“Even as we are accused of indoctrination of students by politicians around the world, humanities scholars lament across social networks and continual difficulties of engaging students in reading and discussion. Generative AI tolls have added fuel to these debates, and given frustrated educators a technology to blame”
Emily Johnson and Anastasia Salter, “Introduction: Provocations for Making,” in Critical Making in the Age of AI (Amherst College Press, 2025), https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14510509.
This quote caught my attention for a few reasons. As a student, the first day of classes is consists of a repetitive reminder- generative AI is absolutely prohibited and choosing to use it will prevent any and all learning to be had. Although this advisory certainly holds true when it comes to tasks like homework completion, AI can realistically be used to generate study aids like quizzes which may very well support the learning outcome that both student and professor strive to achieve. However, at the point that generative AI is at, it is difficult to monitor or specify which functions are allowed and which aren’t.
I am curious about the future. Will there be AI platforms designed specifically for academic contexts? Perhaps idea generation will not be available on such a program, but exam prep functions will be robust. AI is exciting and students jump at the opportunity to learn more about it. How can AI be applied as a tool to reengage students in the academic setting? How can it open doors for new digital spaces in classically analog disciplines? I believe that as digital humanities grows alongside the development of AI, it is possible to reverse the observed student disengagement by creating new and innovative digital humanities spaces.
This term, I am eager to work with AI in a way I haven’t been allowed to explore in the past. There is clearly so much we can learn and utilize from generative AI platforms that have not yet been tapped. This subject fascinates me because it challenges the way that I’ve thought about coursework in the past, and I look forward to finding the areas that may enrich my learning across my other classes in different subjects as well.
