The Pedagogy of Slow Making in the Age of AI

Submission Type

Paper

Start Date/Time (EDT)

19-7-2024 4:45 PM

End Date/Time (EDT)

19-7-2024 5:45 PM

Location

Algorithms & Imaginaries

Abstract

In our contemporary moment where artificial intelligence is being touted as a tool that can save time and effort across tasks and careers, many faculty are feeling pressured to “lean into” these tools and accept them as inevitable. Reflecting the varied reactions in other fields, faculty have shared a wide range of responses, with some embracing these tools without question, others refusing to engage with anything related to AI, and every other possible stance within that spectrum. While AI tools can help us complete things more quickly and easily, this presentation argues that in our classes and in much of our own scholarly work, there is a need to slow the making process. In the slow making process, makers tinker: grappling deeply with concepts, making meaningful choices about things to include and exclude, etc. The process is just as important in critical making as the resulting product. This presentation shares the many ways that the slow making process can improve students’ critical thinking skills, motivate them to conduct research, and encourage their creative expression. It describes the assignments and scaffolding strategies from the presenter’s undergraduate, research-intensive digital humanities course at a large, public, research, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the southeastern United States. Additionally, the presenter shares lessons learned and how the critical making lens was infused across the course and encouraged students to experiment with a variety of free digital tools, including some AI tools, which students were encouraged to interrogate, analyze, and even use for some technical assistance.

Bio

Emily K. Johnson, assistant professor of English at the University of Central Florida, researches games in multiple platforms focusing on technical communication, educational technology, and playful/gameful learning. Recent publications include Playful Pedagogy in the Pandemic: Pivoting to Games-Based Learning (with Anastasia Salter, Routledge 2022) and articles in Technical Communication Quarterly and Computers and Composition.

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Jul 19th, 4:45 PM Jul 19th, 5:45 PM

The Pedagogy of Slow Making in the Age of AI

Algorithms & Imaginaries

In our contemporary moment where artificial intelligence is being touted as a tool that can save time and effort across tasks and careers, many faculty are feeling pressured to “lean into” these tools and accept them as inevitable. Reflecting the varied reactions in other fields, faculty have shared a wide range of responses, with some embracing these tools without question, others refusing to engage with anything related to AI, and every other possible stance within that spectrum. While AI tools can help us complete things more quickly and easily, this presentation argues that in our classes and in much of our own scholarly work, there is a need to slow the making process. In the slow making process, makers tinker: grappling deeply with concepts, making meaningful choices about things to include and exclude, etc. The process is just as important in critical making as the resulting product. This presentation shares the many ways that the slow making process can improve students’ critical thinking skills, motivate them to conduct research, and encourage their creative expression. It describes the assignments and scaffolding strategies from the presenter’s undergraduate, research-intensive digital humanities course at a large, public, research, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the southeastern United States. Additionally, the presenter shares lessons learned and how the critical making lens was infused across the course and encouraged students to experiment with a variety of free digital tools, including some AI tools, which students were encouraged to interrogate, analyze, and even use for some technical assistance.