This study proposes a comprehensive modular curriculum framework for AI-based creative education designed for learners majoring in cultural and creative content fields. The research responds to the rapid proliferation of generative artificial intellig...
This study proposes a comprehensive modular curriculum framework for AI-based creative education designed for learners majoring in cultural and creative content fields. The research responds to the rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) and the fundamental transformations it is producing across the cultural, artistic, and media industries. With the emergence of multimodal AI models capable of generating text, images, music, video, and animation, the traditional creative workflow in higher arts and content education has been reshaped at a structural level. As these technologies increasingly intervene in ideation, composition, drafting, editing, and production processes, students in cultural content programs face a new set of learning demands that extend far beyond tool proficiency. They are now required to cultivate AI literacy, critical judgment, creative problem-solving, aesthetic direction, and ethical responsibility in order to act not merely as users of AI systems but as autonomous creative agents in AI-mediated environments.
Traditional curricula within arts and cultural content programs are no longer adequate for preparing learners for this emerging landscape. Existing instructional models often rely on fragmented or tool-centric approaches that focus on operational skills or isolated creative tasks. Such approaches are insufficient because generative AI introduces new layers of complexity—conceptual, procedural, ethical, and philosophical. Learners must understand how generative models operate, recognize the limitations and biases inherent in AI outputs, and make informed decisions when integrating AI-generated material into their creative process. Furthermore, issues such as copyright infringement, style mimicry, cultural bias, and the opacity of training data add additional demands that are rarely addressed systematically in conventional content education. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes a design-driven framework that restructures AI education around the essential competencies needed in contemporary and future creative practice.
The objectives of this study are threefold. First, it identifies the core competencies required for creative practitioners in the age of generative AI and organizes them into an integrated learning structure that encompasses AI literacy, creativity, ethics, and responsibility. Second, it develops an eight-module curriculum (M1–M8) that addresses the full cycle of AI-based creation—ranging from understanding AI mechanisms and prompting strategies to multimodal generation, collaborative project work with AI, ethical and legal considerations, and future-oriented creative expansion. While music majors serve as the primary learner profile due to their direct exposure to AI-mediated compositional processes, the curriculum is designed to be transferable across various cultural content domains including video, design, animation, and media art. Third, the study adopts a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach to generate a curriculum model that is theoretically grounded, adaptable, and applicable to real educational contexts.
Rather than conducting statistical analyses or performance effectiveness tests, the study focuses on the structural design of the curriculum through iterative processes characteristic of DBR. The methodology consists of (1) analyzing the operational and generative characteristics of contemporary AI systems, (2) identifying the pedagogical needs of cultural content disciplines, (3) extracting design principles from literature and practice, (4) constructing the modular curriculum, and (5) evaluating its potential for cross-disciplinary implementation. By selecting music majors as a primary case—given the rising prevalence of AI-generated melodies, harmonic progressions, timbres, and synthesized voices—the study ensures that the curriculum addresses the practical challenges learners encounter in real creative workflows. Simultaneously, by validating its applicability to visual media, interactive design, and animation fields, the framework maintains both specificity and generalizability.
The eight modules (M1–M8) developed in this study form a coherent and progressive pathway.
M1 focuses on foundational AI literacy, including generative mechanisms, data structures, model behavior, and output interpretation.
M2 examines prompting strategies, parameter control, and human–AI communication design.
M3–M5 engage students in hands-on multimodal creation, covering text, music, image, and video generation.
M6 presents human–AI collaborative creative production, emphasizing decision-making, editing, curation, and integration across media types.
M7 centers on ethical, legal, and responsible use, addressing copyright, likeness rights, bias, data transparency, and risk assessment.
M8 explores future creative ecosystems, helping students map emerging creative roles, anticipate technological change, and develop personal creative identities and long-term roadmaps.
Collectively, these modules enable learners to experience the full creative lifecycle with AI—understanding, generating, analyzing, collaborating, evaluating, and envisioning—while cultivating the human-centered capacities that remain irreplaceable in AI-augmented creative practice.
One of the most significant contributions of this study is the articulation of a creator development model tailored to AI-mediated creative environments. The model highlights the central role of human judgment—particularly aesthetic sensibility, cultural interpretation, emotional nuance, and ethical awareness—in determining the artistic value of works produced with AI. While generative systems can produce vast quantities of plausible creative material, such outputs lack the intentionality, narrative coherence, and contextual understanding inherent to human creativity. Students must therefore learn not only how to generate content with AI but how to critically evaluate, refine, and transform AI outputs in ways that align with artistic goals. The curriculum’s modular structure supports these developmental processes, enabling learners to internalize core creative competencies that will remain essential regardless of advances in AI technology.
The study also offers substantial societal and industrial implications. As generative AI becomes more deeply embedded in creative industries, issues such as unauthorized style imitation, unintentional plagiarism, the reproduction of cultural stereotypes, the misuse of synthetic voices or images, and the opaque origins of training data are expected to intensify. The ethical and legal considerations addressed in Module 7 provide a foundational framework through which learners can navigate these complex challenges. Additionally, Module 8 equips students to interpret emerging changes in creative job markets—including roles such as AI collaboration director, multimodal creative producer, narrative systems designer, and synthetic media curator—thereby bridging education with the evolving needs of the content industry.
In conclusion, this study presents a structured and future-ready AI modular curriculum framework that redefines how cultural content students should be prepared for the generative AI era. By moving beyond skill-based or tool-oriented instruction, the curriculum integrates critical thinking, ethical awareness, creative direction, multimodal experimentation, and future strategic planning into a cohesive learning experience. The framework offers scalable value for interdisciplinary education, project-based learning, and institutional curriculum reform across arts, media, design, and creativity-centered programs.
Moreover, the curriculum serves as a foundation for future empirical studies, including learner performance analysis, project-based assessment, behavioral tracking during human–AI collaboration, and validation of creative outcomes. Ultimately, the proposed framework contributes not only to academic scholarship but also to the practical evolution of cultural content education—empowering future artists, designers, producers, and creators to maintain human originality and responsibility while expanding their creative possibilities through AI. The study asserts that AI does not diminish human creativity; rather, it provides fertile ground for reimagining creative identities and building new artistic paradigms. This extended abstract thus encapsulates the theoretical grounding, curricular design, and broader educational significance of the proposed modular AI curriculum, offering a robust foundation for further development and implementation within contemporary art and cultural content education.