Make Sense of AI
Build the understanding and judgment needed to engage with AI thoughtfully, responsibly, and with confidence in educational settings.
Move beyond using AI based on hype, fear, or surface familiarity. The AI Literacy & Human Judgment Badge is designed for educators and educational leaders who want to understand how AI systems actually work, where they can mislead, and how human judgment enables meaningful and ethical use.
This badge focuses on hands-on inquiry and sensemaking, preparing participants to engage productively with AI before building tools, workflows, or instructional systems.
This badge goes beyond awareness. it’s an inquiry-based experience that helps you engage with AI as:
- A system shaped by data, probability, and design choices, not understanding or intent.
- A tool that can support thinking when used carefully, and undermine it when over-relied upon.
- A powerful technology that requires human judgment, transparency, and responsibility.
- An opportunity for innovation that must be guided by values, context, and equity.
What You'll Learn
By earning this badge, you will learn to:
- Understand How AI Works: Develop a clear mental model of how AI systems generate outputs and why they can be confidently wrong.
- Evaluate AI Critically: Identify bias, hallucination, and overconfidence through hands-on exploration of real AI behavior.
- Apply Human Judgment: Distinguish between AI that supports thinking and AI that replaces it.
- Navigate Risk and Responsibility: Examine data privacy, surveillance concerns, and institutional implications of AI use.
- Communicate AI Use Transparently: Explain AI use clearly and responsibly to students, families, and colleagues.
What You'll Create
You’ll complete the badge by creating:
- A community-facing AI explainer that clearly communicates how AI works, what it does well, and where its limits are.
- A human-centered AI use statement or policy that articulates values, boundaries, and responsible use commitments
- A critical AI audit applying your literacy skills to evaluate a real or hypothetical AI use case.
Who Should Enroll
This badge is ideal for:
- PK–12 educators seeking a clear, grounded understanding of AI before applying it in classrooms.
- Preservice teachers developing foundational AI literacy and professional judgment.
- Instructional and educational leaders responsible for guiding thoughtful AI use in schools and systems.
Program Overview
- Cost: $150 total
- Professional Development: Earn 8 ISBE PD Hours (Illinois educators only)
- Format: Fully asynchronous with guidance from NLU faculty experts. (It takes approximately 8-12 hours to complete)
Build the Judgment That Guides AI Use
Develop the understanding and confidence needed to engage with AI responsibly before building with it.
For questions or more information, contact AIBadge@nl.edu.
