Creating a Framework for Valued Learning Outcomes in 2030

Overview:

This project aims to re-conceptualize and assess college-level critical thinking and informative literacy in the age of Generative AI (GenAI). In line with the mission of the California Learning Lab, our project focuses on undergraduate learning. Our team employs an asset-oriented, equitable, and accessible approach to instruction where we partner with instructors to rethink the assignments and rubrics by which we assess these skills without requiring nor banning student usage of AI. 

Project goals:

  • Characterize how both students and instructors conceptualize critical thinking and informative literacy: both their importance and the human vs. GenAI components of these skills

  • Develop a set of open educational resources (OER) to support instructors in assessing critical thinking and informative literacy in undergraduate courses, including but not limited to: rubrics, assignment prompts, checklists, modules

  • Articulate the relationship between AI literacy and information or digital literacy and develop training materials to support students in their AI literacy

Project components:

  • Mixed-methods research project on attitudes and perceptions of GenAI, particularly when it intersects with critical thinking and informative literacy skills

  • Collaborative materials development with the UC Berkeley Libraries, particularly the Instruction Services Division (ISD), and identified instructor partners

  • Pilot of developed instructional materials in a set of undergraduate courses with embedded learning outcomes assessment

Instructor partners:

We are grateful for our instructor collaborators who are embarking on this course pilot.

  • Glynda Hull and Erin Murphy-Graham, Berkeley School of Education
  • Ricarda Hammer and Marina Romani, Department of Sociology
  • Srijani Ghosh, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
  • Nathan Atkinson, Department of Rhetoric
  • Ivy Mills, Department of History of Art
  • Rebekah Ramsay, Department of History
  • Clancy Wilmott, Department of Geography

Project updates:

Data collection has finished for our IRB-approved study (CPHS Protocol #: 2024-07-17596). Thanks to all current Berkeley undergraduate students and instructors who participated in this study. If you have questions about this study, contact Dr. Melissa Ko (mesako@berkeley.edu).

Last updated: April 1, 2025

Project Team

CTL Staff Team: Melissa E. Ko, Tara Mason, Rachel E. Weiher, Courtney Gomas

CTL Student Team: Maya Wu, Jishan Jiang, Breanna Cabusao, Maricruz Montes de Oca-Sanchez

UC Berkeley Librarians: Nicole Brown, Gisèle Tanasse, and others

Project Advisors: Jenae Cohn and Ula Y. Taylor

Funded by the Learning Lab

This project was funded by the California Education Learning Lab, a state-funded grantmaking organization with a mission to improve learning outcomes and close equity gaps for students attending public higher institutions in California.