This presentation will begin by introducing the global need for primary and secondary teacher AI literacy training and why specifically teachers in British Columbia (BC), Canada need these skills. It will discuss a research proposal on how to improve teacher AI readiness capabilities through a targeted six-week online AI literacy course for teachers. The project would aim to answer: How does participation in a course on artificial intelligence literacy measurably improve K-12 BC teachers’ AI readiness? The proposed project could be used as a potential case study for other K-12 teaching contexts which are similar to British Columbia, Canada.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is set to disrupt kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) education as AI tools begin to permeate the educational technology landscape globally. The AI-TPACK Technological, Pedagogical, and Content knowledge framework (Celik, 2023) is a potential way to determine teacher readiness. In this context readiness is defined as self assessed teacher AI-TPACK skills, confidence in using AI tools, perceived relevance and understanding of AI literacy topics including any ethical and privacy risks.
In the province of BC, Canada, there are basic provincial government guidelines on considerations for AI use in the classroom, but there is no method for teachers to self-assess their AI readiness and gaps in learning. Currently, school districts are introducing AI tools and AI literacy, but the level of integration and professional development may not be consistent across the province. Despite increasing AI adoption, there is limited data and understanding of teacher AI readiness in BC. Furthermore, BC’s curriculum is unique in that it focuses on building student competencies and places a large emphasis on Indigenous Ways of Knowing and inclusive education for all learners. BC teachers also have the autonomy and flexibility in how to present the curriculum to students. But without adequate AI readiness training, there is a risk that teachers may feel apprehensive to introduce or use AI in the classroom. Also, as it is not currently mandated in the curriculum there might be confusion on how to integrate AI literacy into the curriculum. Therefore, there is a need for a targeted intervention program to upskill teachers’ AI literacy skills.
The proposed AI literacy readiness course would be designed by the researcher in consultation with local teacher groups with the intent of creating a made in BC AI literacy course for teachers and by teachers. The course be designed to be a six week, six‑module asynchronous format. Learners would interact with a variety of AI tools and concepts using a hands-on approach. The course would provide opportunities for teachers to develop learning artefacts for their specific context. The goal would be to personalise the learning for teachers while gaining confidence in using AI while understanding the affordances and potential risks of introducing new technologies in the classroom.
Successful impacts would be measured through pre and post surveys completed before and after the AI literacy readiness course. Teachers would self-assess through a mixed methods approach using quantitative and qualitative data. The intervention questions on AI teacher readiness surveys would be derived from selected AI‑TPACK studies using a 5-point Likert scale. Each survey would also include two open ended questions which would relate to teachers’ affective readiness for implementing AI in the classroom. After the six‑week online course, success would be measured by anticipated findings of increased teacher AI readiness to teach, learn, and critically assess AI and confidence to teach and learn with these tools.
References:
Celik, I. (2023) ‘Towards Intelligent-TPACK: An empirical study on teachers’ professional knowledge to ethically integrate artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools into education’, Computers in Human Behavior, 138. Available at: https://library-search.open.ac.uk/permalink/44OPN_INST/j6vapu/cdi_crossref_citationtrail_10_1016_j_chb_2022_107468 (Accessed: 03 March, 2026).
One response to “AI Ready? Measuring AI Literacy Readiness in Canadian K-12 Teachers”
Very interesting Kim. As a teacher in England I have noticed a wide variation in my colleagues approaches to AI use from one senior leader using it to write their assemblies to a science teacher who feels teachers, particualrly scientists, should not be using it at all.
I do in principle like the fact that the course would be “for teachers and by teachers” because I feel that sometimes professional development feels disconnected from the realities of classroom teacher. I was wondering though whether you feel there is such a range of views in Canada amongst teachers about whether we should be using AI at all and if so, how would it be decided whose views to prioritise in the creation of such a course?