Does the use of artificial intelligence (AI) really help students learn? Is it better or worse or just different than more traditional and tested teaching methods? Should it not be incorporated into K-6 education? K-12? Is higher education the best place for using AI as part of the teaching and learning process?
Is the endless hype and hyperbole that surrounds AI in education only a smokescreen for profit-hungry tech companies and/or corrupt, power-hungry billionaire CEO’s and politicians?
Could AI be beneficial to the student learning process but it needs time, experimentation, and reflection to develop tools and methods that truly work for students and teachers … as opposed to being dumped upon them in the name of profits and power?
Do you want your children to be using AI as a dominant learning technology in school? Will it actually help them with the future job market? Do you trust xAI, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple, OpenAI, and the others?
Does unrestrained AI raise the specter of the world depicted in Kurt Vonnegut‘s Player Piano?
What does the research say? The research on AI in education is just getting started … follow the story at —
Artificial Intelligence and Education
Featured articles:
*Fan, Y., Tang, L., Le, H., Shen, K., Tan, S., Zhao, Y., Shen, Y., Li, X., & Gašević, D. (2025). Beware of metacognitive laziness: Effects of generative artificial intelligence on learning motivation, processes, and performance. British Journal of Educational Technology, 56(2), 489-530. [PDF] [Cited by]
“With the continuous development of technological and educational innovation, learners nowadays can obtain a variety of supports from agents such as teachers, peers, education technologies, and recently, generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT. In particular, there has been a surge of academic interest in human-AI collaboration and hybrid intelligence in learning.
The concept of hybrid intelligence is still at a nascent stage, and how learners can benefit from a symbiotic relationship with various agents such as AI, human experts and intelligent learning systems is still unknown. The emerging concept of hybrid intelligence also lacks deep insights and understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of hybrid human-AI learning based on strong empirical research.
In order to address this gap, we conducted a randomized experimental study and compared learners’ motivations, self-regulated learning processes and learning performances on a writing task among different groups who had support from different agents, that is, ChatGPT (also referred to as the AI group), chat with a human expert, writing analytics tools, and no extra tool. A total of 117 university students were recruited, and their multi-channel learning, performance and motivation data were collected and analysed.
The results revealed that: (1) learners who received different learning support showed no difference in post-task intrinsic motivation; (2) there were significant differences in the frequency and sequences of the self-regulated learning processes among groups; (3) ChatGPT group outperformed in the essay score improvement but their knowledge gain and transfer were not significantly different. Our research found that in the absence of differences in motivation, learners with different supports still exhibited different self-regulated learning processes, ultimately leading to differentiated performance. What is particularly noteworthy is that AI technologies such as ChatGPT may promote learners’ dependence on technology and potentially trigger “metacognitive laziness”. In conclusion, understanding and leveraging the respective strengths and weaknesses of different agents in learning is critical in the field of future hybrid intelligence.
Notes
What is already known about this topic:
- Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, has shown potential in enhancing learning by providing immediate feedback, overcoming language barriers and facilitating personalized educational experiences.
- The effectiveness of AI in educational contexts varies, with some studies highlighting its benefits in improving academic performance and motivation, while others note limitations in its ability to replace human teachers entirely.
What this paper adds:
- We found that AI technologies such as ChatGPT may promote learners’ dependence on technology and potentially trigger metacognitive “laziness”, which can potentially hinder their ability to self-regulate and engage deeply in learning.
- We also found that ChatGPT can significantly improve short-term task performance, but it may not boost intrinsic motivation and knowledge gain and transfer.
Implications for practice and/or policy:
- When using AI in learning, learners should focus on deepening their understanding of knowledge and actively engage in metacognitive processes such as evaluation, monitoring, and orientation, rather than blindly following ChatGPT’s feedback solely to complete tasks efficiently.
- When using AI in teaching, teachers should think about which tasks are suitable for learners to complete with the assistance of AI, pay attention to stimulating learners’ intrinsic motivations, and develop scaffolding to assist learners in active learning.“
*Habib, S., Vogel, T., Anli, X., & Thorne, E. (2024). How does generative artificial intelligence impact student creativity? Journal of Creativity, 34(1), 100072. [Cited by]
“This study aimed to learn about the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on student creative thinking skills and subsequently provide instructors with information on how to guide the use of AI for creative growth within classroom instruction. This mixed methods study used qualitative and quantitative data collected through an AUT test conducted in a college-level creativity course. The authors measured flexibility, fluency, elaboration, and originality of the data to assess the impact of ChatGPT-3 on students’ divergent thinking. The results advocate for a careful approach in integrating AI into creative education. While AI has the potential to significantly support creative thinking, there are also negative impacts on creativity and creative confidence. The authors of this study believe that creativity is central to learning, developing students’ ability to respond to challenges and find solutions within any field; thus the results of this study can be applicable to any classroom faced with the impact and/or integrating the use of AI on idea generation.”
*Wu, R., & Yu, Z. (2024). Do AI chatbots improve students learning outcomes? Evidence from a meta‐analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 55(1), 10-33. [Cited by]
“Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are gaining increasing popularity in education. Due to their increasing popularity, many empirical studies have been devoted to exploring the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes. The proliferation of experimental studies has highlighted the need to summarize and synthesize the inconsistent findings about the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes. However, few reviews focused on the meta-analysis of the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes. The present study performed a meta-analysis of 24 randomized studies utilizing Stata software (version 14). The main goal of the current study was to meta-analytically examine the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes and the moderating effects of educational levels and intervention duration. The results indicated that AI chatbots had a large effect on students’ learning outcomes. Moreover, AI chatbots had a greater effect on students in higher education, compared to those in primary education and secondary education. In addition, short interventions were found to have a stronger effect on students’ learning outcomes than long interventions. It could be explained by the argument that the novelty effects of AI chatbots could improve learning outcomes in short interventions, but it has worn off in the long interventions. Future designers and educators should make attempt to increase students’ learning outcomes by equipping AI chatbots with human-like avatars, gamification elements and emotional intelligence.
Notes
What is already known about this topic:
- Studies undertaken so far have provided conflicting evidence concerning the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes.
What this paper adds:
- This study found that AI chatbots could have a large effect on students’ learning outcomes.
- This study found that the effects of AI chatbots were moderated by educational levels and intervention duration.
Implications for practice and/or policy:
- Practitioners and/or teachers should draw attention to the positive and negative effects of AI chatbots on students.
- More research is needed to examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of AI chatbots on students’ learning outcomes.“
Questions? Please let me know (engelk@grinnell.edu).
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