Date
1-16-2025
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in Composition (MA)
Chair
Robert R. Brandon
Keywords
Education, Ethics, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Literacy
Disciplines
English Language and Literature
Recommended Citation
Calderon, Evan Kyle, "Artificial Intelligence and the Urgency of the Digitally Literate Instructor in Secondary Education" (2025). Masters Theses. 1254.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1254
Abstract
The formative school years that comprise secondary education, defined as grades 6th through 8th, pave the way for student success in their foreseeable academic careers. More so than ever, the relationship between technology and student experience has significantly impacted students’ overall academic success. With the encroaching wave of artificial intelligence as a societally necessary tool, the days are fast approaching when AI will become commonplace in the classroom, for which educators of the aforementioned grade levels are overwhelmingly unprepared. In addressing the alarming lack of initiative from higher positions in the education hierarchy, an analysis of the reasons for this delayed response is needed to determine the most effective ways to utilize AI in the classroom after such inaction becomes a priority. The common factor that ensures students thrive in an era where AI has already established poor habits is the presence of a digitally literate and disciplined instructor. This type of instructor, who at this point only exists due to their personal means and interests in understanding this technology, is nowhere near as present as what is needed to implement AI in the classroom effectively or ethically. The skills necessary to ensure a digitally literate instructor not only encapsulate emergent technologies but also retroactively assist instructors with understanding what is currently commonplace in the classroom. This approach for educators would guarantee the use of ethically sound methods in teaching current and future students while also preparing them to become digitally literate individuals who can overcome the negative habits of digital dependency and regressive academic behaviors. Prolific digital literacy is how every academically involved individual can usher in the coming AI-appropriate age to improve students’ learning experiences.