As AI reshapes knowledge production, this paper argues that experiential pedagogy grounded in reflection, discussion, and creation addresses what forms of learning remain uniquely human. These processes require embodied presence, empathetic engagement, and interpretive labor, capacities AI can assist but never replace. It presents three interconnected teaching experiments conducted by the author over several years. The first case draws on a COIL project (2024–2025) between CUHK and UCL. Students from Documentary Media Course (CUHK) and Intercultural Communication and the Foreign Language Classroom (UCL) were placed in mixed groups to collaboratively produce documentary shorts on the same urban theme in their respective cities. They compared findings across cultural contexts, negotiating meaning through cross-cultural dialogue and visual storytelling, a process dependent on human collaboration and interpretation. The second and third cases are from a visual research methods course. Two assignments cultivated practices AI cannot mediate: photographing a "familiar stranger" at home, work, and leisure to build conversations and human connections, and keeping an experiential visual diary that required stepping into subjects' lived realities, documenting shifting perceptions through pre- and post-experience reflections, and approaching inquiry with empathy. Across all cases, students demonstrated deepened interpretive skills, heightened empathy, and capacity to construct meaning from raw experience. The paper proposes a pedagogical model centered on comparative reflection across cultures, media, and lived experiences, arguing that in the AI era, the humanities must reclaim experience-based learning as their core methodology, positioning AI as a tool in service of the human mind rather than its replacement.

Authors:
Tiecheng Li, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Fotini Diamantidaki, University College London, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Tiecheng LI is currently a senior lecturer of Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www2.crs.cuhk.edu.hk/faculty-staff/teaching-faculty/li-tiecheng

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