Using Generative AI in Your Literacy and ESL Programs

Whether you are an enthusiastic AI user, a staunch detractor, or somewhere in between, one thing is clear: AI is now everywhere. From web search results to altered photographs and videos in our newsfeeds, AI-generated content has become impossible to avoid. As AI tools become more prevalent, and more contested, literacy programs have a unique opportunity to model responsible, critically-informed engagement with this technology.

When used strategically and ethically, artificial intelligence can transform the way literacy and ESL programs support their communities. Tutors and learners are already encountering and using AI in their daily lives, and literacy programs can help guide them in evaluating these tools thoughtfully. Including understanding that that choosing whether and how to use AI is an act of informed decision-making in itself.

This session will cover how to introduce tutors to AI during tutor training, and how generative AI can be used responsibly for goal-based lesson planning, material creation, and instructional support. The workshop will then cover how Literacy programs can introduce this knowledge to their learners, always through an ethical lens. The workshop will also address current concerns around AI, including bias, accuracy, and accountability, and will explore how staff and tutors can extend this critical framework to their learners. Generative AI excels at language and can be an invaluable tool for translating documents, simplifying texts, and helping overcome reading, writing, and communication barriers. By integrating responsible AI practices into tutor training and learner support, literacy programs can bridge critical gaps in access to information and services while empowering their communities to engage with these tools on their own terms.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ethical concerns around AI and strategies for navigating them responsibly
• Learn how to incorporate AI into tutor training, lesson planning, and material creation with a focus on best practices
• Examine how AI workshops have already begun helping literacy and ESL learners achieve their goals

Presenter:

Tara Crow is a Literacy Program Specialist at the Santa Monica Public Library and current president of the Southern California Library Literacy Network.  She has been training new literacy and ESL tutors on how to responsibly use AI to generate custom, “roles and goals” based lessons for over a year. She also works with learners to build their technology skills to help them reach their personal and professional goals.

Susanne Crichton is a Literacy Specialist at the Salinas Public Library Literacy Program, where she helps deliver trauma-informed adult literacy and ESL programming. She has championed the use of technology as a tool for equity, and approaches AI with the same framework she brings to all instructional decisions: who does this serve, and how do we do it well?

Track: Literacy and ESL, AI