Every day in classrooms, boardrooms, and design studios around the world, educators, leaders, and learners are making decisions about AI under pressure, often without the foundation they need.
Conversations about AI literacy and fluency have opened important doors, but as AI continues to evolve, so must our understanding of what it means to navigate it well. This is why literacies matter. Plural. Interconnected. Evolving.
The eight dimensions explored in this book recognize that navigating AI requires constellations of mindsets and skill sets that shift with context, culture, and purpose. And educators sit at the center of this work. Your expertise in learning, ethics, and human development is not incidental to the AI conversation. It is essential. Determining how AI fits into our world requires the very capacities educators have been cultivating all along.
This book is not a survival manual for the latest tools. It is a field guide for building cultures and infrastructures of care that can hold AI’s ongoing disruption. No matter your role or context, whether K–12 teacher or university faculty, instructional designer or policymaker, this book will help you move from crisis to confidence, learning how to think critically, create ethically, and lead with intention in an AI-driven landscape.
These are just a few of the questions the book answers through its exploration of eight interconnected literacies, grounded in empirical research and global perspectives from educators navigating AI in their own communities.
This work began from research commissioned by UNESCO IITE in 2023, and has led to a series of compelling longitudinal findings that continue to evolve as AI changes the ways in which we understand teaching and learning at micro and macro levels.
The writing team for this forthcoming field guide is comprised of a collaborative group of scholar/practitioners united by a commitment to open education and human-centered approaches to AI in learning. You can learn more about them and what they uniquely bring to this project by clicking on their names on the right.
Dr. Angela Gunder is the founder and CEO of Opened Culture, a global collaboratory and strategic consultancy advancing academic innovation, digital learning, and responsible approaches to emerging technology. She is the co-creator of the Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy, a field-defining contribution shaping how educators, institutions, and communities build AI skillsets and mindsets with intentionality and care. A scholar-practitioner and strategic leader in education for more than two decades, Dr. Gunder has led national and global initiatives on digital transformation, previously serving as Chief Academic Officer at the Online Learning Consortium. Her work has been commissioned, funded, and recognized by UNESCO, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, EDUCAUSE, WCET, Quality Matters, APLU, UPCEA, and MIT Open Learning, with honors from MERLOT and her alma mater, The University of Arizona. She is also the inaugural Agentic AI Humanitarian of the Year, recognized by Arizona State University. A frequent keynote speaker, Dr. Gunder regularly presents on the global stage at convenings such as the International Council for Open and Distance Education, the European Distance and E-Learning Network, ASU+GSV, and SXSW EDU. She earned her Ph.D. in teaching, learning, and sociocultural studies from The University of Arizona, where she serves as online faculty and a strategic consultant for innovative pedagogy.
Dr. Cristi Ford is an education leader and learning technology strategist with more than 20 years of experience advancing high-quality, equitable digital learning across higher education and secondary education. Her work bridges pedagogy, technology innovation, and institutional change — guiding organizations as they adopt digital and AI-enabled approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment with clarity, integrity, and measurable impact. Committed to elevating emerging thought leadership in AI, Dr. Ford is the founder and host of the Teach and Learn podcast. She has built and led digital education initiatives across the U.S., Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region, with deep expertise in faculty development, instructional design, and digital learning strategy. Her research centers on efficacy-based studies that evaluate learning interventions — including AI-supported practices — and their impact on learner outcomes. Recognized as an ASU+GSV Leading Woman in AI (2025), a 2022 OLC Fellow, and recipient of the 2024 Mildred B. & Charles A. Wedemeyer Award for Outstanding Practitioner in Distance Education, Dr. Ford is known for translating complex learning and technology challenges into actionable institutional practice. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Missouri–Columbia.
Dr. Josh Herron is an interdisciplinary practitioner-scholar whose work bridges AI literacies, workforce development, and digital learning across higher education and industry. He is a co-creator of the Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy, contributing both its theoretical grounding in literacy studies and its practical application to institutional and organizational contexts. His scholarly foundation in electracy, multimodal composition, and post-pedagogy brings a perspective rooted in how people make meaning with emerging technologies, not just how they use them.
Dr. Herron has served as faculty and an academic leader across a range of institution types, including research universities, regional comprehensive institutions, community and technical colleges, and fully online universities. His academic work spans undergraduate program direction, launching graduate programs, and mentoring doctoral students through dissertation research. That breadth of institutional experience informs his commitment to AI literacies frameworks that work not just in well-resourced flagship settings but across the full landscape of higher education.
He designs and delivers AI integration training for Fortune 100 and multinational corporations, including executive-level strategy sessions that translate AI literacies into role-specific workflows. He consults with international intergovernmental organizations on AI competency frameworks and through cross-institutional innovation alliances, he collaborates with leaders on applied strategy in teaching and training.
His work has been recognized with awards from national organizations and through his contributions to the co-development of the Instructional Design Fieldbook. His consulting work focuses on helping knowledge workers build professional autonomy through strategic AI use. Dr. Herron holds an MA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned a transdisciplinary Ph.D. from Clemson University.
Dr. Nicole Weber is an educator and learning technology leader who translates emerging technology trends into practical, high-impact strategies for instructors and students. With over two decades of experience, she has led faculty development, learning innovation, and student success initiatives across online, blended, and technology-enhanced contexts. Her recent work focuses on the ethical and effective integration of generative AI in pedagogy, including field-defining contributions to the Dimensions of AI Literacies and applied research on empowering students to leverage AI for career readiness. An invited keynote speaker and frequent contributor to global webinars and conferences, Dr. Weber is recognized for sharing educator-centered, actionable approaches to responsible technology adoption. She facilitates AI-focused professional learning through EDUCAUSE, supporting higher education leaders and instructional designers in applying AI literacies to institutional strategy. At the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, she coordinates the Instructional Design and Learning Technology master’s program and serves on key committees guiding institutional AI policy and implementation. She earned her Ph.D. in Urban Education with a specialization in the Social Foundations of Education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, focusing on the design of engaging learning experiences for adult learners.
Dr. Colette Chelf is an education leader and researcher whose work examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping learning, knowledge work, and organizational transformation across education, workforce, and civic institutions. She contributes to the Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy developed through Opened Culture, bringing an organizational leadership perspective that explores how institutional ecosystems cultivate the cultural, operational, and strategic conditions necessary for responsible AI adoption. Her scholarship focuses on quality and equity in digital learning, institutional change management, and the evolving relationship between human agency and generative AI in knowledge work.
Previously serving as Director of Grant Programs and Consulting Projects at the Online Learning Consortium, she has led work supported by major initiatives funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and various federal grant agencies. Dr. Chelf regularly collaborates with national leaders in learning innovation, including Achieving the Dream, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). She has published research and presents nationally and internationally at convenings such as the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and SXSW EDU, where she served as a mentor supporting emerging higher education leaders. Dr. Chelf holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Western Kentucky University.
This book sits within a broader field-building effort that began officially in 2024 and now includes hundred of educators representing 6 continents, and over 21 countries. At the heart of this work is the award-winning Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy, a vocabulary and an approach that has helped countless educators, learners, and leaders keep humans at the center of AI use in education. We invite you to explore these pillar resources, and learn more about the multitude of connected resources, community engagement activities, and professional development created around the dimensions of AI literacies on our Insights page.
