{"id":177,"date":"2025-03-24T10:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T10:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/?p=177"},"modified":"2025-03-24T10:06:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T10:06:05","slug":"cyborgs-and-centaurs-and-how-they-inspired-my-research-on-the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-educators-professional-identities-in-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/cyborgs-and-centaurs-and-how-they-inspired-my-research-on-the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-educators-professional-identities-in-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyborgs and Centaurs, and how they inspired my research on the impact of Generative AI on educators\u2019 professional identities in Higher Education."},"content":{"rendered":"

Cyborgs and Centaurs, and how they inspired my research on the impact of Generative AI on educators\u2019 professional identities in Higher Education.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maria Calonico<\/h2>\n


\nKeywords:<\/strong> Generative AI, higher education, professional identity, academic identity, CPD, disruptive technologies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Generative AI (GenAI) can be defined as \u2018a category of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that generate new outputs based on the data they have been trained on\u2019 (Routley, 2023). This is accomplished by writing a short text (a prompt) in which the user describes the desired outcomes (Kurtz et al<\/em>, 2024). It could be argued that Gen AI is reshaping academic work both for educators and students in Higher Education. It is used in the classroom, and for facilitating certain tasks for students, such as essay writing or summarising texts, and for teachers, such as preparing lectures and providing feedback. While there is extensive research on the pedagogical side of Gen AI, on whether it is beneficial or not for students, whether teachers should resist or welcome its use, there is very little in the literature about how educators\u2019 identities are \u2018informed, formed and reformed\u2019 (Cooper and Olson, 1996 cited in Day et al.<\/em> (2006) by the use of GenAI in higher education, and how it influences the evolving sense of professional self among university lecturers.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the question that guides my research is:<\/p>\n

How are professional identities of academic staff at a Russell Group university \u2018formed and re-formed\u2019 over time when confronted with the widespread use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools?<\/em><\/p>\n

In this presentation, I will begin by discussing what inspired me to pursue this topic for my research proposal. Most precisely, how the concepts of people as \u2018cyborgs\u2019 (Case, 2010) and teachers as \u2018centaurs\u2019 (Fassbender, 2024) led me to the exploration of professional identity of higher education lecturers and tutors. I will then share what decisions were taken in terms of the methodology and the specific methods that will be used in this study, which will draw on interpretivist and critical theoretical perspectives to capture the lived experiences of higher education faculty members. Adopting a qualitative research design, it will be carried out over one academic year. Once participants are identified school-wide, a focus group will initially be conducted to explore themes in faculty experiences. This will be followed by narrative interviews, hoping to capture personal identity shifts over time. Experience-centred narrative analysis will be used to interpret findings. The analysis will primarily follow an inductive approach (Cohen et al., 2018), meaning that conclusions will emerge from the data itself rather than starting with a hypothesis and seeking to confirm it.<\/p>\n

I believe the results of this research will be of interest to all academic staff, with the additional \u2018bonus\u2019 that the experience will have a \u2018cathartic\u2019 effect (Cain et al, 2023, p1239) on the participants, who will be able to reflect and freely talk about a topic that is creating concern. However, the implications of this research extend beyond individual faculty experiences to institutional policies and continuous professional development (CPD) initiatives. Understanding the evolving nature of professional identities can help in the design of AI-related training courses which address not only technical proficiency, but also ethical and cultural concerns associated with AI adoption in higher education. Finally, this study aligns with the growing institutional focus on digital education strategies, teacher and student well-being, quality assurance, and innovation in teaching in UK universities, aspects which professional identity research could contribute to enhancing (Halal Orfali et al, <\/em>2024).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cain, M., Campbell, C. and Coleman, K. (2023) \u2018\u2019Kindness and empathy beyond all else\u2019: Challenges to professional identities of Higher Education teachers during COVID-19 times\u2019, Australian educational researcher<\/em>, 50(4), pp. 1233\u20131251. Available at: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s13384-022-00552-1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Case, A (2010) \u2018We are all cyborgs now\u2019, TEDWomen 2010<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now?subtitle=en<\/a> (Accessed 25\/11\/24)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2018) Research methods in education: Eighth edition<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day, C. et al.<\/em> (2006) \u2018The personal and professional selves of teachers: stable and unstable identities\u2019, British educational research journal<\/em>, 32(4), pp. 601\u2013616. Available at: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/01411920600775316<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fassbender, W.J. (2024) \u2018\u201cI can almost recognize its voice\u201d: AI and its impact on ethical teacher-centaur labor\u2019, English teaching: practice and critique<\/em>, 23(1), pp. 104\u2013117. Available at: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/ETPC-08-2023-0101<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Halal Orfali, C. et al.<\/em> (2024) \u2018How higher education teachers see their professional identity\u2019, Frontiers in education (Lausanne)<\/em>, 9. Available at: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/feduc.2024.1429847<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kurtz, G. et al.<\/em> (2024) \u2018Strategies for Integrating Generative AI into Higher Education: Navigating Challenges and Leveraging Opportunities\u2019, Education sciences<\/em>, 14(5), pp. 503-. Available at: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/educsci14050503<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Routley, N. (2023) \u2018What is Generative Ai? An AI explains\u2019, World Economic Forum<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/stories\/2023\/02\/generative-ai-explain-algorithms-work\/#:~:text=Generative%20AI:%20An%20Introduction,effects%2C%20and%20even%20voice%20acting (Accessed: 23 November 2024).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cyborgs and Centaurs, and how they inspired my research on the impact of Generative AI on educators\u2019 professional identities in Higher Education. Maria Calonico Keywords: Generative AI, higher education, professional identity, academic identity, CPD, disruptive technologies.   Generative AI (GenAI) can be defined as \u2018a category of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that generate new outputs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85,86,87,83,66,84],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-academic-identity","tag-cpd","tag-disruptive-technologies","tag-generative-ai","tag-higher-education","tag-professional-identity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}