Generative AI in digital education: Transforming learning, teaching and assessment

Lisa Lock
scientific editor

Robert Egan
associate editor

Generative artificial intelligence is changing education. The tabloids would have it that students are using it to fulfill their assignments and teachers are using it to grade the papers. It sounds like a serious problem where no one is learning because nobody is teaching. But, the landscape is much more nuanced than that, and these new tools could offer us a new model of teaching and learning, according to published in the International Journal of Information and Communication Technology.
The dystopian perspective is of students using generative AI to write their essays, create their artwork, and even carry out lab simulations. The teachers then simply feed this output to another AI to obtain an evaluation. However, the reality is that generative AIs can offer highly personalized, responsive learning experiences that side-step the one-size-fits-all approach of conventional lessons.
And, provided that students, and more importantly their teachers, are made aware of the limitations and the inherent biases of generative AI tools, there is the potential to reduce scholarly administration and allow teachers to engage with their students more directly as well as opening up new ways to learn.
Indeed, generative AI is not simply about faking an assignment, it can be used to produce new educational content, such as custom learning materials, which can be manually validated by the teacher. Such systems can respond dynamically to a learner's progress, interests, and comprehension, tailoring the next part of their instruction in ways previously impractical at scale.
Many language learners are familiar with teaching tools based on conversational agents that adjust to the user's pace and to their specific learning style and any prior knowledge of the language being learned. Feedback is immediate, context-sensitive, and targeted.
The research highlights the need for continued study into how generative AI can best serve as a tool for educational empowerment. As the technology advances, striking the right balance between innovation and human-centered teaching is needed to ensure that the future of education remains equitable, ethical, and genuinely transformative.
More information: Gang Wang et al, A review of generative AI in digital education: transforming learning, teaching, and assessment, International Journal of Information and Communication Technology (2025).
Provided by Inderscience