Abstract:

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence as a tool that is being leveraged by both students and lecturers in Higher Education institutions, it has become pivotal to gain insight into various aspects of this phenomenon. One such aspect would be to examine how lecturers are using these tools to enhance their teaching and learning. In the School of Humanities, students are expected to engage with texts and write correctly formatted essays. Thus, lecturers in this faculty need to prepare their students accordingly and being skilled to use AI tools effectively and ethically can be beneficial for them in this regard. The purpose of this study is to explore SoH lecturers’ perceptions and experiences of AI technologies as a pedagogical tool. Data for this exploratory case study were collected through an open-ended survey. Nine lecturers who were purposively selected based on their disciplines participated in the study. Data were analysed using content analysis. Further to this the participants were not very experienced with using AI tools for teaching and learning. The participants viewed AI positively as a tool to enhance their teaching and learning. They were concerned by plagiarism and the lack of quality, original work that could be a consequence of students using AI tools incorrectly and unethically. It was also found that their institutions had not offered adequate training to use AI tools ethically and more clarity was needed about how to handle students’ unethical AI use. It can be concluded that AI, if used ethically, can be used to by SoH lecturers to save time and allow them space for creativity in their teaching practices. However, they need to be adequately trained about how to use the tools ethically and how to support their students to use these tools ethically. Further research is needed into the lecturers’ experiences of these training initiatives and at later points in the semester after students submit their assignments.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Humanities, plagiarism, ethical, unethical, pedagogy, higher education.