Architecting the Unknown: Student Agency, Open Practices, and the Reciprocal Development of AI Literacies

Abstract

Higher education institutions are rapidly integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching, operations, and governance, yet students remain predominantly positioned as beneficiaries of these efforts rather than contributors to them. Just as the faculty role has shifted in response to AI, the learner role is changing as well, and institutions have an opportunity to shape that shift with intention by extending students greater agency and autonomy over their own learning. This paper asks how open educational practices can serve as a conceptual framework for learners engaging with AI and argues that repositioning students as co-developers of institutional AI literacies creates a reciprocal dynamic in which literacies are simultaneously activated and deepened. Drawing on the Dimensions of AI Literacies taxonomy (Gunder et al., 2024) and its learner-facing adaptation, the Dimensions of AI Literacies for Learners (Gunder et al., 2026), the WCET AI Education Policy, Guideline, and Practice Ecosystem Framework (2025), and the Digital Education Council AI Literacy Framework (2025), this paper examines the Student AI Partner Internship, launched by the Vice Provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Texas at San Antonio, in which undergraduate students earn microcredentials, partner with faculty and staff on AI integration projects, and produce openly licensed professional development resources. Through ethnographically informed portraits and program evaluation data, the paper illustrates how the creation of open educational resources activates constellations of AI literacies (Gunder, 2024) that deepen students' own capabilities while extending institutional capacity for AI integration. The model offers a replicable approach for institutions seeking to embed student voice and agency into their AI strategies, particularly those serving distance and digitally mediated learners.