators’ engagement with AI. Overall, this literature review underscores the multidimensional and context-relevance nature of AI literacy for educators, developing from the interplay of multiple competencies within specific educational contexts. Finally, the study concludes by discussing implications for providing actionable insights to design training and professional development programs that better prepare educators to navigate the AI-driven educational environments.