Inteligência artificial generativa no ensino superior: entre tensões e potencialidades na prática pedagógica

Abstract

This study aims to identify how higher education faculty from different fields have incorporated generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into their pedagogical practices, analyzing whether this incorporation occurs in a manner that reproduces hegemonic models or in a critical and emancipatory way – with the critical approach being related to pedagogical mediation that problematizes GenAI and understands it not only as a tool but as an object of study and reflection, and the reproductive approach being related to merely instrumental use. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data obtained through a research report from Senac São Paulo with qualitative analysis of three in-depth interviews with university faculty who utilize GenAI in their pedagogical practices. The analysis identified four central categories: uses and purposes attributed to GenAI; issues of autonomy, authorship, and faculty assessment; student engagement and pedagogical innovation; and conceptions of technology (critical versus reproductive). The findings reveal tensions between instrumental use and critical pedagogical appropriation of GenAI, evidencing both the potential of GenAI use to expand creative capacities when problematized and pedagogically mediated, as well as risks of repertoire impoverishment and alienation of creative work when used uncritically, disconnected from intentional pedagogical practices. The research contributes theoretical-practical propositions for faculty development and institutional policies for critical integration of GenAI, arguing that its insertion in higher education should be guided by ethical guidelines, questioning of algorithmic functioning mechanisms, discussion of its social impacts, and structured GenAI governance projects