The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) – an association that represents K-12 school system technology leaders – is identifying critical media literacy as an increasingly important hurdle for students navigating content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
CoSN flagged the media literacy issue in the 2026 edition of its Driving K-12 Innovation Report, which catalogs top hurdles that schools need to overcome, trends driving innovation, and technology tools that the group said are “transforming teaching and learning this year.”
“K-12 education is facing a pivotal moment, “the latest CoSN report concludes.
“Around the world, educators and education technology professionals are navigating rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), intensifying cybersecurity threats, shifting workforce expectations, and evolving understandings of how students learn and demonstrate knowledge,” the group said.
CoSN says that many of the technology accelerators in the new report remain unchanged from the 2025 version but that “the landscape around them has meaningfully shifted.”
In adding critical media literacy to the hurdles list this year, CoSN cited “the global imperative for students to navigate AI-generated content, misinformation, and the blurred lines between fact and fabrication.”
“As AI-generated text, images, audio, and video increasingly blur the line between real and fabricated content, districts emphasized that Critical Media Literacy now requires far more than fact-checking – it demands deep discernment, ethical judgment, and holistic digital citizenship skills,” CoSN said.
Joining the group’s list of K-12 technology enablers in the latest report is data and information visualization.
That addition, CoSN said, signals a “growing recognition that making data usable and actionable is essential for equity and instructional decision-making.”
“Most importantly, the report affirms a shared truth: Technology will keep accelerating, but intentional innovation in K-12 education depends on the strength, creativity, and humanity of educators and IT leaders,” CoSN said.
