Abstract
The proposed piece seeks to critically explore pedagogical implication of ChatGPT, especially on students’ capacities to author a text. The piece suggests that increased reliance on the ChatGPT, while provide short term solution to produce a text, in the long term it is likely to lead to ‘death of an author’. Here the usage of the phrase is a twist to earlier usage by Barthes- which refers to ‘death of an author’ where once the text is written, it gets re-created in readers’ reception and through interpretive act and imagination. The overarching argument of the paper emphasizes that technology is not neutral, especially in a context where its opacity has risen concerns about surveillance, control, and manipulation of human behavior, and therefore its infiltration in education begs critical questioning and sensitive e-value-ation. The discussion argues that rise of AI in education should be checked and not embraced uncritically, but rather it should be critically scrutinized, debated, and scaffolded through critical theoretical, pedagogical, and ethical references to counter its hegemonic and de-humanization of learning. For empirical part, the analysis draws upon reflections generated through a focus group discussion with four undergraduate students enrolled in a Bachelors degree in Computer Science who employed use of ChatGPT in preparing their speeches in context of a humanities course. The students found ChatGPT useful in terms of composing a text/speech and saving time and efforts. However, they realized that its use caused them loss of authentic learning, imagination and suppressed self’s voice. Based on the analysis, the piece shares further insights into pedagogic implications, and suggest a pedagogical scaffolding using critical pedagogical references of relationship between technology and human/learners’ values, distinction between information, knowledge, and wisdom, application and experiential learning references, and praxis in learning.
Recommended Citation
Datoo, Al Karim, and Kamran A. Siddiqui.
"ChatGPT and Death of an Author."
Critical Humanities
2,
2
(2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33470/2836-3140.1039