Abstract:

Interdisciplinary humanities teaching provides a critical framework for examining what it means to be human in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and digital technologies. This study analyzes how an undergraduate course integrating film, literature, and digital project-based learning fosters students’ critical engagement with technology, ethics, and human identity. Tracing a cultural trajectory from Frankenstein to contemporary AI, the course situates technological imagination within a historical and transnational framework, with particular attention to German cultural contexts at the turn of the 20th century.

The course combines close textual and film analysis with a flipped classroom model and scaffolded digital assignments designed to promote active learning and communication targeting diverse audiences. Students engage with a range of works, including E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin. In addition to analytical writing, students complete collaborative digital projects—including podcasts, video essays, digital mapping, and exhibit assignments—that require them to interpret cultural texts while translating complex ideas into accessible formats. These projects emphasize connections between historical representations of artificial life, automation, and otherness and contemporary concerns about AI, labor, surveillance, and digital culture.

Methodologically, the study draws on qualitative and rubric-based assessment of student learning, including written work, class discussions, and digital projects. The pedagogical objective is to evaluate whether students move beyond passive content absorption toward active, critical engagement with technology by demonstrating interdisciplinary thinking, ethical reflection, and the ability to connect past and present. Attention is given to how students articulate the complex cultural and historical dimensions of technological change and adapt their analyses for broader audiences through digital media.

Findings indicate that students develop not only knowledge and understanding of a specific historical period but also a range of transferable skills that extend beyond the classroom into professional, digital, and community contexts. Student work—particularly podcasts and other digital outputs—demonstrates increased interpretive depth as well as stronger intellectual ownership of their work. Students also exhibit heightened engagement and curiosity, often articulating concern about how technological developments shape their own lives and the futures of their generation and those to come.

Assessment results and student feedback further indicate measurable gains in critical thinking, interdisciplinary analysis, and digital communication skills. Students effectively translate concepts into accessible narratives, engage collaboratively in knowledge production, and interpret complex and multiple perspectives for diverse audiences. These outcomes reflect the development of transferable skills, including critical thinking, ethical reasoning, digital communication, collaborative problem-solving, and the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences. Most importantly, students come to appreciate the role of the humanities not merely as content knowledge, but as a strong foundation for developing the skills needed to navigate a complex world shaped by artificial intelligence.

Keywords:

Undergraduate Education, AI and the Humanities, Film and Technology, Critical Thinking and Creative Design, Personalized Learning.