A Self-Study of Teacher Educators’ AI Literacy and Professional Development from a Digital Agency Perspective

After the adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) tools in 2022, research on AI literacy in education is a growing field. Less attention has been given to how teacher educators engage with these technologies in practice. Drawing on a digital agency perspective on professional knowledge and AI literacy, this study reports findings from an exploratory self-study. We investigate how we, as three teacher educators, engaged with GenAI in the design and delivery of Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs). Our study identifies four situated epistemic practices emerging through negotiated engagement with GenAI, which, to varying degrees, challenge our professional judgement and identity as teacher educators, taking practice-stabilizing and practice-transgressive forms. Each of these aligns with AI literacy dimensions described in existing frameworks. The findings show how AI literacy is enacted in situated contexts, where teacher educators’ professional judgement is central rather than a stable digital competence. The study contributes to research on teacher educators’ AI literacy and professional knowledge.