Abstract:

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can promote significant changes in various areas of society, and in particular in the field of education. The purpose of this study is to explore how "Generative AI" stimulates changes in lesson planning and teaching processes among teachers in secondary schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 teachers who had begun utilizing a variety of AI tools for teaching and learning purposes. During the interviews, the teachers were asked to share screen and present examples of AI-enhanced teaching-learning activities performed in their classroom. A large qualitative sample of 79 AI-enhanced teaching-learning activities planned and implemented by the teachers, was analyzed. The analysis of these teachers' activities was based on the SAMR framework (Puentedura, 2012), which classifies technology integration into four pedagogical levels. The levels: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition, determine the extent of the added value provided by the AI tools to teaching and learning processes.

The findings indicate that despite the initial stage of AI integration, educators utilized these tools at all SAMR levels to enhance and enrich teaching and learning processes through the lens of instructional design and students learning activities. While prior research shows most activities at early technology adoption phases fall into lower Substitution and Augmentation levels, the AI activities were distributed in a bell-curve shape, with peaks at Augmentation (35 activities) and Modification (21 activities). Remarkably, quite many activities reached the higher Redefinition level (13 activities) demonstrating completely new learning opportunities in lesson design. For teachers, AI integration at Modification and Redefinition levels optimized preparation tasks and enhanced their pedagogical design. For students, it enabled independent and differentiate learning. This demonstrates AI’s potential to significantly enrich teaching and learning processes, with teachers able to “jump” to advanced integration levels despite recent adoption. With sound policies, proper professional development, and continued research, AI has the potential profoundly transform education for the better. However, realizing this potential requires establishing an ecosystem supporting teacher training, critical perspective on instructional innovation in general and on AI integration in particular. Based on the findings, the paper discussed the added value of AI to educational theory and practice.

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence, SAMR framework, teaching and learning purposes.