Moral Machines and the Hypertext Pedagogical Shift: Redefining Learning in the Digital Age – A Digital Humanities Lab Activity

 Hello Everyone!

This blog is part of a lab session activity assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad sir, where we explored ethical decision-making through a moral simulation and reflected on the broader Hypertext Pedagogical Shift. The activity highlighted how technology challenges both our sense of morality and the traditional structures of teaching and learning.

◼️    MORAL MACHINE ACTIVITY : 

👉🏻     The Moral activity was an intense, repetitive sequence of unavoidable ethical dilemmas where an autonomous vehicle had to choose which lives to save and which to sacrifice. My experience was defined by the pressure of making quick, binary choices between two catastrophic outcomes. This process stripped away philosophical deliberation, forcing my response to be largely instinctive, a rapid internal calculus of value.

The variables—such as age, social status, and legality of actions—shifted constantly, preventing me from settling on a single, easy rule. This constant ethical confrontation highlighted the fundamental difficulty of codifying human morality into simple logic gates.

Learning Outcome: Revealed Ethical Biases

The results page, showing the compilation of my decisions, provided the main learning outcome by quantifying my ethical tendencies across three key axes:

1. Utilitarianism (Saving More Lives): My strongest principle was saving the greatest number of people, confirmed by a high rating toward "Matters a lot." This demonstrates a utilitarian approach where the collective good (minimizing total casualties) outweighs the value of any single life.

2. Contractual Duty (Protecting Passengers): I showed a pronounced bias toward protecting the passengers inside the car over pedestrians. This principle also rated highly, demonstrating a prioritization of the primary duty owed to the vehicle's occupants. This introduces a deontological (duty-based) conflict with my utilitarian preference, showing my morality is not single-minded.

3. Rule-Based Ethics (Upholding the Law): I favored saving individuals who were obeying traffic laws (crossing legally) over those who were jaywalking. This suggests a respect for societal order and rule-based governance, even in a crisis.

➡️     The overall lesson is that the creation of an ethical AI is not about finding a flawless moral code. The activity proved that even my own internal morality is a contradictory mix of saving the most people and protecting those under a specific contract. The true challenge is realizing that the programmed ethics of an autonomous vehicle will always reflect a pre-selected human or societal bias and will be an explicit statement about whose lives a society values more when a trade-off is unavoidable.

◼️  Explanation of the Presentation :  

👉🏻      The entire click on "Hypertext Pedagogical Shift" series outlines an irreversible transformation in pedagogy that transcends mere tool-usage to challenge foundational epistemological and literary concepts. Part 1 defines the struggle as one between the stability and authority of print and the fluidity and fragmentation of the digital environment. It frames the decentering of the three main pillars of education (teacher, learner, and content) as a necessary consequence of this shift, drawing heavily on post-structuralist critiques of the unified subject. Part 2 provides the practical mechanics of this decentering, explaining how the non-linear structure of hypertext—composed of lexias—removes the narrative center, thereby placing the entire burden of organization and meaning-making onto the reader, who is thus empowered as a collaborator. This section discusses the cognitive implications of navigating an infinitely re-centerable system. Part 3 extends the critique to the act of creation itself, asserting that Generative Literature, produced by code and algorithms, replaces human intention with computational rules. This introduces a profound crisis for literary criticism, where the focus moves from interpretation of a fixed text to the analysis of the rules governing its continuous generation, completing the three-stage assault on the classical literary and pedagogical model.

 Explanation of the Hypertext Pedagogical Shift

PART :1 The Core Paradigm Shift From Text To Hypertext : Language & Literature to the Digital Natives

👉    This first segment of the presentation provides the theoretical and philosophical cornerstone for the entire series, arguing that the technological shift to hypertext is inherently a postmodern phenomenon with profound pedagogical consequences.

The Contextual Crisis: Text vs. Hypertext

The presentation begins by positioning the educator within an era defined by a "deluge of information," contrasting it sharply with the historical "famine of information" of the print era. This context necessitates a fundamental re-evaluation of educational practice.

• Traditional Print Pedagogy: Assumes a stable, fixed, and linear text that imparts knowledge through a single, authoritative axis. The teacher's role is validated by their mastery of this fixed content.

• Digital Hypertext Pedagogy: Characterized by non-linearity, fragmentation, and instability. The content is open-ended, constantly linked, and perpetually expanding, leading to a perpetual state of flux that challenges stability.

The Theoretical Foundation: The Decentered Subject

Th presentation draws its philosophical weight from literary criticism, specifically the work of Silvio Gaggi, who argues that one of the core tenets of postmodernism is that the individual subject (the self) is inherently unstable, fragmented, and decentered in the age of electronic media. Barad applies this postmodern critique directly to the classroom: the structure of digital information compels the educational system to become equally decentered.

👉🏻    This video is based on the concept of Flipped Learning and focuses especially on how powerful questioning can transform the learning process. Instead of the traditional method where a teacher speaks and students listen passively, flipped learning encourages students to explore new material before coming to class, usually through videos, readings, or other resources. Then, in class, they actively engage with the material through discussions, problem-solving, and collaborative activities. The main idea is that learning becomes more student-centered, and classroom time is used for higher-order thinking rather than for simple content delivery.

In this video, many aspects of engaged learning through questioning are highlighted:

1. The Idea of Flipped Learning

   • Students prepare outside the classroom, freeing up time in class for deeper analysis.

   • The focus shifts from rote memorization to application, reflection, and creativity.

   • Teachers act more like facilitators than lecturers, guiding students’ curiosity.

2. The Importance of Questions

   • Good questions are the heart of the flipped learning model.

   • They encourage students to think critically and explore multiple perspectives.

   • Instead of testing only recall, questions should push students toward reflection, analysis, and problem-solving.

3. Qualities of Effective Questions

   • Open-ended: not limited to yes/no answers.

   • Challenging and thought-provoking: questions that disturb comfort zones and invite deeper thinking.

   • Relevant and relatable: connecting classroom content to real-life contexts or student experiences.

   • Scaffolded: starting from simple questions and gradually moving toward more complex ones.

   • Inclusive: designed so that every student can participate, not just the most vocal or advanced learners.

4. Engagement Strategies

   • Using “Why?”, “How?”, and “What if?” questions to spark curiosity.

   • Encouraging students to think like professionals in a field—such as a scientist, historian, or critic—so they adopt disciplinary thinking.

   • Making space for students’ own questions and wonderings, instead of only teacher-led inquiry.

   • Building cycles of questioning: pose → reflect → discuss → revisit with more depth.

5. Practical Implementation Tips

   • Teachers can prepare a bank of questions before class to guide discussions.

   • Beginning with simple, accessible questions builds confidence before moving to more complex ones.

   • Think-pair-share and group discussions create opportunities for all voices to be heard.

   • Teachers should reflect on the effectiveness of their questions after each class and make improvements.

   • Continuous practice in questioning helps develop critical thinking as a classroom culture.

 Overall Reflection

This video highlights that Flipped Learning is not just about reversing lecture and homework, but about creating a classroom culture of curiosity and active participation. It emphasizes that the quality of questions directly impacts the quality of learning. By designing thoughtful, open-ended, and engaging questions, teachers can create an environment where students don’t just learn content, but also learn how to think, explore, and connect ideas.

Summary of the Video: Letter Writing – Three Formats (Lightboard/Glassboard)

This video is based on the explanation of letter writing and the demonstration of three main formats. Using the lightboard technique, sir explained each step clearly so that students can both see and understand the structure.

Key Points (as sir explained)

1. Introduction to Letter Writing

   • As sir explained, letter writing is an important skill in both academic and professional life.

   • A letter must be clear, polite, and well-structured to communicate the message effectively.

2. Three Formats of Letters

   • As sir explained, there are three major styles commonly used:

     • Block Format (Traditional) – all parts aligned to the left margin, no indentation.

     • Semi-Block / British Style – some elements indented, body paragraphs slightly shifted.

     • Informal / Personal Style – more flexible, often used in friendly communication.

3. Parts of a Letter

   • As sir explained, each format still includes the essential parts:

     • Sender’s address

     • Date

     • Receiver’s address

     • Salutation (e.g., Dear Sir/Madam)

     • Body (introduction, main content, conclusion)

     • Complimentary close (e.g., Yours faithfully / sincerely)

     • Signature

   • What changes is the placement and alignment of these elements depending on the chosen format.

4. Demonstration on Lightboard

   • As sir explained, the use of the lightboard helps students see how the letter looks while it is being written.

   • The visual process makes it easy to remember where each part belongs.

5. Clarity and Neatness

   • As sir explained, presentation matters as much as content.

   • Proper margins, punctuation, and alignment create a professional impression.

6. Practical Applications

   • As sir explained, different formats are used in different contexts:

     • Block format is common in business/professional settings.

     • Semi-block is widely used in British communication.

     • Informal style is suitable for friends, relatives, or personal communication.

7. Final Emphasis

   • As sir explained, students should practice all three styles to master the skill of letter writing.

   • Choosing the correct format depends on the purpose, audience, and level of formality.

This video presents a Deconstructive Reading of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"), applying the theoretical framework of Jacques Derrida's Deconstruction to analyze the poem.

Explanation of Key Deconstructive Points :

👉🏻     The lecture demonstrates how the poem's apparent meaning is destabilized by the inherent nature of language, focusing on binary oppositions, the free play of meaning, and hegemony.

1. The Decentering of Binary Opposition

• Initial Binary: The poem establishes a binary between the Beloved/Poet (privileged) and Nature/Summer (unprivileged). The Beloved is superior because Nature is fleeting and prone to decay.

• Privileging the Human: The text initially champions the human subject (the Beloved) while relegating the natural world (summer's day) to the periphery.

2. The Free Play of Meaning and Self-Reference

• Shifting Center: The reading reveals the true center is neither the Beloved nor Nature, but the Poem itself and the act of writing.

• Poem as Source of Immortality: The Beloved's "eternal summer" is conditional upon the Poet's ability to preserve her "in eternal lines to time," suggesting the poem is primarily a self-celebrating piece.

• Indecidability: By exposing multiple potential centers (Beloved, Poem, Poet), the analysis concludes that the poem's ultimate meaning is undecidable, illustrating the "free play of meaning."

3. Power Struggle and Hegemony

• Poet's Authority: The lecture highlights an underlying power struggle where the Poet assumes a position of authority over the Beloved.

• Implied Threat: The Poet's promise of eternal life through verse carries an implied threat: the Beloved's immortality is entirely dependent on the Poet’s subjective decision to write about her.

• Final Center: The analysis concludes that the ultimate, though unstable, position of power belongs to the Poet's achievement and ability to immortalize.

4. Language's Role

• The deconstructive method shows that language itself is inherently unstable and lacks a fixed, necessary meaning, allowing the initial message to disintegrate into these complex layers of reading.

The Tripartite Decentering of the Educational Subject

The term "Subject" in the context of the presentation is explicitly redefined to encompass three interconnected entities, all of which are rendered unstable by the shift:

1. Decentering of the Core Content (The Knowledge):

   • Loss of Monolithic Authority: Core content loses its unitary, textbook-bound authority. Knowledge resides in the network, not the container.

   • Fragmentation and Contestation: The subject matter is fragmented across multiple nodes and contested by diverse linked perspectives, making the acquisition of knowledge a process of continuous synthesis rather than simple assimilation.

2. Decentering of the Taught (The Learner):

   • Fragmented Experience: The student's encounter with the subject is non-uniform and highly individualized, leading to an unstable internal cognitive structure. The lack of a fixed sequence means no two students share the same learning path.

   • Forced Agency: The student gains power by becoming the primary decision-maker (the navigator), but this autonomy comes at the cost of the structural support provided by the linear text.

3. Decentering of the Teacher (The Authority):

   • Erosion of Epistemic Authority: The teacher is no longer the sole gatekeeper or ultimate source of information. The teacher's knowledge, while deep, is limited compared to the entire network accessible to the student.

   • Transformation into a Curator/Facilitator: The teacher must transform into a facilitator of navigation, a curator of resources, and a guide for critical evaluation.

   • The Cautionary Note on "Teachership": The presentation issues a strong warning: if not managed thoughtfully, this radical decentering risks losing the essential "notion of Teachership" entirely, reducing the instructor's role to a purely administrative one that lacks pedagogical authority or direction.

PART : 2  Decentering the Text and the Role of the Co-Author

Building on the philosophical decentering, the second part of the series provides a close reading of the structural mechanics of hypertext and how its architecture intrinsically empowers the reader and abolishes the traditional concept of a fixed document.

The Structural Abolition of the Center

Hypertext, in its essence, is a network designed to resist a primary organizing axis:

• Non-Sequential Architecture: Unlike a print text, which requires sequential processing, the hypertext document set (the metatext) has no single path, no dominant sequence, and no ultimate closure.

• The Lexia as the Unit: The foundational units are the lexias (nodes or text chunks), each containing hyperlinks that act as invitations to diverge from the current path. The text is literally designed to scatter its focus.

The Reader's Transformation into Co-Author

With the textual center abolished, the reader must step into the void to maintain cognitive coherence:

• The Reader as the De Facto Center: By selecting links, the reader's current intention, curiosity, or assignment becomes the provisional organizing principle of the text. The system is thus infinitely re-centerable around the momentary interests of the individual.

• Generating the Text: This active selection process makes the reader a co-author of the text they experience. The path they forge—the specific sequence of lexias they view—is a unique manifestation of the overall document, a narrative generated by their choices, not solely by the original author’s intent. The reader transitions from a passive spectator to an active actor in the textual performance.

The Philosophical Metaphor: The Traveling Aleph

The presentation employs a powerful literary metaphor to illustrate the immense connectivity:

• The Borgesian Aleph: Referencing the fictional point in space that contains all other points, the individual lexia is termed a "Traveling Aleph."

• Cognitive Connectivity: This means that from any single node, the entire connected universe of information is functionally and immediately accessible. This emphasizes the density and totality of knowledge available, placing extraordinary demands on the reader's skills in synthesis and critical selection.

Pedagogical and Cognitive Implications

While the shift empowers the learner, it creates new cognitive and pedagogical challenges:

• Cognitive Overload: The potential for unwelcome serendipity (accidental but relevant information) and cognitive overload is high, especially for learners accustomed to linear guidance. Navigating a boundless network requires the development of sophisticated metacognitive strategies.

• The Paradox of Choice: Even though the reader is free to choose, the pre-set hyperlinks technically limit the universe of immediately available choices. The reader’s freedom is paradoxically constrained by the very technology that grants it, leading to a complex dynamic between guided exploration and genuine intellectual association.

◼️ 1. Engaging Learners in Online Remote Teaching : Google Drive 

This video provides a detailed guide on using Google Drive's collaborative tools to actively engage learners and overcome the challenge of passive participation in online remote teaching. 

Context and Problem Statement

👉🏻     The video starts by establishing that online teaching often fails due to it being "emergency online remote teaching," leading to dissatisfaction among both students and teachers. The core issue is that neither party is properly trained in the online mode, resulting in students becoming passive learners when seated at home. The solution proposed is to leverage platforms like Google Drive (or similar services like Microsoft 365/MS Teams) to facilitate live, collaborative work, allowing the teacher to observe and guide the entire class simultaneously.

Collaborative Tools and Activities

The presentation focuses on practical activities using three tools, primarily for English language and writing skills:

1. Google Docs (Collaborative Writing and Grammar)

Google Docs is used as a shared, real-time writing space where multiple students contribute to the same document.¹

• Activity 1: Dialogue Writing: Students describe a picture and write imaginary dialogues between the people shown.

• Activity 2: Parts of Speech: Students immediately analyze their own written dialogues to identify grammatical elements like nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

• Activity 3: Simple Sentence Construction: Students create sentences using provided words, encouraging them to use various forms (e.g., using "successful" for the root word "success").

• Pedagogical Benefit: The platform's automatic grammar and spelling check promotes a high degree of self-learning. The machine highlights errors, allowing students to correct themselves instantly, which is highly effective for improving subtle errors like article use and prepositions.

2. Google Sheets (Structural Language Exercises)

Google Sheets (spreadsheets) are repurposed from a mathematical tool to a structural grammar tool.

• Active/Passive Voice Conversion: Students are given the formulas for converting active to passive voice (e.g., S+V+O to O+2B+Past Participle+by+S) and then apply them to example sentences.

  • Goal: This reinforces the use of correct verb forms, which the speaker notes is the "pivot of entire English language".

• Simple Sentence Construction: Students use tables containing subjects, verbs, and complements to generate numerous, structurally correct simple sentences.

  • Goal: The exercise is designed to "hardwire" correct English sentence structures (SVO) in the students' minds, counteracting the tendency to incorrectly translate from mother languages (like Gujarati's SOV structure) when writing.

3. Jamboard (Digital Whiteboard and Visual Work)

Jamboard is introduced as an interactive digital blackboard, accessible via URL or app.²

• Functionality: It supports freehand writing/drawing (with mouse or stylus), sticky notes for instructions, image embedding, and various background styles (e.g., grids).

• Use Cases: It is valuable for creative work, mind-mapping, spider diagrams, and visually demonstrating concepts.

• Future Skill Development: The speaker suggests Jamboard can be used to practice and improve handwriting on digital devices (using a stylus or finger), a skill deemed necessary for the future of education.

Conclusion

The lecturer concludes by strongly emphasizing that these collaborative tools are necessary to transition from dull, one-sided lectures to a meaningful, observable, and engaging learning process. The ability to monitor all students' progress and contributions simultaneously provides a superior and more effective teaching model than traditional rows of students working independently.

2.

This video, "Using Glass-board / Learning Glass for Engaging Learners in Online Remote Teaching," addresses the problem of passive learning in remote education by introducing and demonstrating the Glass-board (or Learning Glass/Light Board) technology.

The central idea is to improve engagement and retention by allowing the learner to see the teacher's face and the content unfolding live simultaneously, mimicking the dynamic of a traditional classroom.

Key Takeaways

• Core Technology: The Glass-board is a clear pane of glass with LED lights that allows the teacher to write on its surface while facing the camera.

• Pedagogical Advantage: It helps learners move toward Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) by supporting their memory and understanding as they witness the content being created in real-time.

• Practical Application: The speaker demonstrates its effectiveness for teaching English, showing how to:

  • Visually break down complex grammatical structures (like Active/Passive Voice conversion).

  • Clarify nuanced vocabulary (e.g., differentiating look, see, and watch).

• Setup Requirement: A crucial part of the setup involves using a camera or virtual camera software (like DroidCam) to flip the image and correct the mirror writing so the text appears legible to the viewer.

• Cost: A basic, functional setup can be built for an estimated cost of around ₹5,000.

PART : 3 From Creative Literature to Generative Literature 

The final part of the series addresses the most extreme consequence of the digital shift: the replacement of human artistic creation with algorithmic processes, moving beyond hypertext's structural changes to challenge the very nature of literature and human creativity.

Defining the Generative Process

Generative literature is presented as a radical form of digital poetics defined by its non-human authorship:

• Algorithmic Creation: The production of the text relies on a computational engine guided by three core components: a defined dictionary (lexicon), a rigorous set of rules (grammar, syntax, style), and a governing algorithm.

• Continuously Changing Output: The result is often a text that is continuously changing or perpetually capable of generating new versions, rendering the concept of a single, fixed aesthetic artifact obsolete.

The End of the Author-Centric Model

This computer-based production fundamentally dismantles the authority of the human author:

• Challenge to Aesthetics: This shift challenges classical aesthetics based on intentionality, originality, and genius. The focus shifts from the author's singular vision to the elegance and potential of the generating rules.

• Non-Human Authorship: By explicitly stating that the texts are produced by a computer and "not written by an author," the presentation forces a crisis in literary criticism. Traditional questions about biographical context or authorial meaning become irrelevant; instead, the critic must analyze the efficacy and bias of the generating code.

The Crisis of Literary Time and Reading Protocols

The dynamic nature of generative texts demands completely new methods for engagement:

• Fluid Textual Identity: With no fixed text, there is no stable object to analyze, memorize, or definitively interpret. The boundary between the text and its potential is erased.

• New Engrammation: This requires a "very special way of engrammation"—a new cognitive process for the reader to mentally register or internalize a work that is always in flux. The reading experience becomes a process-based event rather than a fixed-product consumption.

• Redefining Literary Time: The concept of "literary time" (narrative progression) is redefined. It is no longer governed by the fixed chronology of the plot but by the real-time execution of the algorithm and the reader's interaction with the text's potentiality.

Theoretical Direction: Jean-Pierre Balpe

The presentation frames this discussion by referencing Jean-Pierre Balpe, a pioneer of generative literature. His work provides the framework for understanding the computational principles and structural methodologies that govern machine-based creativity, driving the essential "Questions to Literature" about its future in an algorithmic age. The ultimate challenge is to develop a critical framework that can analyze the processes and rules of creation, not merely the resulting product.

References :

     Barad, D. (n.d.-c). Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/09/pedagogical-shift-from-text-to.html?m=1

   DoE-MKBU. (2020a, July 8). Flipped Learning: In search of questions for Engaged learning [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWDCS38kxFc

     DoE-MKBU. (2020b, July 11). Letter writing: three formats: trials on Lightboard / Glassboard [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9SC-hTkO10

       DoE-MKBU. (2020e, July 12). Deconstructive Reading of Sonnet 18 | [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohY-w4cMhRM

     DoE-MKBU. (2020f, September 26). Engaging Learners in Online Remote Teaching: Google Drive - Part II: Dilip Barad [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFTzlocEb04

      DoE-MKBU. (2020g, September 26). Using Glass-Board / Learning Glass for engaging learners in online remote teaching - i: Dilip Barad [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcSozj7dTpo

      Moral machine. (n.d.). Moral Machine. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.moralmachine.net/