Canvas Module for Enhancing Student AI Literacy Now Available

Higher ed students report wanting more experience with generative AI. Although tools like Copilot and ChatGPT have been available for years, it can be easy for students to use them without understanding how they function and how they may affect their learning. Like instructors, many students also share concerns about the ethical implications of how learning changes when using generative AI.  

Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) has joined several groups across the University in developing resources for students and instructors around appropriate uses of learning with generative AI, including:

• Sample prompts for learning from Academic Support and Learning Advancement (ASLA)
  

• Using AI Tools in Your Research LibGuide from the Libraries 
  

• Heuristic for Designing Learning Experiences with Generative AI from the Searle Center
  

•  AI Resources from the Writing Program
  

TLT is pleased to announce the addition of The Student AI Literacy Module—a new resource focusing on foundational knowledge of generative AI for students—to this expanding library. This module is easily accessible for instructors and staff to incorporate into their courses and programming. The module, titled How to Use Generative AI Responsibly in Academia, is available via Canvas Commons and includes an optional quiz designed to help students develop essential generative AI skills. 

What's Included in the Module

The Student AI Literacy Module teaches students the basics of generative AI, how it works, and the challenges and ethics of using it in academia. One of the highlights is an in-depth section that gives students strategies for source-checking and evaluating AI-produced output. 

The module is designed so that any instructor or staff member can use the entire module or select specific pages that are most relevant to their course or programming. It also includes a comprehensive Knowledge Check Quiz, which can be edited to include a grade or points value, allowing instructors to incorporate it into their classes in whatever manner best fits their syllabus and grading policies. 

The module focuses on the responsible use of AI in academia, based on a framework that directs students to: 

• Follow Instructor Guidelines 

• Seek Clarification 

• Provide Proper Citation 

• Maintain Transparency 

• Use AI as a Support, Not as a Substitute 

How the Module Was Built

Anna Luce, lead learning engineer in TLT, headed the project to develop the student module, starting from a model created by the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation at Rush University. TLT gathered new Northwestern-specific content for the module from various sources, including:

• Feedback on AI gathered from Northwestern University students via panels and surveys 
  

• Direct contributions from librarians Tracy Coyne, Jeannette Moss, and Frank Sweis
  

• Input from TLT graduate assistants Crystal Camargo, Emily Schwitzgebel, Jaz Thomasian, and Samuel Setsofia
  

The module was evaluated by the Provost’s Generative AI Advisory Committee and faculty participating in the winter cohort of the Generative AI 101 program, and it is designed to meet Canvas digital accessibility standards.  

Access the Module

The module is currently available in Canvas Commons and can be imported into any Northwestern course in Canvas. Learn more about using Canvas Commons. To find the module in Canvas Commons, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Canvas, then in the far-left purple navigation bar, click on the Commons icon.  
2. Sort the cards by “updated, newest first” so that the AI module will be the first one listed.  
3. Click on the title of the module.  
   1. On the next page, click “Import/Download” and check the box next to the course where you’d like to import the module. It should appear in that course in a few minutes. 

 If you want to access the module and do not have a Canvas account, please contact canvas@northwestern.edu. 

Integrate the Module into a Class

Northwestern students benefit from instructor-led, course-specific discussions about the appropriate use of generative AI in their learning. This module serves as a foundation for whichever approach best fits your courses and programs. 

Some suggested uses of the module include: 

• Import the module into your Canvas course and assign the Knowledge Check with points to be completed during the first week of class. 
• Divide the module pages over several weeks of a course or as best suits the course topics or assignments.

• Hold an “AI and Our Class” discussion in the first few weeks of the quarter.  
  • Step 1: Assign students all or specific sections of the module most relevant to your course.  
  • Step 2: Using index cards, Padlet, anonymous Canvas text entry, or an open-text polling question, provide students with a scenario, such as a short reflection paper, and ask them to consider how generative AI might affect their performance of the task or their learning of the information. For each scenario, they should identify a few ways they could use generative AI and two different ways that action might influence the outcome of the process. Example response: I could use generative AI to double-check my grammar at the end. This would be beneficial because all the ideas would be mine, but it would refine the paper. However, it might also make the writing sound more generic. Alternatively, I could use it to help me brainstorm several ideas to write about at the start. This could motivate me to write the paper more quickly, though it may also mean that the opening idea might lack originality. 
  • Step 3: Afterward, discuss the student responses in class, or collect them at the end of the session and share your expectations with the students regarding appropriate AI use for that scenario in your class.

Additional Student AI Literacy Activity Ideas

Identifying AI Around Us Activity

This activity helps students identify cases of AI embedded into everyday life, explore the benefits and challenges of those cases, and gives opportunities for students to practice guided prompt engineering.

1. Pre-assign the What is Generative AI and How Does it Work? and Challenges of Using AI Tools pages from the Student AI Literacy module.
2. Place students into small groups and ask each group to brainstorm examples of how AI is present in daily life (e.g., recommendation systems, chatbots, virtual assistants) and to come up with at least one potential benefit and one challenge for society for their example. This could be a group Canvas discussion before class or an in-class activity. 
3. After students have identified some examples and related benefits and challenges, direct them to ask Copilot for more benefits and challenges. A prompt for this could look like, “Give me two benefits and two challenges to society of having AI be used in home insurance quotes.” 
4. Lightning Share-Out: As a conclusion to the discussion, groups share with the class what they’ve found via a short role-play or presentation. Each group creates a brief presentation or skit to illustrate both the benefits and potential challenges of the technology they identified in their discussion. Allow them five minutes to develop a script for their role-play or presentation using Copilot before inviting each group to share in turn.  A prompt for this could be, “Write me a script for a two-minute conversation between an insurance case manager who is in favor of using AI in their claims review process and a colleague who is against using AI in their process.”  
5. Reflection: Ask students to reflect on the activity individually by answering the following questions. 
   1. What did I notice about examples and challenges/benefits developed by students versus those created by Copilot? 
   2. What is one new thing I learned or realized about AI in our world through this activity? 

"Who owns the things I put into AI?" Activity

This activity does not require the use of AI tools but asks students to examine public documentation about AI tools.

1. Divide students into small groups and ask each group to read the terms of service of an AI tool you will use in class. Make a list of vocabulary or concepts they aren't familiar with in a shared document (Example text: Anthropic's Terms of Service). The instructor should read the Terms of Service in advance to identify any terms they want to ensure the students cover. 
2. Give students five minutes to search and find definitions for as many items as possible in the shared document. The instructor will check as work proceeds and fill in or correct as needed.  
3. Finally, ask the students to individually reflect on questions related to how they might use the tool in class, like: 
   
   1. What is an example of information I don't want to put into this tool? 
   2. Can I put copyrighted material into this tool? 

By engaging with students on the topic of generative AI beyond a syllabus statement, instructors can influence both their short-term and long-term use of AI tools. Skills in source checking, critical analysis, and other advanced analytical and creative skills are likely already learning objectives in your courses or program. These abilities are also essential for AI literacy. With the development of foundational AI resources like the How to Use Generative AI Responsibly in Academia module, TLT aims to support instructors in helping Northwestern students cultivate lifelong AI literacies.