The impact of artificial intelligence on students learning in higher education institutions in the UK

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) development has been impacting higher education since a couple of decades ago with several artificial intelligence technologies applied to support students learning and teaching. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a necessity while universities are highly focusing on sustainably developing in order to play an important role in societies (Aldosari 2020). With artificial intelligence (AI) developing at a very fast pace, universities are now required to keep pace with it by creating new methods of teaching and learning. The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom (UK) impacts every aspect of the institutions including teaching, learning and administration. This research aims to critically explore and further examine the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the learning of business postgraduate students in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK.

This research adopted a critical realist research philosophy and a mixed-method qualitative and quantitative research approach. Data was collected from publicly available peer-reviewed journals, articles, books, news articles, semi-structured interviews and survey. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight MBA (Master of Business Administration) students and five academics/professionals within the MBA departments across six higher education institutions in the UK. Survey was completed by thirty-eight MBA students and nine academics/professionals across twenty-two higher education institutions in the UK. Thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews and quantitative analysis of the survey using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), generated six key outcomes of this research, summarised below:

Several artificial intelligence technologies identified for each learning mode focus on supporting students learning with feedback, content and material, mental health and wellbeing, academic and registry support, inclusive learning and open-source platforms, easing conversation tools, chatbots for general queries and teacherbots.

The artificial intelligence systems and tools applied within higher education institutions in the UK impact business postgraduate students learning more positively than negatively. The positive impact has been highlighted considering accessibility, personalisation, flexibility, efficiency, speed, inclusion, transparency, convenience, accuracy, satisfaction, technological skills, convenience, self-awareness, quality and independence.

The artificial intelligence systems and tools applied within higher education institutions in the UK impact business postgraduate students learning less negatively than positively. The negative impact has been highlighted considering marking and feedback, bias, memory, cost, stability, dependability, superficial technologies, cost, digital illiteracy, complexity and challenging learning for disabled and vulnerable students.

Several ethical implications of artificial intelligence highlighted concern technical implications, confidentiality, cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, dependability, inclusion, freedom, loss of human touch, transparency, control, bias, awareness, accuracy, and accountability.

Ethical implications have a high impact on business postgraduate students learning including delays, accessibility issues, misinformation, tension, reputational impact, mental health issues, issues due to data privacy, biases and lack of rules and regulations, reduced quality of learning, poor learning performance, risked student autonomy, ‘school apartheid’ and missing out on education.

Overall artificial intelligence impacts business postgraduate students learning positively and leads to an improved learning experience in higher education institutions in the UK.

The research was limited to participants within higher education institutions in the UK to understand the impact of artificial intelligence on business postgraduate students learning in these institutions. The key focus was to explore higher education institutions in the UK due to the very limited research completed in these institutions related to how artificial intelligence impacts these students learning particularly. Hence, while the results can be generalised for business postgraduate students within higher education institutions in the UK, they can also be generalised for higher education institutions outside the UK, with cautious and careful consideration of differences in countries where the culture and context are different. The approach used to generate these findings, can be adapted to a variety of situations, thus allowing external validity examination.

These research findings significantly contribute to the existing literature which focuses on the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence in education as Schiff (2021) and Dhawan (2021) discuss, by further understanding which artificial intelligence tools would best suit each identified learning mode and how they impact business postgraduate students learning. It further contributes by identifying the key ethical implications and the impact they have on the learning. The outcomes stress the importance of artificial intelligence systems and their ethical implications and the impact they have on business postgraduate students learning in higher education institutions in the UK. Overall, the outcomes suggest that the impact of artificial intelligence on business postgraduate students learning is more positive than negative, and students benefit more from artificial intelligence compared to the ethical issues they may experience. An overall improved learning experience has been identified.

Date of Award	Feb 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	Eno Maycock (Supervisor)