Hither and Yonder
Asynchronous Session
Realities of Teaching at the Age of AI: Between the “Humanistic” Goals and the Concrete Situations View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Metka Zupancic
The focus of this paper is teaching French within a department of applied linguistics at the University of Primorsko in Slovenia, with a program of interlingual interactions that focuses, in this case, mostly on the relationships between English and French, with an addition of a primary language, Slovene. The author of this paper, a Professor Emerita from the University of Alabama, with over forty years of higher-education experiences, has recently been teaching (by contract) a variety of French courses that raise concerns about students’ autonomy in a particular language and the acquisition of their skills that are profoundly affected by their extensive use of AI. The new students’ attitudes and behaviors toward learning in general have radically put in question the established forms of teaching and the humanities values on which teachers have been basing their methodologies. More largely, the core humanities values that have been privileged for decades if not even for centuries have recently been affected in unpredictable ways that ultimately concern students’ capacities to think independently and act accordingly, not just in an academic setting, but in their preparation for an active professional life.
In the Picture: Paintings as Organizational Behavior View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session James Callaghan
The question “What is art?” is a commonplace of basic discussions – and courses - of art and aesthetics. A less common – but more interesting – formulation inquires what it means when we ask what it is that an artist (broadly understood) creates when they create a work of art. Instead, such inquiries have frequently defaulted since the time of Plato to discussions involving mimesis, the relation of art to reality, what constitutes beauty and how it is to be evaluated, or aspects of psychology or cultural significance. To be sure, all such aspects are (in fact) relevant – but is that what an artist sets out to accomplish, and is that what the viewer, reader, or listener seeks? Although a brilliant and entertaining writer, one wonders if Plato ever gave genuine concerted – non-polemical – thought to the mechanics and purposes of that craft; investigations that might have better colored his aesthetics. As the Middle Ages began to wane, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) - a practicing writer and under-recognized theoretician – brought a poet’s consideration to such matters. Scattered amongst his writings, Boccaccio’s brief observations on the crafting of poems and paintings help shed light upon the creative endeavor, its products, and their meaning(s). Leveraging thoughts from Boccaccio, plus modern theorists and semioticians, the author presents a portrait of the purpose, mechanics, atmospherics, and importance of artistic creation that challenges conventional aesthetic principles rooted (still) in essentially Platonistic and Albertian sources.
Religious and Secular Pilgrimages: Santiago de Compostela View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna Hamling
Religious pilgrimages have existed for centuries. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims used different modes of travel (walking, donkey) to reach their destination, typically for prayers either for something or in thanks for something. The current pilgrims might have a different focus on their pilgrimage. It might not be religious, but spiritual, tourist, and health reasons. My study explores the concept of religious and secular pilgrimage and the potential benefits and inconveniences for the local population.
