AI Literacy Minor

Lead with wisdom in an AI-powered world

The AI Literacy minor at Wisconsin Lutheran College equips you to understand, question, and responsibly use artificial intelligence – no coding required. Pair this 18-credit minor with any major and graduate ready to apply AI tools thoughtfully in your career and across your vocations.

Why Study AI Literacy at WLC?

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work, create, communicate, and make decisions in every field – from business and healthcare to ministry, communication, and the arts. Employers increasingly expect graduates to understand AI tools and their limitations, not just the theory behind them.

At WLC, you’ll learn how AI works in practice, how it affects people and organizations, and how to use it in ways that reflect wisdom, integrity, and care for others. You’ll explore AI from technical, creative, and philosophical angles while remaining grounded in a Christian worldview that insists people, not machines, are at the center of our decisions.

Program Highlights

  • 18-credit minor that fits alongside any major
  • No programming experience required – focus on how to apply AI tools and concepts to solve authentic problems, not building algorithms
  • Interdisciplinary approach that connects AI to business, communication, humanities, art, social sciences, and more
  • Strong focus on ethics and human dignity through coursework in philosophy and Christian thought
  • Project-based learning using current AI tools (such as large language models and generative media tools)
  • Small classes and mentoring faculty who are actively studying and using AI in their disciplines

Who Is the AI Literacy Minor For?

This minor is a strong fit if you:

  • Want to stand out in internships and job searches with in-demand AI skills
  • Are curious (or even skeptical) about AI and want to understand what it can and cannot do
  • Enjoy thinking about ethics, human behavior, or creativity and how technology intersects with these areas
  • Want to be the person in the room who can explain AI clearly, provide guidance to organizations, and put AI theory to practice

Whether you’re analyzing data in a business role, crafting stories or effective marketing messages, designing worship resources, or teaching in a classroom, AI Literacy helps you use technology thoughtfully.

AIL 110 - AI for Everyone (3 credits)

Artificial Intelligence is changing the world. It is changing jobs, creating them, and even replacing them (but less than you think). More than ever before, companies need employees who can use AI tools to solve problems creatively and responsibly. This non-technical AI crash course builds the foundational skills needed to do that and is designed to be valuable to anyone. Learn how to distinguish problems that AI is useful for, master prompt engineering to improve outputs, detect AI-generated output, analyze ethics and privacy, and stay up-to-date on one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. This course is offered via our partnership with Rize Education.

AIL 210 - AI for Decision Making (3 credits)

Artificial Intelligence decisions are often only as good as the person asking the question. In this course, you’ll learn how to ask the right ones and increase the productivity and innovation you can achieve with AI. Create better prompts, compare and contrast strengths and limitations, evaluate outcomes, and by the end of this course, understand and leverage the power of AI for decision-making across any discipline, opening up new career paths and personal growth. This course is offered via our partnership with Rize Education.

AIL 310 - AI for Creativity (3 credits)

Generative AI has introduced a new paradigm of AI: a tool for orchestration. Top professionals and companies use AI to improve productivity and creativity every day, and in this course, you’ll learn the iterative prompting, search, and functional evaluation metrics powering these uses. By the end of this course, you’ll integrate AI tools into a variety of creative skill sets in your projects, making you more proficient and informed in the collaborative work of human beings and orchestrated work with AI tools.

AIL 320 – AI Current Events (3 credits)

This course utilizes various media, including discussions, lectures, videos, papers, and AI itself, to address current events related to AI. Topics include future visions of AI, current developments in AI, current digital media concerns, current ethical concerns, understanding large language models (LLMs), the impact of AI on jobs, and AI training for the future.

PHI 303 - The Philosophy of Human Nature and “Artificial” Intelligence (3 credits)

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to think? What is consciousness? The answers to these questions are not only foundational for ethics and philosophy, but they can also guide our approach to AI. This course will study and defend the existence of the soul, the nature of consciousness, personal identity, and human agency to help us understand and thoughtfully consider best practices for the use of AI.

BUS 302 - AI Fundamentals for Business (3 credits)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining the business world, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage. This non-technical course explores the fundamentals of AI and its transformative influence across modern business operations. Understand how AI technologies are reshaping industries, workforces, and business models, while examining the ethical, legal, and societal implications that accompany its adoption. Develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills to strategically assess where and how AI can add value, and position yourself as a forward-thinking professional ready to navigate and leverage AI across business. Elective offering.

Additional AI-related courses or internships to be announced as electives as they are developed.

Learning Experiences You Can Expect

  • Hands-on projects that use real AI tools to solve problems connected to your major
  • Class discussions and case studies on AI in current news, workplace scenarios, and cultural debates
  • Opportunities to build a portfolio of AI-enhanced projects you can show to employers or graduate schools
  • Faculty mentoring from professors in art, business, philosophy, and other disciplines who are actively engaging with AI in their own work
  • An ethical framework that connects technological innovation with WLC’s mission to prepare servant-leaders grounded in Scripture

Faith, Ethics, and Human-Centered Technology

AI raises big questions: Who is responsible when an AI system harms someone? How do we protect the vulnerable when data drives decisions? What does it mean to be human in a world of intelligent machines?

At WLC, those questions are not side notes – they are central. Courses in the AI Literacy minor explicitly address the ethical, social, and cultural implications of AI, anchored in a Christian understanding of human dignity and vocation. You will learn to evaluate AI not just for what it can do, but for what it should do.

Life After Graduation: How AI Literacy Gives You an Edge

Graduates with AI literacy are increasingly sought after across sectors because they can:

  • Help organizations evaluate AI tools instead of adopting them blindly
  • Translate between technical experts and non-technical decision-makers
  • Design workflows that use AI to enhance, not replace, human work
  • Anticipate ethical and legal issues before they become crises
  • Lead conversations about technology that are grounded, hopeful, and wise

Whether you pursue roles in marketing, HR, ministry, education, counseling, healthcare, nonprofit leadership, or graduate study, AI Literacy signals to employers that you are ready for an AI-shaped workplace – and prepared to lead in it.

Innovative Learning through Rize Partnership

While you’ll take most of your classes on campus with WLC faculty, you’ll complete two specialized AI courses online through our partnership with Rize Education. These asynchronous courses, taught by industry experts, complement your on-campus studies and offer scheduling flexibility, personalized support, and the practical knowledge needed to excel in AI literacy.