Abstract:

The use of active learning methodologies in higher education is a very effective tool for promoting student success, especially when combined with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), a practice that encourages student participation and engagement in their learning process.

The Team Based Learning Plus (TBL Plus) methodology consists of a combination of Team-Based Learning and Microlearning and was implemented in the Production Technologies and Vehicle Life Cycle course unit of the master’s degree in automotive engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in the last two academic year. In the third year the methodology was optimised and complemented with some activities that made direct use of AI tools. A survey was used to gauge students' opinions on the methodology and new proposals for improvements were collected for future implementation. Two new groups of questions were added to this survey to understand students' perceptions of the implementation of AI in the methodology, with two fundamental objectives:
1) To evaluate the use of AI in learning the topics covered in the course;
2) To identify students' perceptions and concerns about the impact of AI on their academic and professional training.

Regarding the use of AI in learning the topics covered in the course, the majority (82.5%) of students assume that their knowledge of AI is intermediate and 93.8% of students use AI for research and writing academic texts, with only 50% using AI tools in simulation and process optimisation software. They highlight that they use AI in researching and summarising scientific articles (93.8%) and in supporting the writing of academic papers (56.3%) for the curriculum unit in question, and 75% of students consider the use of AI tools in their learning process to be positive. Only 50% of students believe that the use of AI slightly improves their academic productivity and understanding of the concepts covered, with 43.8% considering that it improves it significantly.

About students' perceptions and concerns in the impact of AI on their academic and professional training, 62.5% believe that the use of AI can improve the development of their critical thinking and problem-solving skills within their course, considering that the use of AI should be free and encouraged (37.5%) or allowed, but with restrictions (37.5%). The lack of critical thinking in the analysis of specific problems is the students' main concern. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty were highlighted by 56.3% of students, with 50% mentioning possible bias or misinformation resulting from the use of AI. The students consider it necessary to promote some types of training specifically on AI, highlighting Workshops/Training on AI applications in automotive engineering (68.8%), open classes on AI integrated into the course curriculum (56.3%) and open courses promoted by the school, to be taken independently by students (43.8%).

The students emphasised that TBL Plus with integrated AI activities allows them to get better grades, promotes teamwork, makes lessons more dynamic, enables innovative classes where they participate more actively, promoting greater student engagement in their learning process. They also highlighted a better balance between theory and practice, encouraging continuous learning throughout the school term.

Keywords:

Active Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering Education.