Nina L. POWELL
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
Powell, N. L. (2024). AI and agency: Understanding the impact of AI on student agency [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-nlpowell/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Generative AI
KEYWORDS
Agency, generative AI, perspective-driven learning
CATEGORY
Paper Presentation
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Our increased reliance on automation and operation within a programmable world has consequences for our autonomy and sense of agency as human beings. This has particularly important consequences for the context of higher education and student learning. Agency in student learning is a concept emphasised in the pedagogical literature. Agency refers to students’ ability to take an active role in their learning process by making choices, setting goals, and taking initiative (Stenalt & Lassesen, 2022). Research suggests that when students have a sense of agency, they are more engaged, motivated, and empowered in their learning (Luo et al., 2019). This leads to better academic outcomes, improved critical thinking skills, and increased self-efficacy. When students feel a sense of agency, they are more likely to take ownership of their learning, set meaningful goals, and persist in the face of challenges. This active involvement in the learning process leads to deeper understanding, improved critical thinking skills, and enhanced problem-solving abilities. Encouraging agency in the classroom can be achieved through various strategies such as providing opportunities for student choice, fostering a supportive learning environment, and encouraging reflection. Further, as a mechanism of agency, non-dual thinking is argued to benefit mental health, lead to sustainable progress and goal efficacy, as well as being helpful in navigating uncertainty (Chopra & Castle, 2024). Ultimately, agentic students take control of their respective learning journeys, and develop the confidence to be self-directed in their learning (Gresham, 2019). Generative AI has the potential to impact students’ sense of agency, as perceiving generative AI as having human-like characteristics or a perspective has implications for what we think it means to be human. Our perception of AI can potentially lead to a reduction in our understanding of human agency and what it means to have a human perspective; if we see humans as programmable, this can impact how we learn and reason in the context of higher education.
Automation and generative AI deliver fast and convenient solutions to many of our modern problems, yet reliance on automation and generative AI has the potential to reduce our sense of control and efficacy by removing the human being from the equation, and further reducing the uniquely human qualities that we may confuse with what is programmed to look human. Further, our view of human exceptionalism may be compromised by the parallels between human and machine in that we see ourselves as analogous to the determined machine. This challenges our sense of freedom and involvement in decision-making and choice and leads us to an endlessly predictable and programmable person rather than an autonomous and agentic person. This paper presentation will focus on my theoretical and empirical work that speaks to the following questions: when using the machine mind to understand the human mind in education, do students maintain value and belief in autonomy and agency, and as students see potentially less need for human involvement in scholarship, industry, and overall decision-making. do they see themselves as capable agents of change and influence? Are there ways that we can use generative AI in the classroom that offers a clear distinction between what is truly human and agentic or perspective-driven versus programmed and without perspective? I offer some ideas for ways that we can integrate generative AI into our teaching practices that retains and even emphasises the uniquely human qualities of agency and perspective-driven higher-order thinking and scholarship.
REFERENCES
Chopra, D., & Castle, R. D. (2024). Non-duality and mental health. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10, 100934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.100934
Gresham, J. D. (2019). Self-directed learning: Empowering authentic learner autonomy through self-agency in the secondary school learning environment. California Institute of Integral Studies.
Luo, H., Yang, T., Xue, J., & Zuo, M. (2019). Impact of student agency on learning performance and learning experience in a flipped classroom. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(2), 819-831. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12604
Stenalt, M. H., & Lassesen, B. (2022). Does student agency benefit student learning? A systematic review of higher education research. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 47(5), 653- 669. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1967874.