Promoting Teachers’ Digital Competence in an AI World

Dear Colleagues,

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2021 deemed the understanding of AI concepts to be central to an educated person’s ability to engage with AI and function in smart society. Research to define the core concepts of AI literacy has aimed to address the technical, cognitive, affective, social, and ethical aspects of engaging with AI and the extent to which empowerment emerges from the meaningful and successful use of AI systems in everyday life. However, not all users of generative-AI are able to navigate the Jagged Technological Frontier (Dell’Acqua et al., 2023), resulting in a mix of positive and negative user experiences based on the limitations of current AI systems. Although AI tools have become increasingly popular to assist pupils’ learning by operating intelligent tutoring systems, teachers may not have the technological skillset to fully utilise AI to develop their students’ digital capabilities in this field at present. There is a growing need for teachers’ professional development in how to use and teach about AI in a rapidly changing educational environment.

The DigCompEdu for Teachers’ AI competency Framework (European Commission, 2022) provides six core areas of educator-specific digital competence for all levels of education from early childhood to higher and adult education, vocational education to special-needs education, and from compulsory schooling to non-formal learning contexts. This Special Issue aims to extend the existing research into AI in education (AIED) by focusing on the readiness of teacher educators to adopt, adapt, and advance AIED for lifelong learning.

The following questions provide a focus for papers: what does AIED mean in the context of teacher education, both pre-service and for continued professional development? What is the role of a modern and effective teacher or educator? To what extent are teacher educators ready and willing to embrace the new technologies emerging at a rapid pace, or do they view themselves as gatekeepers in withholding the pace of change? What teacher and educator roles are being lost or created due to the impact of AI, generative-AI, and large language models? How does AI influence teachers’ digital competence and effectiveness? What are the challenges being faced across compulsory education, higher education, or further (vocational) education in terms of valid, reliable, and authentic assessment as a result of AIED? This Special Issue provides an opportunity for research-informed debate and insights into the changing landscape of teacher education in schools, colleges, and universities based on AIED in its various guises.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The meaning of digital competence in teacher education in the AI world;
• Types of digital competence: AI literacy, including e-assessment or AI-generated feedback using the metaverse in teaching and learning; intelligent tutors and AI, AI and learning analytics;
• Demonstrating digital competence: AI chatbots and their creation or use in classrooms, using the metaverse to support learning, using AI to address diverse learners’ needs, digital classrooms of the future, and AI governance;
• AI use in research methodologies: AI project-based learning, AI models of learning, and the ethics of AI as a tool in research;
• The challenges of being digitally competent as a teacher: the changing role of technology in teaching, learning, and assessment; AI in the curriculum; the challenges of AI and LLMs in teacher education; policy reviews of AI requirements in pre-service education; and AI and bias. 

Dr. Pamela Cowan
Guest Editor

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• AI literacy
• chatbots as intelligent tutors
• metaverse for learning
• ethics and AI
• VR, AR, and XR in education
• digital skills and digital competence
• e-assessment
• AI-generated feedback
• AI governance