AI across borders: COIL pedagogy, media ecology, and intercultural AI literacy in the postdigital classroom
Journal
Online Media and Global Communication
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Date Issued
2026-08-05
Author(s)
Petricini, Tiffany Alana
Meneses Trujillo, Ricardo
Type
Article
Abstract
Purpose
As AI becomes embedded in educational life worldwide, AI literacy can no longer be understood only as a technical competency. This article examines the cultural, linguistic, and ecological dimensions of AI use in higher education and argues that global communication classrooms require new pedagogical approaches for navigating AI across contexts of difference. Drawing on media ecological scholarship, we present a three-phase conceptual framework (Immersion, Encounter, Reflection) for developing Intercultural AI Literacy (ICAL).
Method
We report findings from “AI Across Borders,” a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) exchange between undergraduate students at Penn State Behrend (United States) and Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City). Using quantitative survey analysis (
N
= 150; Penn State
n
= 55, UP Mexico
n
= 95), we examine similarities and differences in AI attitudes reported by US and Mexican students following participation in the exchange.
Findings
Composite-level analyses reveal similar post-exchange patterns in reported AI self-efficacy and cross-cultural orientation across both cohorts. Because the AI-in-higher-education item grouping demonstrated low internal consistency, it is interpreted cautiously as exploratory. Item-level analyses identify differences in reported prior AI educational exposure and default AI-use behavior. Equity-relevant subgroup analyses also suggest relationships between financial precarity and selected AI-literacy measures that warrant further study.
Implications
AI literacy education requires intercultural and ecological reorientation. COIL pedagogy offers a productive site for developing ecological AI consciousness. Structural inequities in AI access must be integrated into curriculum design, not treated as demographic covariates.
Value
This study offers an initial cross-national empirical mapping of AI literacy attitudes across US and Mexican undergraduate contexts, advances Intercultural AI Literacy as a pedagogical concept, and argues for a media ecological approach to AI literacy that centers cultural difference, structural equity, and global communication.
As AI becomes embedded in educational life worldwide, AI literacy can no longer be understood only as a technical competency. This article examines the cultural, linguistic, and ecological dimensions of AI use in higher education and argues that global communication classrooms require new pedagogical approaches for navigating AI across contexts of difference. Drawing on media ecological scholarship, we present a three-phase conceptual framework (Immersion, Encounter, Reflection) for developing Intercultural AI Literacy (ICAL).
Method
We report findings from “AI Across Borders,” a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) exchange between undergraduate students at Penn State Behrend (United States) and Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City). Using quantitative survey analysis (
N
= 150; Penn State
n
= 55, UP Mexico
n
= 95), we examine similarities and differences in AI attitudes reported by US and Mexican students following participation in the exchange.
Findings
Composite-level analyses reveal similar post-exchange patterns in reported AI self-efficacy and cross-cultural orientation across both cohorts. Because the AI-in-higher-education item grouping demonstrated low internal consistency, it is interpreted cautiously as exploratory. Item-level analyses identify differences in reported prior AI educational exposure and default AI-use behavior. Equity-relevant subgroup analyses also suggest relationships between financial precarity and selected AI-literacy measures that warrant further study.
Implications
AI literacy education requires intercultural and ecological reorientation. COIL pedagogy offers a productive site for developing ecological AI consciousness. Structural inequities in AI access must be integrated into curriculum design, not treated as demographic covariates.
Value
This study offers an initial cross-national empirical mapping of AI literacy attitudes across US and Mexican undergraduate contexts, advances Intercultural AI Literacy as a pedagogical concept, and argues for a media ecological approach to AI literacy that centers cultural difference, structural equity, and global communication.