Abstract
In many ways, South Africa can be seen as a microcosm of the world with regard to the gap between rich and poor. AI has arrived somewhat suddenly onto the educational scene, resulting in some anxiety in a country already struggling with an inadequate basic education system that sees 80% of its learners unable to read for meaning. Ultimately, these low levels of literacy skills are left for the tertiary institutions to remedy. However, students are further hindered by weaknesses in infrastructure, income, and connectivity, resulting in some 75% of 1st-year students never having had any previous interaction with computers. Nonetheless, AI is here to stay. It can be categorized as part of “New Literacies”, and if we are not going to further disadvantage our students and enable them to be competitive in the global workforce market, we need to be considering positive ways in which we can harness new AI technology in teaching and learning. In this paper, I discuss novel ways in which educators in South Africa can integrate AI into current literacy teaching approaches at the tertiary level, without unduly increasing the cognitive load of students.
Presenters
Kellie SteinkeLecturer, Social Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
South Africa, AI, New Literacies, Literacy Teaching, Integrating AI
