VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY

Abstract

In recent years, many Humanities professors have harkened the end of the long-form, college essay because of the prevalence of student AI use. While the bell may toll for a 5-6 page analytical literary essay, the exercise itself-thoughtful critical analysis of a text (here text may mean any medium or object) is still possible and perhaps, more attainable to a variety of learners. Through using the vision of Paolo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the possibilities of the Ungrading framework, the tendency and ease of students’ use of AI can be undermined or simply devalued into a basic tool. Using the case study of an undergraduate course in the Fall of 2025 that is crosslisted in Literary and Gender Studies, this paper will examine student experiences in 1.-Establishing their vision for what they want to learn, and how they will know they have accomplished these objectives. 2. Establishing a process of self and co-assessment in determining appropriate use of AI for various purposes and projects. Rather than creating forced conditions to stop students from using AI, both Friere’s vision and Ungrading’s promise asks us, as educators, to appeal to our students’ consent and equal status as adults to determine their own experience.