Abstract:

As generative artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into educational contexts, higher education programs face the challenge of equipping students with both technical skills and critical perspectives on AI-assisted learning. This study examines how education students develop AI literacy through hands-on experience with AI tools for academic writing tasks.

Fifty-three social sciences students in an education track participated in a course on artificial intelligence applications and ethics in learning and research. As part of the course, students completed a literature review assignment using AI tools, specifically NotebookLM for organizing articles, generating insights, and drafting reviews. Following completion, students wrote reflections documenting their processes, challenges, and learning outcomes. The study received ethics committee approval, and assignments were reviewed by an external evaluator to prevent bias.

Analysis of student reflections revealed a sophisticated multi-stage verification process that students developed when working with AI tools. Students engaged in five distinct quality control practices: verifying content accuracy against original sources, fact-checking empirical data and statistics, correcting citation formatting to meet academic standards, restructuring drafts to improve coherence and alignment with research questions, and synthesizing findings that the AI had not generated. Students recognized AI tools as effective for initial organization and draft generation but emphasized that human oversight was essential for ensuring accuracy, source fidelity, and adherence to academic writing conventions.

Beyond technical skill development, reflections indicated shifts in students' conceptualizations of future teaching roles. Students recognized parallels between their own experience learning with AI assistance and potential classroom applications, describing transitions from traditional knowledge transmission to facilitation and guidance roles. Students identified both opportunities such as time efficiency, personalized learning, and creative pedagogical approaches, and challenges including knowledge gaps, autonomy concerns, technical difficulties, and ethical considerations regarding AI use in educational settings.

These findings suggest that experiential learning with AI tools can foster critical AI literacy among education students, preparing them not only to use these technologies but to implement them thoughtfully in their future professional practice. The study highlights the importance of integrating hands-on AI experiences within higher education programs, accompanied by structured reflection opportunities that promote metacognitive awareness of AI's capabilities and limitations.

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence in education, higher education, AI literacy, generative AI, academic writing, education students, reflective practice, NotebookLM.