The pervasiveness of technologies in contemporary, postdigital society (Cramer, 2016; The Onlife Initiative, 2015) made it possible for recent and advanced technologies like Generative Artificial Intelligence (Zhao et al., 2023) to gain significant momentum even among non-expert users. Anyone with an Internet connection could access many AI tools like chatbots and conversational agents (Milana et al., 2024). Such widespread of GenAI tools, generated an initial hype that has been recently put into discussions by researchers and policymakers, who stress the importance of providing both citizens and professionals with an adequate level of AI literacy in order to harness the potential of this technology and mitigate its risks, especially in education (European Commission. Directorate General for Education and Culture, 2022; European Commission. Joint Research Centre, 2022; Miao & Cukurova, 2024; Miao & Holmes, 2023). The concept of AI literacy in adult education has been discussed both as a continuation of the reflection on literacies in lifelong learning (Hanemann & Robinson, 2022; The New London Group, 1996) and as an attempt to provide a common definition (Knoth et al., 2024; Laupichler et al., 2022; Long & Magerko, 2020; Ng et al., 2021).

Given the importance of teaching and learning AI literacy to meet the challenges of fast-changing job markets and society, significant attention must be paid to teachers’ AI literacy. To address the challenges of globalized educational contexts, where boundaries between online and offline are blurring, the present contribution aims to investigate how Italian teachers interact with GenAI technologies and adapt AI-generated content according to the specifics of their teaching contexts, particularly teachers in service in adult education centers who teach predominantly students with migratory backgrounds. Along with researching what kind of training or professional development they had, the present research explores teachers’ strategies in designing and personalizing their teaching practices with AI tools, and what mitigation strategies they use when incorporating AI-generated content into their activities and materials. AI-literate teachers are expected to know the most effective prompting strategies, as well as specific AI competencies for teaching and learning. The present research aspires to contribute to in-service professional development by advancing teachers’ AI competencies and engaging them to recognize, describe, and comment on the possible roles of AI in their professional practices, as well as reflect on individual capabilities enhanced by AI.

As it focuses on the processes of interacting with GenAI technologies, the research adopts a qualitative methodology that aims to collect data on the current state of teachers’ professional development in AI literacy in the Italian adult education centers. A thematic analysis will be done on the data gathered with a questionnaire, interviews, and focus groups. On one hand, semi-structured interviews with directors of public schools and institutes are conducted to investigate both institutions’ vision of the role of digital technologies, particularly GenAI, in lifelong learning and education, and institutions’ strategic planning of professional development opportunities for teachers. On the other hand, teachers are asked to a questionnaire that collects information on their previous training in AI for educational purposes, as well as their opinions about the role of GenAI in adult education, and they participate in focus groups that expand the discussion on specific themes that emerged from the data collected in the questionnaire. As teachers discuss possible challenges and opportunities in integrating GenAI tools in their teaching practices, they are also asked about their prompting strategies, including those to refine AI-generated output when it does not align with their expectations. Finally, teachers identify strengths and weaknesses of their educational context as a preliminary analysis for the subsequent action research project for integrating GenAI in their teaching practices.

The present contribution describes the expected results of the focus group, also considering the directors’ perspectives that emerged from the semi-structured interviews. Since teachers are asked about their experience with professional development and teaching practices with AI in the questionnaire, in the focus group, teachers discuss their interaction with GenAI tools and, particularly, their strategies in artificial conversation. Finally, the teachers and the researcher analyze their educational context in order to consider the contextual elements and features that should be taken into account in the action research. Expected results include both the participants’ analysis of the educational context and a first description of potential strategies used by teachers in artificial conversations to design and personalize their teaching practice with GenAI tools, and mitigate bias in AI-generated content.

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