AI Literacy at Xavier: Discernment for a Changing Technological Landscape
April 30, 2026
Whether we love it or hate it, AI has arrived in our classrooms and become a literacy issue we cannot ignore. Students use it, employers demand it, and educators are stuck in the middle wondering if we should ban it altogether and go back to the days of blue books. As Writing Program Director, I encounter AI-related questions almost weekly, and have come to see this tension-filled pedagogical moment as part of a larger historical shift that calls for nuanced discernment rather than simple solutions.In this past year, the AI Literacy Task Force — comprised of members from across the university — has worked to draft a set of student learning goals to help guide this work at Xavier. Leaning into our Jesuit mission, we’ve reflected on what it means to teach AI literacy in an Ignatian context, keeping in mind questions of ethics, justice, care, human dignity, responsibility, transparency, and the greater good.
The AI literacy learning goals are intended to provide a shared foundation while allowing programs and faculty to adapt them in ways that reflect their particular disciplinary expectations, contexts, and goals. Not every course will need to address AI literacy in the same way, and some may engage it minimally or indirectly. At the same time, a coherent approach benefits students by providing consistent introductory awareness that can then be further developed toward more discipline-specific fluency.
The current implementation plan begins with foundational AI literacy before and during the first year of students’ time at Xavier. AI literacy materials will be added to Road to Xavier so that basic knowledge of how Xavier addresses AI will be introduced before students arrive on campus. For this incoming class, the module will be embedded and recommended, but in future years, it will become required. Students will receive a certificate of completion, which first-year instructors may ask them to provide when classes begin.
These foundational ideas will be reinforced in Manresa and then built upon in First-Year Writing. In the Writing Program, AI literacy goals will be piloted in ENGL 101 and ENGL 115 in the fall, with a fuller rollout planned for spring semester after faculty feedback has been reviewed. Because some students bring in AP, transfer, or other credit, First-Year Writing will not impact every student, but it should reach a large majority each year. Once refined, the Writing Program’s approach will be shared so that faculty in other disciplines can see what students have likely encountered by the end of the first year.
From there, programs can begin considering how AI literacy might be reinforced or extended in discipline-appropriate ways. For some fields, this may involve professional ethics, data use, research practices, creative production, disciplinary writing, or workplace expectations. For others, it may mean helping students understand the limits of AI tools or the human expertise that cannot be outsourced. The goal is not to impose a single model, but to build a shared foundation that programs can adapt thoughtfully.
This work is firmly rooted within our Jesuit educational mission and Ignatian heritage, while also acknowledging the flexibility we need as we accompany students into an uncertain future. At Xavier, AI literacy asks students to do more than learn how to use artificial intelligence as a tool or a substitute for the hard work of learning. Rather, it asks them to discern when AI use is appropriate and when it is not, to evaluate outputs critically, to consider questions of bias and human dignity, and to think about how emerging technologies can be used in service of the greater good. In an Ignatian context, AI literacy is not merely a technical skill, but a matter of reflection, judgment, justice, and responsibility.
Faculty feedback is essential as we refine the learning goals and consider how AI literacy should develop at Xavier. Please take a few minutes to review the draft goals and complete the feedback survey linked here.
Thank you for helping shape this important work as we move boldly, but with discernment, through this rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Renea Frey
Associate Professor/Writing Program Director, English Department