Enabling Students to Thrive in the AI Era

Abstract

Despite decades of study, the widespread use of ChatGPT and DALL-E has ignited a public discussion over the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. A plethora of research on AI-driven system design, deployment, and evaluation is available in the existing literature. Nevertheless, in light of the difficulties posed by AI's expanding social influence, it is necessary to reevaluate the theoretical underpinnings of AI in the classroom in order to direct future studies and influence legislative decisions. In this special edition of Computers & Education: Artificial Intelligence, eleven articles delve into the topic of preparing students for the AI era. The papers in this collection are organized into seven main themes. The first theme examines the space of coordination between AI and humans. The second theme delves into the challenges and opportunities of using AI in educational assessment. The third theme is about explainability in AI, which is critical for humans in education to understand and trust AI. The fourth theme is design for learning, which offers principles for designing AI-driven systems and educational opportunities. The fifth theme is conceptual AI and learning, which explores the need for new theories of learning and their connections with existing theoretical foundations in education. The sixth and final theme is about the application of AI in classrooms and educational systems. Research and policymakers face serious problems and possibilities as a result of AI's widespread use in classrooms, as seen in the results of these studies. In addition, they stress the importance of future studies that investigate: the ethical, biased, and far-reaching implications of AI in the classroom; the difficulties of sourcing and owning data, which is the primary driver and enabler of modern AI; the AI literacy and competences of stakeholders affected by and using AI in the classroom; the best ways to teach and learn using AI; and the creation of policies to make educational systems more adaptable to the fast changes brought about by AI.