What Students Really Expect from AI in Education

While most educators agree there are advantages to utilize artificial intelligence as a teaching tool, there are still lively conversations about how both students and teachers are going to use that form of technology in the classroom.

We are developing best-practice guidelines to support the use of AI simultaneously as we explore how it will enhance the online and classroom experiences of our institution; we want to ensure that AI enriches our learning offer and isn't used to make them standard or distracted from learning.

How AI Chatbots Improves Student Services?

Custom-made AI chatbots can deliver more immediate, contextualized feedback for students that they can use for learning. Nevertheless, our data showed students highly value face to face interaction and want reassurance lecturers are still able to provide support if needed.

In terms of AI, one of its risks is producing unfeeling output, particularly in tertiary online learning environments. Building a warm, naturalistic tone, visual presence, voice/body movements within a chatbot can take many iterations and requires lecturer input on the content and development. When executed well, these tools have the potential to provide personalized, just in time support to learners, being an additional contact point to existing channels and increasing accessibility, responsiveness and engagement, while not removing the human aspect from the educational experience.

AI in Education: DIfferent Public Platforms

Firstly, we must acknowledge that some students will make use of openly accessible generative AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT. Here, it's important to encourage students to utilize the platforms to improve rather than produce written work. For instance, they can use them to proofread or generate ideas that will help them understand the subject matter more thoroughly.

Similarly, instead of accepting information at face value, students should be urged to critically examine what AI systems tell them in order to develop critical thinking skills and support their claims. This is significant since students enrolled in master's-level courses already possess knowledge about their field that ChatGPT does, yet AI content can still be shallow and general.