WASHINGTON (February 4, 2025) – As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into higher education, questions arise about its role in fostering critical thinking and inquiry—especially in the humanities. How can open-access generative AI tools enhance students’ curiosity while promoting critical questioning skills? What strategies can educators use to teach with, rather than against, AI?
Alexa Alica Joubin, a professor of English and co-director of the Digital Humanities Institute at the George Washington University, is available to discuss how AI can serve as a heuristic tool in humanities education.
Her latest research paper explores the trustworthiness of AI as an educational aid and the importance of cultivating critical AI literacy. Through case studies in teaching Shakespearean performance, she has developed an AI teaching assistant that helps students refine their research questions, engage in iterative learning, and build essential skills like metacognition, bias detection, and prompt engineering.
“AI can simulate fluency, but it doesn’t inherently think. It’s up to educators to ensure students understand its limitations and learn to ask better questions,” says Joubin. “Rather than treating AI as an answer machine, we can use it to deepen inquiry and redefine critical thinking in the humanities.”
Hear more of Professor Joubin’s insights on AI in higher education in this video.
Professor Joubin specializes in critical AI studies and Shakespeare and has conducted extensive research on AI’s impact on education. If you would like to speak with Professor Jobin please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Tayah Frye at tayah.frye@gwu.edu.
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