Innovation in Language Learning
Interactive Digital Coursebook for Academic Skills and Literacy in the AI Era
Erik György, Department of English and American Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia)
Lucia Mareková, Department of English and American Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia)
Abstract
Today’s university students encounter an overwhelming amount of online information, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping how they read, search, and write. Traditional print textbooks often struggle to keep up, leaving students unprepared to properly evaluate sources, spot bias, or think critically about what they read on the internet. These changes highlight the need for new, flexible approaches to teaching and course material design to support the development of academic skills in this current climate. This talk introduces an interactive digital coursebook designed to face these challenges, developed for language and humanities students at the Department of English and American Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia.
The coursebook places practical emphasis on everyday academic survival skills: effective internet searching, information synthesis, source comparison, and the ethical, critical use of AI tools. By combining interactive tasks with structured digital materials, it helps students move past passive reading and superficial AI reliance. Crucially, even though the coursebook presented focuses mainly on teaching research methods, the platform was designed with flexibility and adaptability in mind, and can host materials for various courses and purposes, including language teaching in general. The talk also covers our practical design choices and implementation steps, showing how adaptable digital learning materials can help modern students build the critical thinking and digital literacy skills they need across their studies.
Keywords: critical thinking development, academic skills, flexible digital study materials
