“I’m Not Worried about Robots Taking Over the World. I Guess I’m Worried about People”: Emoting, Teaching, and Learning with Generative AI

Sarah Seeley; Michael Cournoyea

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.43

Authors

Sarah Seeley University of Toronto Mississauga
Michael Cournoyea University of Toronto https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2186-7861

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.43

Keywords:

generative AI, emotionality, higher education, qualitative methods

Abstract

Qualitative studies that examine the impact of generative AI technologies on higher education remain scant. Whether it is the ethical dimensions of modeling human emotions within these technologies or the authentic emotional reactions to these technologies and their outputs—emotionality is at the centre of generative AI discourse. This paper reports findings from a study exploring educators’ emotional responses to the integration of generative AI and higher education. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 multidisciplinary faculty at the University of Toronto Mississauga (26% response rate). We first describe the data collection process, including an overview of the institutional context. We then outline a historical context to frame our examination of educators’ self-reported emotional responses to teaching, learning, and living with generative AI. Most respondents expressed ambivalence of some variety, and we noted disciplinary patterns regarding the type of fears and excitements respondents reported. The paper concludes with two pedagogical provocations.

Author Biographies

Sarah Seeley, University of Toronto Mississauga

Sarah Seeley (CAN) is an associate professor in the teaching stream at University of Toronto Mississauga. She has conducted research at universities in the United States, Colombia, and Canada. Her research interests include writing pedagogies, generative AI, and academic labour practices.
Michael Cournoyea, University of Toronto

Michael Cournoyea (CAN) is an assistant professor in the teaching stream at the University of Toronto. His previous work examined epistemic strategies in medicine, and his current research addresses the impact of LLMs on technological literacies and higher education.

References

Acker, Sandra, and Carmen Armenti. 2004. “Sleepless in Academia.” Gender and Education 16 (1): 3–24.

Aguilar, Gabriel Lorenzo. 2024. “Rhetorically Training Students to Generate with AI: Social Justice Applications for AI as Audience.” Computers and Communication 71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102828.

Akyea, Stacey Gray, and Pamela Sandoval. 2004. “A Feminist Perspective on Student Assessment: An Epistemology of Caring and Concern.” Radical Pedagogy 6 (2).

Amani, Sara, Lance White, Trini Balart, Laksha Arora, Kristi J. Shryock, Kelly Brumbelow, and Karan L. Watson. 2023. “Generative AI Perceptions: A Survey to Measure the Perceptions of Faculty, Staff, and Students on Generative AI Tools in Academia.” arXiv Preprints 2304.14415. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.14415.

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. 2024. “Can I Use A.I. to Grade My Students’ Papers?” The New York Times, May 24.

Bazerman, Charles. 2023. “Foreword.” In Digital Writing Technologies in Higher Education: Theory, Research, and Practice, edited by Otto Kruse, Christian Rapp, Chris M. Anson, Kalliopi Benetos, Elena Cotos, Ann Devitt, and Antonette Shibani, v–ix. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6.

Bearman, Margaret, Juliana Ryan, and Rola Ajjawi. 2023. “Discourses of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Critical Literature Review. Higher Education 86 (2): 369–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00937-2.

Beck, Julie. 2018. “The Concept Creep of ‘Emotional Labor.’” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/arlie-hochschild-housework-isnt-emotional-labor/576637/.

Bedington, Andelyn, Emma F. Halcomb, Heidi A. McKee, Thomas Sargent, and Alder Smith. 2024. “Writing with Generative AI and Human-Machine Teaming: Insights and Recommendations from Faculty and Students.” Computers and Composition 71: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102833.

Benesch, Sarah, and Matthew T. Prior. 2023. “Rescuing ‘Emotion Labor’ from (and for) Language Teacher Emotion Research.” System 113: 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.102995.

Bericat, Eduardo. 2016. “The Sociology of Emotions: Four Decades of Progress.” Current Sociology 64 (3): 491–513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115588355.

Boiarsky, Carolyn. 1990. “Computers in the Classroom: The Instruction, the Mess, the Noise, the Writing.” In Computers and Community: Teaching Composition in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Carolyn Handa, 47–67. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

Bowen, José A. B., and C. Edward Watson. 2024. Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.

Caswell, Nicole. 2014. “‘I Still Grade Objectively’: Emotional Labor of Response.” Ohio Journal of English Language Arts 54 (2): 33–9.

Caswell, Nicole I. 2016. “Emotionally Exhausting: Investigating the Role of Emotion in Teacher Response Practices.” In Literacy in Practice, edited by Patrick Thomas and Pamela Takayoshi, 148–60. New York: Routledge.

Cooper, Grant. 2023. “Examining Science Education in ChatGPT: An Exploratory Study of Generative Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of Science Education and Technology 32 (3): 444–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10039-y.

Cotton, Debby R. E., Peter A. Cotton, and J. Reuben Shipway. 2023. “Chatting and Cheating: Ensuring Academic Integrity in the Era of ChatGPT.” Innovations in Education and Teaching International: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148.

Cyganowski, Carol K. 1990. “The Computer Classroom and Collaborative Learning: The Impact on Student Writers.” In Computers and Community: Teaching Composition in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Carolyn Handa, 68–88. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

D’Agostino, Susan. 2023. “Why Professors Are Polarized on AI.” Inside Higher Ed September 13.

Denny, Paul, James Prather, Brett A. Becker, James Finnie-Ansley, Arto Hellas, Juho Leinonen, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Brent N. Reeves, et al. 2023. “Computing Education in the Era of Generative AI.” arXiv Preprints, 2306.02608. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.02608.

Dobrin, Sidney I. 2023. Talking about Generative AI: A Guide for Educators. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.

Driscoll, Dana L., and Roger Powell. 2016. “States, Traits, and Dispositions: The Impact of Emotion on Writing Development and Writing Transfer across College Courses and Beyond.” Composition Forum 34.

Gomez, Mary L. 1991. “The Equitable Teaching of Composition with Computers: A Case for Change.” In Evolving Perspectives on Computers and Composition Studies: Questions for the 1990s, edited by Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

Govender, Rajendran. 2023. “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and the Future of ChatGPT for Mathematics Teaching and Learning in Schools and Higher Education.” Pythagoras 44 (1). https://doi.org/10.4102/pythagoras.v44i1.787.

Hagenauer, Gerda, and Simone E. Volet. 2014. “Teacher-Student Relationship at University: An Important Yet Under-researched Field.” Oxford Review of Education 40 (3): 370–88.

Handa, Carolyn. 1990. “Politics, Ideology, and the Strange, Slow Death of the Isolated Composer or Why We Need Community in the Writing Classroom.” In Computers and Community: Teaching Composition in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Carolyn Handa, 160–84. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

Harris, Jeanette. 1985. “Student Writers and Word Processing: A Preliminary Evaluation.” College Composition and Communication 36 (3): 323–30.

Hawisher, Gail E., and Cynthia L. Selfe. 1991. “The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Class.” College Composition and Communication 42 (1): 55–65.

Hochschild, Arlie R. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 85 (3): 551–75.

Hochschild, Arlie R. 1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Jackson, Rebecca, Jackie G. McKinney, and Nicole I. Caswell. 2016. “Writing Center Administration and/as Emotional Labor.” Composition Forum 34.

Jensen, Lasse X., Alexandra Buhl, Anjali Sharma, and Margaret Bearman. 2024. “Generative AI and Higher Education: A Review of Claims from the First Months of ChatGPT.” Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01265-3.

Joffe, Helene. 2012. “Thematic Analysis.” In Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health and Psychotherapy, edited by David Harper and Andrew R. Thompson. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Kiryakova, Gabriela, and Nadezhda Angelova. 2023. “ChatGPT—A Challenging Tool for the University Professors in Their Teaching Practice.” Education Sciences 13 (10): 1056. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101056.

Korseberg, Lene, and Mari Elken. 2024. “Waiting for the Revolution: How Higher Education Institutions Initially Responded to ChatGPT.” Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01256-4.

Lawler, Edward J. 2001. “An Affect Theory of Social Exchange.” The American Journal of Sociology 107 (2): 321–52.

Lutz, Jean A.1987. “A Study of Professional and Experienced Writers Revising and Editing at the Computer and with Pen and Paper.” Research in the Teaching of English 21: 398–421.

Macbeth, Heather. 2022. “The Mathematics of Proof.” Accessed March 1, 2023. https://hrmacbeth.github.io/math2001/index.html.

Marcel, Faith, and Phoebe Kang. 2024. “Examining AI Guidelines in Canadian Universities: Implications on Academic Integrity in Academic Writing.” Discourse and Writing / Rédactologie 34: 94–126.

McGrath, Cormac, Alexandra Farazouli, and Teresa Cerratto-Pargman. 2024. “Generative AI Chatbots in Higher Education: A Review of an Emerging Research Area.” Higher Education 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01288-w.

Micciche, Laura R. 2016. “Staying with Emotion.” Composition Forum 34.

Microsoft. 2024. Copilot (March 1 version) [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/.

Mollick, Ethan. 2024a. “Gradually, then Suddenly: Upon the Threshold.” One Useful Thing. https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/gradually-then-suddenly-upon-the.

Mollick, Ethan. 2024b. “Post-Apocalyptic Education.” One Useful Thing. https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/post-apocalyptic-education.

Moya, Beatriz A., Sarah E. Eaton, Helen Pethrick, K. Alix Hayden, Robert Brennan, Jason Wiens, Brenda McDermott, and Jonathan Lesage. 2023. “Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Contexts: A Rapid Scoping Review.” Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity 7 (3): 1–19.

Nyanjom, Julie, and Dawn Naylor. 2021. “Performing Emotional Labour while Teaching Online.” Educational Research 62 (2): 147–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2020.1836989.

Petricini, Tiffany, Chuhao Wu, and Sarah T. Zipf. 2023. “Perceptions about Generative AI and ChatGPT Use by Faculty and College Students.” edarXiv Preprints. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/jyma4.

Prather, James, Paul Denny, Juho Leinonen, Brett A. Becker, Ibrahim Albluwi, Michelle Craig, Hieke Keuning, Natalie Kiesler, et. al. 2023. “The Robots Are Here: Navigating the Generative AI Revolution in Computing Education.” arXiv Preprints, 2310.00658.

Selfe, Cynthia L. 1999. “Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention.” College Composition and Communication 50 (3): 411–36.

Selfe, Cynthia L., and Richard J. Selfe, Jr. 1994. “The Politics of the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones.” College Composition and Communication 45 (4): 480–504.

Sudol, Ronald A. 1985. “Applied Word Processing: Notes on Authority, Responsibility, and Revision in a Workshop Model.” College Composition and Communication 36 (3): 331–5.

Thoits, Peggy A. 1989. “The Sociology of Emotions.” Annual Review of Sociology 15: 317–42.

Wardat, Yousef, Mohammad A. Tashtoush, Rommel al Ali, and Adeeb M. Jarrah. 2023. “ChatGPT: A Revolutionary Tool for Teaching and Learning Mathematics.” Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 19 (7). https://www.ejmste.com/article/chatgpt-a-revolutionary-tool-for-teaching-and-learning-mathematics-13272.

Wooten, Courtney A., Jacob Babb, Kristi M. Costello, and Kate Navickas, editors. 2020. The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration. Louisville, CO: University of Colorado/Utah State UP.