Digital Media Literacy Becomes Critical Priority in the AI Era

The concept of digital literacy has evolved dramatically as technology has transformed our world. Now, with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence tools, higher education institutions face an urgent challenge to equip students with the critical thinking skills needed to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape.

“The rise of generative AI is accelerating the creation and spread of digital content, making it more important than ever for all members of the higher education community to thoughtfully evaluate and interpret what they see and hear online,” explains Kathe Pelletier, senior director of community programs at EDUCAUSE.

At its core, digital media literacy provides students with essential tools to assess incoming information. T. Lynn Hogan, assistant provost for academic program reviews and director of CoreFSU at Florida State University, describes it as training that enables students “to make some intelligent decisions about the validity of the information or the need to do further research.”

The proliferation of AI-generated content has created a media environment where misinformation can spread rapidly. Tony Liao, associate professor of digital media at the University of Houston, notes that “people can be very susceptible to overlooking things, getting fooled by things, accidentally sharing or accentuating misinformation.” The fragmentation of media sources compounds this problem.

“AI adds speed, sophistication and just a whole world of tools that we have to consider in this digital environment,” Liao explains. This technological shift makes accurate interpretation of digital information more crucial than ever before.

Paul Marty, a professor in the School of Information at FSU’s College of Communication and Information, highlights the concerning reality that AI has made it “so much easier for people to generate information that is patently untrue, yet that looks extremely accurate.” The technology can create authoritative-looking content regardless of its factual basis.

Given these challenges, Pelletier advocates for colleges and universities to develop comprehensive digital literacy curricula focused on critical thinking skills. Effective programs should cover several key areas, starting with fundamental knowledge about how AI functions.

“Do students know how to use the technology? That’s the basics,” Hogan says. “Also, do they know how it interacts in their life, either their personal life or within their profession?” Beyond technical understanding, students need to develop consumer literacy—the ability to judge the value, relevance and accuracy of information they encounter.

Much of this educational approach centers on enhancing critical thinking abilities. Students must learn to identify contextual clues and manipulation markers in digital content. As Liao puts it, students need “to be able to spot the difference between a fake image and a nonfake image, or to spot which one is the more reliable source.”

When implementing digital media literacy courses, institutions should establish a foundation in AI operational knowledge. Understanding how AI systems function helps students recognize what these technologies can and cannot do.

“We try to teach them about the various tools that you might have for image creation, for AI video creation, for large language models,” Liao explains. “We unpack that a little bit: Here’s how the AI is doing that. Here are the sources that the AI is working with.”

Beyond technical knowledge, schools should develop frameworks that guide students through information assessment processes. Hogan suggests focusing on key questions: “Who’s giving you the information? Why are they giving you the information? What do they want you to take from it? And how did they get their information?”

As generative AI continues to transform the information landscape, these educational initiatives will become increasingly vital. Digital media literacy represents not just an academic discipline but an essential life skill for functioning in a world where distinguishing fact from fiction requires more vigilance and critical thinking than ever before.

The stakes for higher education institutions are clear: without robust digital literacy programs, students may struggle to navigate the sophisticated misinformation that AI can help create and spread. By developing comprehensive approaches to digital media literacy now, colleges and universities can prepare students to become discerning digital citizens in an increasingly complex information ecosystem.