The increasing adoption of generative AI (Gen AI) is largely impacting education and learning. Liana Razmerita from Copenhagen Business School is studying the evolving human – AI relationship in knowledge-intensive tasks and learning. She presented her study at ECEL (European Conference on e-learning) in Porto on 23 October.
Abstract – Based on mixed data collected from business school students, the article explores the evolving relationships between human and AI in knowledge collaboration. The article sets out to address how Gen AI usage affects students’ behavior, their academic work and their attitudes towards AI. It investigates how students use Gen AI in an academic context to support students’ work processes. Our analysis draws on collaborative learning theories and revisits the automation-augmentation paradox in the context of management education. The aim is to address the following research questions: How does collaboration with AI affect student academic work? And how do students in higher education use Gen AI for academic work? We present insights into students’ perception of benefits and drawbacks of using Gen AI, their attitude towards Gen AI, knowledge tasks in which they collaborate or delegate to Gen AI and we discuss the potential risks associated with the use of Gen AI. Students are collaborating with AI using ChatGPT for expanding knowledge on academic themes, summarizing concepts, theories, and generating ideas for research topics and methods. Time saving, enhanced productivity and user-friendliness of the tool were identified as the main benefits associated with Gen AI, whereas the risk of plagiarism, its inaccuracy in responses and the need for prior knowledge were identified as the main drawbacks. While our findings underscore the potential of Gen AI to significantly enhance student learning experiences, they also underscore the importance of exercising caution and awareness of associated risks to automate learning. This study seeks to enrich our comprehension of AI’s transformative role in higher education, with a specific focus on the student-centered perspective. Read more….