Abstract:

The rapid emergence and use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI technologies, is reshaping how knowledge is produced, communicated, and evaluated in higher education. While digital technologies have long supported teaching and learning, the integration of AI introduces new pedagogical possibilities alongside significant challenges for the role of educators in digitally mediated learning environments. South African universities have increasingly responded to these developments through institutional AI governance frameworks intended to regulate the ethical and responsible use of AI in teaching, learning, and assessment. However, these responses raise important questions about whether current institutional approaches adequately address the pedagogical transformations required in an AI-mediated academic environment. This paper argues that AI should not be understood merely as a technological enhancement of existing teaching practices, but rather as a catalyst for rethinking the pedagogical foundations of higher education.

The study examines the relationship between digital pedagogies and AI, focusing on how institutional responses to AI shape teaching practices, student engagement, and the development of academic literacies in higher education contexts. Guided by a critical discourse analytical framework, the study adopts a qualitative research design that analyses scholarly literature on AI in education alongside open access South African universities’ AI governance policies. The analysis explores how AI is conceptualised within these texts and the pedagogical assumptions embedded in emerging institutional responses. The findings indicate that institutional responses to AI are predominantly framed through regulation and academic integrity concerns, with comparatively limited attention given to the development of pedagogical frameworks that support meaningful integration of AI in teaching and learning.

As a result, AI is frequently positioned as a risk to be controlled rather than as a resource for fostering intellectual engagement and the development of new academic literacies. The paper contributes to debates on the future of higher education by advancing a critical digital pedagogy perspective that foregrounds the need for pedagogical frameworks capable of integrating AI in ways that support critical inquiry, responsible knowledge production, and sustained student engagement.

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence in higher education, digital pedagogies, academic literacies, AI governance, critical discourse analysis.