A Study on the Direction of AI Liberal Arts Education Based on the AI Perceptions of Freshmen in University

Abstract

In the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, AI competency is essential not only for computer majors but also for non-majors. Therefore, AI courses are being offered as liberal arts education for non-majors at universities. Compared to designing a curriculum for AI majors, when designing an AI curriculum for non-majors their experiences and perceptions of AI must be taken into account.The purpose of this study is to examine the direction that the design of a liberal arts AI curriculum needs to take by examining the experiences and perceptions of AI among freshmen at university. A survey was conducted on 286 freshmen enrolled in the Humanities, Social Studies, and Arts departments of P University at the beginning of the first semester of 2021. The questionnaire consisted of questions to determine the degree of experience the students had with AI, as well as questions to determine their overall perception of AI. Based on the results of the survey, the correlation between their AI experience and their perception of AI was also examined. Furthermore, we considered the direction that AI liberal arts education should take for non-majors in universities. I hope this study will help us better design an AI liberal arts curriculum.