The Connotation, Challenges, and Countermeasures of Teachers’ Critical Digital Literacy in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

This chapter explores the connotation, challenges, and countermeasures of teachers’ critical digital literacy in the era of artificial intelligence. The deep integration of generative artificial intelligence into the educational field is prompting a natural shift in teachers’ digital literacy towards critical digital literacy centered on critical thinking and reflection. Critical digital literacy lies in that teachers not only need to have the ability to scientifically discern AI-generated content, but also need to adhere to professional self-awareness rooted in educational context and ethical concerns. In practice, it can be divided into four dimensions: critical consciousness, critical knowledge, critical ability, and critical behavior, reflecting the characteristics of intersubjectivity and dynamic development. However, the development of this literacy faces the dual dilemmas of teachers’ inherent cognitive inertia and the vacuum of external standards, resulting in the widespread phenomenon of “not willing to criticize” and “not being able to criticize” among teachers. By building a professional support system, embedding professional development systems, and introducing micro-certification mechanisms, we can guide teachers to gradually grow into professional subjects who can critically discern values and reconstruct meanings in the collaborative educational practice between humans and machines, so that technological tools can truly serve the inheritance and growth of educational wisdom.