Abstract:

Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) emerges simultaneously as an opportunity and a challenge to established traditions of learning and instruction. Although AI has existed since the 1950s, technological development remains intense. New sophisticated applications, which recently existed only in laboratories, are now on the market and have been quickly adopted and widely used. One interesting element of this development is the role of such resources in supporting learning and instruction in formal and informal settings. Another feature is what these resources imply for assessment and educational leadership. This development raises interesting and challenging questions for learning and instruction, as well as for research in these areas. In the current study, a network of 11 experienced researchers from six countries working in the fields of AI, educational technology and learning sciences discuss the integration of AI into education. These scholars will collaborate for four years to develop research on AI in relation to learning and instruction. Inspired by the expert panel method, the scholars identify, in this paper, current challenges and opportunities for the integration of AI in education. Preliminary results suggest that AI has the potential to automate administrative, instructional and learning tasks and thus free up time for educators to integrate complex AI-based analyses to support student learning while focusing class time on more advanced discussions of how students experience and understand the world in which they live and act. AI can identify the strengths and weaknesses of an individual and consequently enable tailored content and learning activities. Another identified critical strand of AI research that needs further scrutiny points to the aesthetic, democratic and ethical challenges.

Keywords:

AI, AI in education, educational technology, instruction, learning, working life.