Critical Empowerment
I recently commented on this LinkedIn post where Vince Wall talked about the need for pedagogy in history teaching to change due to the pressures of Generative AI and of other online sources on students. He quoted Mike Caulfield who points out that students “can ask AI and their favorite influencers to tell them why they are right”. In other words, the pressures on understanding and verifying the truth are great and the need for students to develop skills to address this are paramount. My comments outlined how, with education interventions, this can be addressed, and the key is to embrace critical empowerment as a guiding approach.
But critical empowerment is not just the key in history education. It is the key to addressing similar issues in so many disciplines.
Here is a full explanation on the concept of critical empowerment and how it supports Paulo Freire's seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed where learners, essentially, critically engage with reality to effect change and become active participants in their own liberation:
What is Critical Empowerment?
This involves equipping students with the critical thinking skills, digital literacy, and ethical frameworks necessary to navigate the complexities of contemporary information ecosystems.
Contemporary information ecosystems can be defined as:
Modern information ecosystems refer to the interconnected networks of technologies, platforms, systems, and human behaviors that create, distribute, consume, and regulate information that students are provided with. These ecosystems are dynamic, constantly evolving and shaped by both technological advancements and societal trends. Students need to be aware of:
Social media (eg Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, Reddit)
Search Engines and AI (eg Google, chatbots) (e.g., ChatGPT) that aggregate and deliver information.
Content Creators including individuals, organisations, and automated systems producing information.
The roles that algorithms play.
Governance and Regulation and how that differs internationally to effect levels of governance on content moderation, data privacy, and misinformation.
The roles that interaction and feedback mechanisms (eg likes, shares) play.
Legacy media (eg newspapers, TV) integrated into digital formats, contributing to the ecosystem.
The complexities refer to a paradox of power and peril. They offer unprecedented access to ‘knowledge’ with a real potential for overload. Algorithms can create echo chambers, while misinformation can spread faster than facts. Questions have to be asked about the credibility of sources and the powerful role of influencers and traditional authorities can be contested.
How do educators successfully teach Critical Empowerment?
It requires teaching students to actively question assumptions, engage with diverse perspectives, and use technology as a tool for exploration rather than reinforcement.
To succeed, critical empowerment demands a shift in educational priorities toward:
Media Literacy for Agency- Teaching students to manage what information consume and how they consume it, understanding how algorithms influence their feeds.
Algorithmic Awareness- Helping learners see Generative AI as a tool they can shape and influence, that their inputs determine the outputs.
Systems Thinking- Encouraging students to have a broader understanding of the structures and biases underpinning technology and society.
As Paulo Freire said:
“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
Critical empowerment doesn’t just prepare students to consume knowledge but empowers them to shape it.
