AI Literacy on Foot Using Geocaching and Field-Based Verification to Reclaim Thinking in Politics Classrooms

Abstract

Speaker: Michael Buehler, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) London This seminar presents a new assessment design for a Politics and International Relations module that integrates generative AI use with physically verifiable, field-based learning. In response to concerns about overreliance on synthetic content and the erosion of student agency, the assignment requires students to physically visit Southeast Asia-related sites in London—such as embassies, museums, and monuments—logging their presence through geocaching infrastructure and collecting non-scrapable artefacts (e.g., timestamped photos, transcriptions, observations). These materials form the basis of a portfolio and final essay, scaffolded through checkpoints. Students are also required to use generative AI as a support tool and submit an “AI Appendix” documenting prompts, errors, and corrections. The design aims to build AI literacy, research transparency, and place-based political thinking. It offers a transferable model for balancing experiential learning with critical engagement with AI, reclaiming student thought in an educational context increasingly shaped by automated fluency.