Generative AI Literacy: Learning & AI

This study finds that frequent use of AI tools is linked to lower critical thinking skills, largely due to increased cognitive offloading. Age and education also shape this relationship, highlighting the need for strategies that encourage more deliberate, critical engagement with AI technologies.

In this large high school field experiment, results show that AI-based tutoring improves performance during practice but can lead to lower performance once AI support is removed, indicating reduced skill acquisition. Safeguards such as prompting the AI tutor to provide teacher-designed hints rather than full solutions help mitigate these negative effects. The findings highlight the importance of careful integration of generative AI in educational settings to preserve student learning.

Nicholas Carr argues that the real threat AI poses to education isn’t that it encourages cheating. It’s that it discourages learning.

Educause Review takes a broad look at current developments and trends in information technology, how they may affect the college/university as an institution, and what these mean for higher education and society.

This study examined how using large language models (LLMs) affects writing, cognition, and learning. Participants wrote essays using either an LLM, a search engine, or no tools. EEG data showed that brain activity decreased as reliance on external tools increased, with LLM users showing the weakest neural connectivity. LLM users also reported lower ownership of their work and struggled to recall or quote it accurately. Over time, they underperformed across neural, linguistic, and behavioral measures, suggesting that while LLMs offer convenience, they may come with cognitive and educational costs.

Educause Review takes a broad look at current developments and trends in information technology, how they may affect the college/university as an institution, and what these mean for higher education and society.