Sustainable AI Literacy in Higher Education Through Awareness, Ethics, and Curriculum Design

Author First name, Last name, Institution

• Nadine Jaafarawi, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi CampusFollow
• Rima Al Chaar, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi CampusFollow

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Transforming Policy and Practice Through AI Driven Educational Leadership

Publication Date

3-10-2026

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape higher education, influencing how students learn and how educators design and deliver instruction. While its pedagogical and operational effects have been widely discussed, much less attention has been given to its environmental footprint. This chapter presents AWARE-AI (Assessing Awareness and Attitudes toward Responsible Environmental Use of AI), a study exploring how undergraduate students understand the ecological costs of AI technologies and how these insights can inform more sustainable curriculum design. The project brings together perspectives from technology, sustainability, and education, targeting foundational courses at a federal university in the United Arab Emirates. Through linking AI literacy with environmental responsibility, the study introduces the concept of Sustainable AI Literacy (SAIL) and highlights ways in which higher education can integrate sustainability principles into teaching, learning, and policy in an ethically grounded and interdisciplinary manner.

DOI Link

10.4018/979-8-3373-4908-4.ch019

ISBN

[9798337349084, 9798337349091, 9798337349107]

ISSN

2327-0411

Publisher

IGI Global Scientific Publishing

First Page

499

Last Page

529

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Curriculum (0.74) | Sustainability (0.69) | Higher education (0.6) | Engineering ethics (0.57) | Literacy (0.49) | Environmental education (0.48) | Sociology (0.45) | Pedagogy (0.42) | Sustainable development (0.36) | Curriculum development (0.32) | Political science (0.32) | Sustainable design (0.32) | Scientific literacy (0.31) | Information literacy (0.31) | Education for sustainable development (0.31) | Engineering (0.3) | Mathematics education (0.28) | Engineering management (0.26)

Scopus ID

105049148315

Recommended Citation

Jaafarawi, Nadine and Al Chaar, Rima, "Sustainable AI Literacy in Higher Education Through Awareness, Ethics, and Curriculum Design" (2026). All Works. 8468.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/8468

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no