Navigating the Ethical Landscape of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Pedagogy

The Algorithmic Classroom: Teaching Literature in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

This blog captures my reflections on the FDP, “A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives,” conducted under the guidance of Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. Through presentations, lectures, and practical exercises, I explored the transformative role of digital technology in literary studies. We delved into hypertext, Generative Literature, Digital Humanities, and digital pedagogy. A highlight of the program was the MIT Moral Machine activity, which challenged me to confront the ethical implications of AI and autonomous decision-making. By moving beyond traditional theory and engaging directly with digital tools, I experienced a new level of critical thinking and active learning. Here, I compile these insights to reflect on my evolving identity as an English literature student in the digital era.

Here is the Mind Map of this blog: Click Here

The infographic below illustrates the complete workflow for this blog post:

Part 1 : Moral Machine Activity

1. What is the Moral Machine?

The Moral Machine is a research project and online platform developed by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (in collaboration with MIT). Its primary goal is to gather a human perspective on the moral dilemmas faced by machine intelligence, particularly self-driving cars. The site presents users with scenarios where a driverless car must make a choice between two unavoidable outcomes typically involving a trade-off between the lives of passengers versus pedestrians. By collecting this data, researchers can better understand how people from different backgrounds weigh life-and-death decisions, which helps inform the ethical programming of future AI systems.

2. The Assigned Task

For this assignment, Sir instructed us to:

• Go to the Moral Machine website and click "Start Judging."

• Go through all the scenarios and make ethical choices for the self-driving car.

• Take screenshots or save the final results summary page as a PDF.

• Upload the PDF to Google Drive and share the link along with a personal reflection on our choices.

Here is the link of Pdf which shows process of this activity: Click Here

3. How I Completed the Task

I visited the website and participated in the "Judge" interactive feature. I went through each of the given moral dilemmas, acting as an outside observer, and chose which outcome I felt was more acceptable in each unavoidable crash scenario. After completing all the scenarios, I reviewed my final results, which compared my choices to other people's responses. I then saved the final result page as as a Screenshots. 

My Results:

4. Outcomes and Personal Reflection

Doing the Moral Machine activity was pretty stressful, to be honest. It felt weird having to choose who lives and who dies in these fake car crashes, but looking at my final results, I learned a lot about how I make decisions.

One of the biggest surprises was that just "Saving More Lives" didn't matter much to me at all. Instead of just doing the math and saving the bigger group, my results showed that "Upholding the Law" mattered a lot to me. If pedestrians were crossing legally on a green light, I went out of my way to save them. But if they were crossing illegally, I was more likely to let the car hit them, even if there were more of them.

My results also showed I had a really strong preference for saving older people. My "Most Saved Character" was an elderly woman. I also noticed my slider for "Avoiding Intervention" was all the way at "Does Not Matter". This means I didn't mind actively making the car swerve to change the outcome if I thought it was the fair choice.

Looking at the other categories, I favored people of lower social value and fit people. My "Most Killed Character" ended up being an adult female, and my overall gender preference leaned slightly toward males. Unsurprisingly, my slider was all the way to the left for saving humans over pets.

Overall, this activity made me realize that my personal ethics are mostly based on following the rules and protecting certain vulnerable groups, rather than just saving the highest number of people. It definitely shows how hard it is to program a self-driving car, because human morality isn't just a simple numbers game.

Part 2: Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext

We are no longer just reading the static lines of a printed page; we are navigating the interactive links of a digital universe. To teach language and literature to a generation of digital natives, we must embrace a profound pedagogical shift transforming our approach from linear reading to hypertextual exploration.

Navigating Hypertext Pedagogy: Structural Shifts and Algorithmic Authorship

1. Beyond the Printed Page: Navigating the Pedagogical Shift to Hypertext Literature

A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives

The presentation “A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives” focuses on the need to transform the teaching of language and literature according to the needs of today’s digital-native learners.

1. Understanding Hypertext

Sir explains hypertext as a system that connects text with images, audio, video and other information through links. HTML and HTTP provide the technological foundation for web-based hypertext.

2. From Text to Hypertext

Drawing on Silvio Gaggi, the presentation shows how digital media changes the traditional relationship between author, text and reader. Unlike printed texts, hypertext gives readers greater freedom to navigate information. The reader therefore becomes a more active participant in creating meaning.

3. Digital Pedagogy

This change also requires a shift from traditional teacher-centred teaching to more interactive and learner-centred approaches. Sir discusses Blended Learning, Flipped Classroom, Mixed-Mode Classroom, Synchronous Learning and Asynchronous Learning.

4. Technology and Literature

Sir emphasizes that technology should support rather than replace the essence of language and literature. Digital tools should help develop students’ engagement, interpretation, creativity and critical thinking.

5. Digital Tools and Practical Applications

The presentation introduces tools such as LMS, CMS, DCLs, online assessment and digital portfolios. Sir also demonstrates Glass Board/Light Board and OBS + Lightboard for teaching business letters, plays and poetry.

6. Digital Reading of Poetry

The deconstructive reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 demonstrates how digital and visual techniques can make literary interpretation more engaging. Students can move beyond simply receiving an explanation to observing, questioning and constructing interpretations.

7. Mixed-Mode Learning

The presentation concludes with the idea of combining physical classroom teaching with online participation, creating a flexible and interactive learning environment.

Central Argument

The shift from text to hypertext is not simply a technological change; it is a pedagogical transformation. Teaching language and literature in the digital age requires teachers to combine technology with literary understanding and to make learners more active participants in the learning process.

Text → Hypertext → Digital Reader → Active Learner → Digital Pedagogy → Interactive Learning

2. Decoding Digital Discourse: How Hypertext Reshapes Language and Communication

Digital Pedagogy: Teaching Language and Literature through Technology

Sir’s presentation focuses on the practical use of digital tools for teaching language and literature, especially the challenges faced in online and remote teaching.

The presentation begins with a major challenge in language teaching: students may struggle to understand the teacher’s pronunciation, stress, modulation and the correct form of linguistic units. To overcome this, Sir introduces tools such as Live Caption in Google Chrome and transcription tools for Google Meet, which can make spoken language more accessible and also support note-taking.

Another important focus is learner engagement in online teaching. Sir demonstrates the use of Google Drive and its collaborative tools for remote teaching, showing how digital platforms can make learners participate rather than remain passive listeners. The presentation also introduces Glass-board/Learning Glass as a way of creating a more engaging teacher-student experience in online classes.

The presentation then moves specifically towards Digital Pedagogy in Literature. Sir raises an important question: Can a teacher communicate the essence of poetry, prose, novels, drama and short stories effectively in an online class? This highlights the difficulty of transferring the depth of literary experience into a digital environment.

Sir also identifies several challenges in teaching English/foreign literature, including cultural anonymity, social codes, religious differences, mythology, collective unconsciousness, geographical distance and historical distance.

To address these difficulties, the presentation demonstrates how visual and hypertextual resources can support literary interpretation. For example, a poem is explained through images of Hawthorn shrubs and Susan Noon’s painting, helping students understand poetic imagery that may otherwise be difficult to visualize.

Finally, Sir presents Google Arts & Culture as a valuable resource for teaching literature. A lesson on the myth of Icarus and Daedalus combines a lesson plan, web resources and hypertext. Its learning outcomes include understanding the myth, recognizing mythical techniques, and understanding concepts such as “decentering the centre” and deconstructive reading. The final slide demonstrates how hypertext can connect learners with multiple stories and visual representations of Icarus.

Central Idea

The central message of Sir’s presentation is that digital pedagogy can overcome some of the limitations of online language and literature teaching by combining technology, collaboration, audio-visual resources and hypertext. Technology does not replace the teacher or the literary text; rather, it provides additional ways to make difficult language, cultural contexts, literary images and theoretical concepts more understandable and engaging for learners.

3. The Algorithmic Author: Navigating the Shift from Creative to Generative Literature

From Creative Literature to Generative Literature

Sir’s presentation focuses on how digital technology is transforming literature, literary studies, and pedagogy from traditional text towards generative and hypertextual forms.

The presentation begins with Generative Literature, which refers to literary texts produced by computers according to a specific dictionary, set of rules, or algorithm. Such computer-generated texts challenge traditional ideas of the author, authorship, reading and literary time because the text is produced through computational processes rather than solely by a human writer.

Sir then introduces the field of Digital Humanities, particularly its relevance to English departments. The presentation questions whether computers can write poetry and demonstrates examples of poem-generating machines and generative literature. This encourages us to reconsider the boundaries between human creativity and computational production.

Another important area is digital literary analysis. Through Matthew Jockers’ macroanalysis and microanalysis, and the work of Aiden and Michel on Big Data and Culturomics, Sir shows how computers can help scholars examine literature and culture through large amounts of data.

The presentation also introduces Corpus Linguistics, particularly the CLiC Dickens project, which uses computer-assisted methods to study literary texts. Tools such as KWIC (Key Word in Context) and concordances allow researchers to examine patterns in language and gain new insights into fictional characters and literary texts.

Sir further discusses digital portfolios, where students can hyperlink and archive their classroom work on personal websites. This changes assessment from simply submitting a final product to documenting, curating and expanding learning digitally.

The presentation concludes by emphasizing that students need both subject knowledge and digital literacy. They should learn how to create a digital presence and share their learning purposefully. The movement from Text to Hypertext therefore creates new pedagogical possibilities for digital-native learners.

Central Idea

Sir’s main argument is that the digital era does not simply change the medium of literature; it changes how literature is created, analysed, taught, assessed and experienced.

Creative Literature → Generative Literature → Digital Humanities → Corpus/Big Data Analysis → Digital Portfolio → Text → Hypertext.

Video Lecture: From Text to Hypertext in Digital Pedagogy

Here is the Slide Deck of this blog:

Here is the Video Overview of this blog:

REFERENCES : 

• A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext | Language & Literature to the Digital Natives." YouTube, uploaded by DoE-MKBU, 15 Sept. 2021, https://youtu.be/c1H-ejKTGQM.
• Barad, Dilip. “Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives.” Dilip Barad | Teacher Blog, 18 Sept. 2021, https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/09/pedagogical-shift-from-text-to.html.

• Moral Machine. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, www.moralmachine.net. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.