Speaker
Description
Saidu, D.
Yusuf Maitama Sule Federal University of Education, Kano
saidudauda770@gmail.com
Track: Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Innovation
The continuous incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into higher education has
propelled new vistas in terms of groundbreaking research, which translates to teaching and
learning across scholarly disciplines. Given the fact that substantial interest has been
committed to the use of AI in the science or technology-related disciplines, there exists the
challenges regarding underutilisation of its potential to facilitating the teaching of literature in
African universities. This paper against this backdrop explores the role of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) in facilitating Future-ready Literary Pedagogy through the teaching of
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Abubakar Gimba’s Sacred Apples (1994).
The paper examines how AI-enhanced tools such as “Intelligent Tutoring Systems”,
“Generative AI Platforms”, “Digital Annotation Software”, and “Interactive Learning
Environments” could propel learners’ interrogation of thematisation, characterisation,
Cultural Representation and Socio-political Discourse in the selected texts. With the adoption
of qualitative research method through the exploratory approach, this paper taps from
subsisting scholarly research on the use of AI in literary pedagogy to explore the potential and
challenges involved in incorporating AI for pedagogy in African literature classrooms. The
paper contends that, although AI can improve personalised learning, facilitate critical reading
skills and increase access to literary resources; its unethical usage in academia should be
discouraged. The study finds amongst other factors that higher education systems in Africa
can be revolutionised not only through the bridging of the digital divide gaps, but also by
equipping learners with literary competence and digital literacy. Conclusion here hinges on
the fact that the use of AI should be understood as assisted technology rather than it being a
substitute for human engagements.