How Artificial Intelligence Can Enhance Education: Current Practices and Challenges

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2024) | Viewed by 7071

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Education, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX 75799, USA
Interests: professional interests focus on academic innovations; artificial intelligence; emerging technologies; gerontechnology; esports; social media platforms for authentic learning

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Guest Editor
Human Resource Development, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX 75799, USA
Interests: professional interests focus on artificial intelligence; emerging technologies; gerontechnology; esports; virtual human resource development (VHRD)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various aspects of education, from curriculum design to assessment and feedback. AI offers the potential to enhance the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning by providing personalized and adaptive learning experiences, streamlining administrative tasks, and supporting early intervention and remediation. However, AI also poses significant challenges and risks, such as data privacy and security, algorithmic bias and fairness, and ethical and social implications. Striking a balance between harnessing the benefits of AI for enhanced education and addressing the associated risks is crucial in ensuring a responsible and equitable integration of these technologies (Delello et al., 2024).

The use of AI and its effects on teaching and learning have not been fully investigated. In fact, according to the 2023 Teaching and Learning Horizon Report, the absence of best practices on how to incorporate AI is an obstacle for its widespread use (Pelletier et al., 2023). Leveraging insights and approaches from diverse fields, this Special Issue aims to shed additional light on the utilization of AI to support learning and consider how educators can responsibly integrate such technologies.

Original research articles, case studies, and reviews are invited. The scope of the submission should focus on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to support learning environments and may include (but is not limited to) items such as the following:

  • Conversational AI (chatbots, virtual agents, ChatGPT);
  • Intelligent tutoring and personalized learning;
  • Immersive learning environments (gaming, simulations);
  • The use of data analytics and AI for decision making;
  • Improved accessibility opportunities;
  • Equity, inclusion, and differentiation of learning;
  • Academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, and policy development);
  • Ethics, data privacy, and the potential for bias;
  • Testing, grading, and assessment;
  • AI literacy, overreliance, and student motivation;
  • Preparing the future workforce.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

Delello, J. A., Sung, W., & Mokhtari, K., & De Giuseppe, T. (2024, in press). Are K-16 educators prepared to address the educational and ethical ramifications of artificial intelligence software? Proceedings of the Future of Information and Communication Conference (FICC) 2024, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems.

Pelletier, K., Robert, J., Muscanell, N., McCormack, M., Reeves, J., Arbino, N., & Grajek, S., Birdwell, T., Liu, D., Mandernach, J., Moore, A., Porcaro, A., Rutledge, R., & Zimmern, J. (2023). 2023 Educause Horizon Report, Teaching and Learning Edition, 5. 2023 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition | EDUCAUSE Library

Prof. Dr. Julie Delello
Dr. Rochell McWhorter
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • education
  • artificial intelligence
  • large language models
  • disruptive technologies
  • emerging technologies
  • teaching
  • learning

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 541 KiB  
Article
The Good and Bad of AI Tools in Novice Programming Education
by Rina Zviel-Girshin
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 1089; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14101089 - 6 Oct 2024
Viewed by 605
Abstract
As AI coding tools become more prevalent in programming, it is essential to understand how they influence programming education. This study, conducted in a first-semester Introduction to Programming course, aimed to determine the positive and negative effects of these tools on students’ learning [...] Read more.
As AI coding tools become more prevalent in programming, it is essential to understand how they influence programming education. This study, conducted in a first-semester Introduction to Programming course, aimed to determine the positive and negative effects of these tools on students’ learning experiences and their ability to develop essential programming skills. Using a mixed-methods approach, we collected data from 73 teams of engineering students over a 12-week period. Students completed surveys and reported on their AI tool usage. We analyzed this data quantitatively to identify trends in tool familiarity, usage, and student satisfaction. Additionally, qualitative analysis of student reports provided insights into the specific ways AI tools were used and their perceived benefits and drawbacks. The findings revealed a significant increase in AI tool familiarity (from 28% to 100%) and usage among students. Students’ satisfaction with AI tools improved over time. The most prevalent tasks for which novice programmers used AI tools included creating comments (91.7%), identifying and correcting bugs (80.2%), and seeking information (68.5%), while other tasks were less common. While these tools offered benefits like assisting in learning and enhancing real-world relevance, they also raised concerns about cheating, over-reliance on AI tools, and a limited understanding of core programming concepts. Full article
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17 pages, 836 KiB  
Article
Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education through Machine Learning: Proof of Concept’ of AI’s Ability to Assess the Use of Key Microskills
by Christopher Dann, Shirley O’Neill, Seyum Getenet, Subrata Chakraborty, Khaled Saleh and Kun Yu
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(8), 886; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080886 - 14 Aug 2024
Viewed by 749
Abstract
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), including intelligent machines, are opening new possibilities to support teaching and learning in higher education. This research has found a ‘proof of concept’ in the application of machine learning in the assessment of educators’ use of four key [...] Read more.
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), including intelligent machines, are opening new possibilities to support teaching and learning in higher education. This research has found a ‘proof of concept’ in the application of machine learning in the assessment of educators’ use of four key microskills, drawn from an internationally established framework. The analysis of teaching videos where these microskills were demonstrated multiple times in front of a green screen or in a space formed the data set. Multiple videos of this nature were recorded to allow for increased analysis and deconstruction of the video components to enable the application of machine learning. The results showed how AI can be used to support the collaborative and reflective practice of educators in a time when online teaching has become the norm. Having achieved a ‘proof of concept’, this research has laid the groundwork to allow for the whole framework of ten microskills to be applied in this way thus adding a new dimension to its use. Providing such critical information that is not currently available in such a systematic and personalised way to educators in the higher education sector can also support the validity of formative assessment practices. Full article
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21 pages, 2779 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Using ChatGPT as a Tool to Strengthen Benefits of the Flipped Learning Strategy
by Gilberto Huesca, Yolanda Martínez-Treviño, José Martín Molina-Espinosa, Ana Raquel Sanromán-Calleros, Roberto Martínez-Román, Eduardo Antonio Cendejas-Castro and Raime Bustos
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(6), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14060660 - 18 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2439
Abstract
In this study, we evaluate how ChatGPT complements and enriches the traditional flipped learning strategy in higher education, particularly in engineering courses. Using an experimental design involving 356 students from basic programming courses in undergraduate engineering programs, we compared the normalized learning gain [...] Read more.
In this study, we evaluate how ChatGPT complements and enriches the traditional flipped learning strategy in higher education, particularly in engineering courses. Using an experimental design involving 356 students from basic programming courses in undergraduate engineering programs, we compared the normalized learning gain between groups that used the ChatGPT-assisted flipped learning strategy (focus groups) and those that followed a traditional video-based flipped learning methodology (control groups). The intervention lasted ten weeks, with two sessions of two hours each week. A pre-test–post-test analysis revealed that the focus groups showed significant improvement in normalized learning gain values compared to the control groups. These results confirm that incorporating ChatGPT into the flipped learning strategy can significantly enhance student performance by providing a more active, interactive, and personalized approach during the teaching–learning process. We conclude that the flipped learning strategy, upgraded with the assistance of ChatGPT, provides an effective means to improve understanding and application of complex concepts in programming courses, with potential to be extended to other areas of study in higher education. This study opens routes for future research on the integration of artificial intelligence into innovative pedagogical strategies with the goal of scaffolding the learning experience and improving educational outcomes. Full article
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14 pages, 236 KiB  
Opinion
A Cross-Era Discourse on ChatGPT’s Influence in Higher Education through the Lens of John Dewey and Benjamin Bloom
by Koki Mandai, Mark Jun Hao Tan, Suman Padhi and Kuin Tian Pang
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(6), 614; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14060614 - 6 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1278
Abstract
Since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT and the related AI technology have disrupted multiple fields of society where people anticipate its pathways with a mixture of hope and fear. Among the affected fields, education, in particular, may incur one of the largest [...] Read more.
Since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT and the related AI technology have disrupted multiple fields of society where people anticipate its pathways with a mixture of hope and fear. Among the affected fields, education, in particular, may incur one of the largest impacts in the future partly due to its nature of learning and teaching knowledge, an element that is more or less questioned by the rise of these technologies. As education can be seen as a component that determines the future of every other field of society, tools such as ChatGPT must be optimally regulated to enhance its gain or mitigate its loss. To contribute to this goal, this paper approaches the state of ChatGPT and its expected impacts on higher education through the lens of two major educational theories—John Dewey’s Reflective-Thought-and-Action model and revised Bloom’s taxonomy—aiming to propose possible evaluative criteria for the optimal usage of ChatGPT in academia. As ChatGPT is a relatively new topic of research yet a topic that requires an immediate focus due to its capabilities, this paper also aims to provide these criteria as one of the concrete starting points of future research in this field. Full article
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