AI Literacy

Purpose of the Framework:

The Penn State AI Framework defines and illustrates what AI literacy means across our university community. The competencies establish the shared language and durable structure of AI literacy. The outcomes represent a collection of literacy goals to strive toward, showing how competencies might be expressed in practice at a basic literacy level. It is not intended that every professional development offering contain all outcomes. Instead, they provide benchmarks that different groups can use to connect their efforts to the Framework in ways that fit their roles, disciplines, and contexts.

This framing is consistent with Lo’s AI Literacy for All: A Universal Framework, which positions frameworks as structured yet adaptable, emphasizing shared principles without mandating identical requirements for all learners. Lo stresses that flexibility is essential to ensure accessibility, relevance, and usability across diverse groups of learners and professionals.

What the Framework Is:

• A foundation: A baseline structure for developing AI literacy at Penn State, focused on the essential competencies and outcomes that define basic literacy skills. The Framework is a flexible baseline that can be adapted for multiple audiences and built out with additional levels over time
• A set of core components: The dimensions of AI literacy (Technical Knowledge, Ethical Awareness, Critical Thinking, Practical Use, Societal Impact) that establish the durable architecture for understanding and engaging AI.
• A benchmarking and alignment tool: A way for professional development providers to map their offerings against competencies, highlighting which literacy goals they address.
• Adaptable across contexts: Designed to be applied to faculty, staff, and students in different roles, disciplines, and stages of learning.
• An approach: AI should be approached with an open mind, but also with healthy skepticism, particularly in terms of ethical use and social impact.

What the Framework Is Not:

• Not a prescriptive checklist: It does not require that every outcome be addressed in every program or offering.
• Not a one-size-fits-all curriculum: It does not prescribe specific lessons, assignments, or teaching methods.

• Not a universal mandate: It does not apply identical requirements across all groups; instead, outcomes function as literacy goals that can be flexibly applied, allowing disciplines, academic units, and campuses agency in determining best uses.

Interconnectedness of Competencies:

The competencies are inherently interconnected—skills and literacies in one area naturally reinforce and support others. Lo emphasizes that true AI literacy integrates multiple dimensions, such as the intersection of technical knowledge and ethical reasoning, or critical thinking with societal awareness.

Professional development should reflect this integration. It is unlikely that future offerings will focus on a single competency in isolation. Instead, effective programs will weave together competencies, encouraging learners to make connections between knowledge, practice, and societal impact.

Application to Audiences

The Framework is intentionally designed for flexibility by position, discipline, and audience needs, a principle strongly underscored in Lo’s universal framework. Different groups within the Penn State community—faculty, staff, and students—will engage AI literacy in distinct ways.

By Position:

• Faculty may require literacy focused on research practices, pedagogy, and academic integrity.
• Staff may prioritize literacy for operational systems, workplace decision-making, and compliance.
• Students may focus on broad awareness, responsible use in coursework, and the civic implications of AI.

By Discipline:

• STEM fields may emphasize technical depth, model building, and risk assessment.
• Humanities may stress ethical reasoning, interpretation, and societal impact.
• Professional schools (e.g., law, medicine, business) may focus on regulatory, applied, and policy dimensions.

By Audience Needs:

• Lo (2025) highlights that learners engage AI literacy at different levels of readiness. Some may only need basic awareness, while others—especially advanced learners and professionals—will engage in critical evaluation, application, and strategic integration. At Penn State, this Framework currently defines the baseline for literacy, with the expectation that more advanced levels will be developed over time.