Join PCIM’s masterclass:
Reframing & Demystifying AI: Critical Lenses for Teaching and Learning (accompanying article Unmasking AI)
Facilitated by Nolan Higdon
Thursday, September 10th
1:00 – 2:15pm
with open conversation continuing to 3pm
Clark Lounge, Campus Center
Ithaca College
What might critical pedagogy reveal about artificial intelligence?
AI is changing higher education, but understanding its impact requires more than learning how to use new tools. Drawing from critical pedagogy, media literacy, and emerging scholarship on AI, this masterclass invites participants to examine AI through frameworks inspired by thinkers such as bell hooks and other critical theorists. Together, we’ll explore how AI reshapes teaching and learning, while developing practical approaches for engaging students and faculty in meaningful conversations about AI rather than simply adopting or rejecting it. Unpack the hidden machinery of the digital age with media literacy expert Nolan Higdon in this transformative Critical AI Literacy presentation. Grounded in the foundational cultural and political theories of Stuart Hall, bell hooks, and Jeff Share, Higdon digs into the intellectual, economic, and social roots of modern Big Tech to reveal the hidden forces shaping artificial intelligence. Rather than treating AI as an objective knowledge machine, Higdon examines how these algorithms digitize and reinforce existing power structures along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. He will critically analyze AI’s expanding footprint and evaluate its immediate impacts on democracy, environmental sustainability, and the future of education.This talk aims to help people move beyond critique to agency. You will emerge with practical, actionable strategies to cultivate your own critical AI literacy, allowing you to challenge algorithmic power and navigate our rapidly evolving technological landscape with intention.
AI is changing higher education, but understanding its impact requires more than learning how to use new tools. Drawing from critical pedagogy, media literacy, and emerging scholarship on AI, this masterclass invites participants to examine AI through frameworks inspired by thinkers such as bell hooks and other critical theorists. Together, we’ll explore how AI reshapes teaching and learning, while developing practical approaches for engaging students and faculty in meaningful conversations about AI rather than simply adopting or rejecting it. Unpack the hidden machinery of the digital age with media literacy expert Nolan Higdon in this transformative Critical AI Literacy presentation. Grounded in the foundational cultural and political theories of Stuart Hall, bell hooks, and Jeff Share, Higdon digs into the intellectual, economic, and social roots of modern Big Tech to reveal the hidden forces shaping artificial intelligence. Rather than treating AI as an objective knowledge machine, Higdon examines how these algorithms digitize and reinforce existing power structures along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. He will critically analyze AI’s expanding footprint and evaluate its immediate impacts on democracy, environmental sustainability, and the future of education.This talk aims to help people move beyond critique to agency. You will emerge with practical, actionable strategies to cultivate your own critical AI literacy, allowing you to challenge algorithmic power and navigate our rapidly evolving technological landscape with intention.
To help guide the conversation, we ask that attendees answer the following three survey questions HERE by Wednesday, September 9th:
- Complete the sentence: Artificial intelligence in higher education is…
- When you think about AI in teaching and learning, what excites you, concerns you, or leaves you uncertain?
- What does it mean to be “AI literate”?
Nolan Higdon is an author, political analyst, Media Research Fellow at the Park School for Independent Media at Ithaca College, and Merrill College Fellow & Lecturer in the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work focuses on the intersections of politics, media, technology, and education. A prominent voice in media criticism, he is a columnist for the Gaslight Gazette on Substack, co-host of The Disinfo Detox podcast, co-host of Just Ask the Press, a KTVU political analyst and national judge for Project Censored.This event is free and open to the public. For more information and individuals requiring accommodation, please contact Marcy Sutherland, msutherland1@ithaca.edu.