AI Literacies in Practice Series

Constructive and Critical AI Literacies

May 28, 2026 | 11:00 AM EDT | 1 Hour

Building With AI and Asking What It Builds

We understand the timing of these sessions may not work for your timezone. The sessions will be recorded and available to watch on-demand for anyone who is unable to attend live. To ensure you get the recordings to your inbox, please register!

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Speakers

Dr. Angela Gunder

CEO & Founder, Opened Culture

Dr. Cristi Ford

Chief Learning Officer

Dr. Bettyjo Bouchey

Chief Officer, Professional and Continuing Education (PACE), University of Vermont

Dr. Gloria Niles

Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer (CATIO), University of Hawai’i System

About This Webinar

Most conversations about AI in education start with the tools. This one starts with the people using them. What happens when educators stop asking “how do I use this?” and start asking “what am I building, and is it building something good?” That shift changes everything, and this session is where it begins.

What You’ll Learn

Why Knowing How AI Works Changes What You Can Do With It

You don’t need to be a developer, but you do need to understand enough about how AI tools are built to make real choices about what you create with them. This session explores what it means to move from using AI to constructing with it, and why that shift matters for every educator, designer, and leader in the room.

Criticality as Illumination, Not Just Interrogation

The instinct to ask “what is AI getting wrong?” is a good one. But critical AI literacies go further. They ask what AI is making possible, what it is leaving out, and who gets to decide. This session reframes critical practice as the ability to hold both challenges and opportunities in view at the same time, because the educators doing the most interesting work right now are doing exactly that.

Two Dimensions, One Conversation

These two dimensions of AI literacies were the first ones the research team saw working in tandem, and they remain the ones most people encounter first. Building with AI demands critical judgment. Asking critical questions becomes most powerful when you are building something real. This session explores what opens up when both are in play.