Volume 6, Issue 7
AI Fluency Requires Ethics Literacy: Three Strategies for Teaching Responsible AI Use
By Jonathan Beever
AI is everywhere, for better or worse. The landscape thrust upon us puts us in the uncomfortable (or exciting, depending on your perspective) position of having no choice but to learn how and when and why to use “AI” tools and platforms. No regulation (even FL’s pending “AI Bill of Rights”) is going to help in time.
But by developing our own AI fluency, we make informed decisions about what to engage with and what to refuse. These choices are ethical choices, informed by the values that guide our decision-making.
So, part of our job as faculty around AI has become to help students – and one another – build ethics literacy; indeed, AI fluency requires ethics literacy. There are three practical strategies you can include in your assignments to help.
- First, build ethics sensitivity. Provide opportunities for students to identify, with your help, ethical tensions in topics you ask them to engage.
- Second, cultivate critical ethical reasoning. Working with ethics experts, build reasoning and decision-making skills with your students around those issues.
- Finally – and so importantly in the AI context – support moral motivation. When we have decided on the right course of action, how can we act on those reasons for change in the world?
This triad, of sensitivity, reasoning, and motivation, asserts the critical epistemic and ethical conditions for using AI widely, toward good ends.
Connect with me if the Center for Ethics can support you!
GEP Assessment Update
During the Spring 2026 term, all GEP faculty are asked to assess at least one assignment that is aligned with one of their Foundation Learning Outcomes (LO). This helps us consistently measure student learning across all GEP courses.
For many instructors, this step is simple:
You can attach the GEP rubric to an assignment you already use by selecting it from the GEP Outcomes folder in Webcourses. This allows you to measure LO achievement without creating a new assignment.
If the GEP learning outcomes and rubric are not yet in your course, you will need to manually add them first. This is a quick process, and detailed instructions are provided in the General Education Faculty Learning Community canvas course.
In addition, we will be offering drop-in virtual help sessions for anyone with questions or who needs assistance setting up an assignment. You can find more details in the “Assessing the GEP at UCF” module in the General Education Faculty Learning Community canvas course.
Please contact me anytime if you need help setting up the outcomes, adding the rubric to your assignments, or with any other questions.
To help maintain consistency across the program, the deadline for completing this step aligns each year with the term’s Withdrawal Deadline.
Assessment Deadlines
- Session 1: Friday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m.
- Session G: Friday, April 17 at 11:59 p.m.
- Session F: The deadline was February 20. If you missed this deadline, please submit your assessment as soon as possible.
Your thoughtful participation is vital to strengthening the GEP assessment process and enhancing our ability to support student learning across all foundations.
Thank you for your continued dedication to this important work!
If you have any questions, please email me or the GEP mailbox.
GEP Awards: Innovation Award Applications Due Friday
There are only a few days left to apply for the GEP Innovation Award, which recognizes exceptional, evidence-based teaching and course design in GEP classes. To be eligible, submit your application by Friday, March 6.
Submissions for the GEP Certificate of Engagement are being accepted through May 5. It is your opportunity to be recognized for commitment and sustained participation in GEP initiatives, such as events, assessments, and contributions.
Special GEP Bites & Banter Event on April 14
Mark your calendar for a special GEP Bites & Banter session on April 14 from 2–3 p.m. Join colleagues for afternoon tea and an engaging conversation about the key drivers of student success and faculty well-being. Please use this link to RSVP.
Our March 26 session will focus on monitoring and partnering with AI to design assignments that emphasize critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and AI fluency within the GEP. This virtual session will be held from 2–3 p.m. View event details.
GEP Professional Development Series
The GEP Professional Development Series provides practical support and fresh ideas for faculty teaching in UCF’s General Education Program. These monthly sessions focus on course design, student learning, assessment, and instructional collaboration. All sessions are held via Teams at 3 p.m. and are open to all UCF full- and part-time faculty and graduate teaching associates.
March 23: Right on Time: Support for GEP Assessment
Guidance and peer support to help make GEP assessment authentic, efficient, and meaningful.
April 15: AI, Assignments, and Academic Integrity
A timely conversation on how AI is reshaping assignment design, learning goals, and academic integrity in GEP courses.
Faculty are encouraged to join one or more sessions and engage with colleagues around shared teaching priorities in the GEP.