What Does It Actually Mean to Be AI Literate? TESU Has an Answer.
Episode 21 of the Edison Sound Stage Podcast
TESU isn't waiting for AI to disrupt education. It's already ahead of it.
Artificial intelligence isn't coming. It's already here — in our inboxes, our search results, our workplaces and now, our classrooms. The question for higher education isn't whether to address it or not. It's how.
At Thomas Edison State University, the answer starts with a course every undergraduate student takes: SOS-1100, Fact, Fiction or Fake? Information Literacy Today.
The course was already built around one of the most important skills a student can develop — the ability to question everything, including your own thinking. So, when ChatGPT burst onto the scene almost overnight, SOS-1100 turned out to be uniquely positioned to meet that moment head on. TESU moved quickly, adding a dedicated AI module to the course that asks students to do something deceptively simple: try it, compare it and reflect on what they find.
That's not a small ask. And the results have been anything but predictable.
"I am getting reflections of 'this changed my life,'" says Crystal Sands, the course mentor who helped build and now facilitates SOS-1100. "There's an empowerment element. Students are realizing that the people who know how to use and question AI are going to be incredibly valuable."
The key word there is “question.” In a landscape where the next technological literacy gap may well be between people who trust AI blindly and people who don't, SOS-1100 is preparing students to land firmly on the right side of that divide.
Want to hear Crystal and David tell it in their own words? Listen to the full episode of Edison Sound Stage below.
Listen to Episode 21
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What You'll Discover in This Episode
Try It. Then Try It Yourself.
The module's signature assignment is straightforward in design and profound in impact. Students locate an article from their own field, use AI to generate a summary, write their own summary and then reflect on the differences between the two.
What happens next is where it gets interesting.
Some students discover that AI is remarkably efficient — a powerful tool for processing large amounts of information quickly. Others find that when they relied on AI to summarize something they later had to discuss or test on, something was missing. And occasionally, students catch the AI doing something SOS-1100 has prepared them for all along: pulling in outside sources that weren't in the original article.
"You have got to question its output," Crystal notes. "And so, it's been a really fascinating experience — at least for introducing AI use, you get to see how awesome it is at certain things, and then you understand what you might miss."
The reactions from students run the full spectrum. Some walk away energized, already thinking about how they'll use AI in future courses and careers. Others walk away more cautious. And that range of responses, says Crystal, is exactly the point.
Hear Crystal describe what students are actually saying in their reflections — and why some responses surprised even her. Jump into the conversation on Edison Sound Stage.
Built Into the Living Curriculum
What makes TESU's approach distinctive is that SOS-1100 isn't a standalone experiment. It's the foundation of something larger — a three-tiered framework for AI competency that David Schwager, Senior Director, Learning Design & Assessment Solutions, in the University’s Center for Learning and Technology is helping to build across the institution.
The first tier is exposure — an introduction to what AI is, what it can do and what the ethical considerations are. SOS-1100 covers that ground for every undergraduate student, regardless of discipline.
The second tier is literacy — the opportunity to engage with AI across multiple courses and contexts, and actively using it in ways connected to a student's field of study. Courses across TESU are increasingly incorporating AI in this way, and a new one-credit elective, TES-1110: AI Unlocked — Tools, Prompts and Possibilities, developed in partnership with respected content provider CompTIA, takes students deeper into how to prompt effectively and what AI can actually do in practice.
The third tier is competency — the kind of field-specific AI fluency that students in programs like cybersecurity are already developing, where AI is simply part of how the work gets done.
"The goal is that all of our students have, at minimum, a foundational exposure to AI," David explains. "And then that builds into literacy, and then into competency within their program."
This is TESU's living curriculum in action, a curriculum designed not just to keep pace with the world, but to evolve right alongside it. When students bring current research from their own fields into their coursework, the learning doesn't flow in just one direction. "I learned so much from their research," Crystal says with a laugh. "I'm great at Trivial Pursuit because of my students."
Curious how the three-tiered framework comes together? David breaks it all down on this episode of Edison Sound Stage. Give it a listen.
The Real Skill Isn't Technical
One of the most striking insights from the conversation behind this post is what AI literacy requires — and what it doesn't.
It doesn't require being a tech person. It doesn't require knowing how to code or understanding the mechanics of large language models or mastering complex prompting strategies. What it requires is something TESU has always taught: the ability to think critically, evaluate sources and ask whether what you're seeing is actually true.
"It's not so much this fancy algorithmic tool that somebody needs to be super technical about," David says. "It's: Do you trust it? How do you take what it gives you and reflect on that? Dig a little further."
That framing reframes AI literacy as something accessible to every student — the nursing student, the business student, the liberal arts student — because it's rooted in skills they're already building. The bones of information literacy and the bones of AI literacy turn out to be the same skeleton.
And TESU's adult learners, it seems, are well-suited to this kind of thinking. Crystal, who also works at other institutions, notes that TESU students arrive with a healthy skepticism — a willingness to give AI a try while reserving the right to question what it gives back.
"I haven't had the experience of students just using it to write all their papers in the same way at Thomas Edison," she says. "I'm really impressed with our students."
Sound like the kind of education you've been looking for? Hear the full story on Edison Sound Stage.
Ahead of the Curve
TESU's investment in AI literacy isn't just about one course, or one module or one elective. It's part of a broader institutional commitment — backed by the newly launched Center of Excellence for AI Innovation — to ensure that every TESU graduate leaves with meaningful AI competency, no matter their field of study.
The living curriculum is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: breathe, evolve and stay one step ahead of a world that isn't slowing down.
To hear the full conversation with Crystal Sands and David Schwager — including what AI tool David used to make a pretty impressive chicken, kale and mango dinner — listen to the latest episode of Edison Sound Stage, available now.
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