The postdigital turn, the GenAI hype, and quality teaching and learning: What is the place of critical thinking and what can we do to promote it?

Abstract: As digital technologies become seamlessly embedded in everyday life, distinctions between tools and human practices collapse, raising critical questions about the future of education and the place of critical thinking within it. While generative artificial intelligence offers powerful new capabilities, its widespread adoption risks reducing intellectual engagement to surface-level outputs, simulating criticality without genuine understanding. Drawing on postdigital theory and critical pedagogy, this reflection paper argues for a reassertion of critical thinking as an embodied, dialogic, and ethical practice. The analysis also considers the evolving notion of postdigital citizenship, emphasizing the need for learners to navigate not only digital tools, but also the social, political, and ideological systems they enact. Ultimately, the paper calls for educational practices that promote meaningful, critical engagement with AI, viewing learners not as passive recipients of machine-generated knowledge but as active participants in shaping democratic, just, and thoughtful futures.