Atla Annual 2025

As classical philosophers debated the essence of techne—the art of making and doing—educators now grapple with the implications of generative artificial intelligence. Questions arise about student engagement with AI: Do their creations align with the ethical standards and integrity we uphold? To navigate this journey from techne to trust, transparency is paramount. It involves openly sharing how AI is used for academic work, demystifying the process by making work with AI visible.
Techne and its connections to AI-like constructs in popular culture, literature, and myth provide a rich context for exploring AI's ethical and practical dimensions. This presentation engages two "architectures of visibility"—transparency (voluntary visibility that builds trust) and surveillance (imposed visibility that erodes agency). Through metaliteracy's four domains (cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, and affective), we demonstrate how stories illuminate the difference between coercive surveillance and empowering transparency. We offer a model lesson using Black Mirror's "Nosedive" to explore how technologies of surveillance affect behavior and learning, contrasting this with approaches that build trust through voluntary transparency.

Learning Outcome

Participants will: Understand key distinctions between surveillance technologies and technologies of surveillance; Explore how storytelling can illuminate ethical approaches to AI visibility; Learn practical strategies for implementing transparent AI use that enhances learning; Develop approaches for helping students navigate AI visibility in educational contexts

Audience Engagement

As with past sessions, we plan to gamify our presentation to foster active learning; we also plan to engage participants in robust discussion about their experiences with (AI) transparency and surveillance as we co-create strategies for teaching AI visibility in theological education.