Abstract: Reimagining Higher Education in the Context of Generative AI: What Remains Human?

Generative AI is reshaping the landscape of content and knowledge creation, communication, and assessment. Universities face a profound question: What is the role of educators and learners in a world where machines can mimic understanding? As educators, we must reflect critically and creatively on the evolving goals of higher education in the age of artificial intelligence.

Rather than framing GenAI solely as a threat or a tool, we will explore it as a catalyst—forcing us to confront what truly matters in teaching and learning. What do we value when content is abundant, answers are instant, and creativity is increasingly automated? How do we cultivate empathy, justice, critical consciousness, ethical reasoning, and the ability to live with ambiguity—qualities and values that resist automation but are essential to our shared future?

Our challenge is to reimagine curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy with an emphasis on what remains distinctly human. We need a view of higher education not as a site of resistance to technology, but as a space for reasserting purpose, fostering belonging, and preparing students to shape a world where "intelligence" may no longer be exclusive to people—but meaning still is.

Biography

Toni Roberts is an award-winning, first-generation educator and recipient of both the D2L National Teaching Innovation Award and the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship.

A bit of a trailblazer in academia, Toni was the first man accepted into the Women’s Studies program at Dalhousie University and the first admitted to the Feminist Studies master’s program at the University of Toronto. Their academic background spans a wide range of disciplines, including chemistry, environmental studies, philosophy, and education.

Toni has more than 20 years of teaching and research experience at Mount Allison University. Earlier in their career, they worked with the Department of Education and the National Research Council to develop standards and specifications for sharing learning materials across digital platforms. This work contributed to international standards such as the Accessibility for All framework and the Learning Object Metadata specification, which was adopted as an IEEE standard to ensure interoperability and accessibility for disabled users.

A dedicated advocate for justice and equity, Toni brings a feminist, inclusive, and student-centred approach to their teaching. Their pedagogical practice incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL), student agency theory, and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles to create environments where students feel supported, engaged, and empowered to succeed.

Toni holds a continuing appointment in Sociology and serves as the Purdy Crawford Professor of Teaching and Learning. Their teaching focuses on topics such as the body, gender, sexuality, digital and environmental sociology, and they regularly teach in disciplines including psychology, sociology, and environmental studies. Courses taught include Gender Relations, Human Sexuality, Sociology of Sex and Sexuality, Representations of Social Problems, Digital Sociology, Environmental Sociology, Sociology of the Body, and Trump and Society. The latter culminated in a public Summit on Trump, where students presented their research findings to the broader community.

Toni’s research interests include student engagement, community-building in online learning, queer and feminist theory, poststructuralism, critical theory, and the intersections of technology and gender performance. Their publications reflect these diverse interests, covering topics such as student engagement across different delivery modes, metadata standards for learning technologies, and representations of masculinity in horror films.

As Director of the Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre, Toni champions justice-centred pedagogy and works to support transformative, inclusive teaching practices. One of their most meaningful initiatives is THRIVE (Teaching in Higher Education for Radical Inclusion, Values, and Equity), a program they co-created with faculty, staff, and students. THRIVE supports first-generation, Indigenous, queer, disabled, and other systemically excluded students as they transition to university—not just as learners, but as whole people—helping them to thrive, grow, and succeed.

Toni has secured nearly $400,000 in funding for students enrolled in their experiential courses, which has enabled them to eliminate course fees and provide technology support directly to students. Together with colleagues, Toni is currently engaged in an application for $12 million in funding through the SSHRC Transformation stream, a project aimed at creating radical, systemic change in higher education. Toni says “Fingers and toes crossed”, they will get the funding.

Outside of academia, Toni is a committed activist, having been involved in initiatives addressing homelessness, environmental justice, anti-poverty work, and other social justice movements. For Toni, teaching is a natural extension of this activism—a means of advancing equity and justice within the classroom and the university.

In their personal life, Toni enjoys camping, hiking, and sea kayaking with their dog, Trinh. (For Toni’s 50th birthday, they hiked the full length of Hadrian’s Wall across England.) Trinh, for their part, enjoys swimming, stealing socks, and being adorable.

333 Bishop Drive, Fredericton, NB E3C 2M6

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