Episode 100: Students' Views on GenAI with Dr. Elida Cena and Dr. Ashley Robertson

Introductions and research background

0:00Welcome to the Learning Scientist podcast, a podcast for teachers, students, and parents about evidence-based practice and learning. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Learning Scientist podcast. My name is Dr. Karolina Kiputetse, and I'm a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Glasgow. In today's episode, I have the pleasure to talk to Dr. Elida Tenner

0:30from the Queen's University Belfast and Dr. Ashley Robertson from the University of Glasgow. Together with other researchers, they recently published a paper on studying with Gen.AI, student views on the opportunities and risks of Gen.AI in higher education. So I would like to welcome, Elida and Ashley. And can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your background and your interest in this topic? Hello, I'm Dr. Elida Tenner, senior lecturer in psychology at

1:04Queen's University Belfast. I'm a teaching-focused academic, and much of my work focuses on student belonging and enhancing the learning experience, particularly for students in higher education. More recently, with a rapid introduction and adoption of Gen.AI tools within higher education, I have developed a particular interest in understanding how these technologies are actually

1:34influencing the student experience. I became interested in this topic because of how quickly Gen.AI emerged and became part of education and everyday life in general. Its rapid development created a lot of uncertainty and confusion, particularly around how it should be used appropriately and how students and educational institutions should respond to it. So this led to this interest of developing our research on studying with Gen.AI, student views on the opportunities and

2:11challenges of Gen.AI as part of their studies. Hello, I'm Dr. Ashley Robertson, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Glasgow. I'm also a teaching-focused academic. My scholarship work relates to inclusive working on design. And recently I've become interested in how students and staff are dealing with Gen.AI. And I became motivated and really to look at this because in a research methods course that I co-lead, I was seeing first-hand how Gen.AI was complicating things from Gen.AI was complicating things for staff and students alike.

3:00one of the main reasons I was particularly interested to work in this project because it focuses on how students themselves talk about JNEI, not just thinking about the integrity side of things, but also thinking about things like accessibility, time pressure and where students might consider the ethical boundaries. Thank you so much for joining this podcast episode. The topic of AI and education is a hot one and discussed from many different angles. Your research adds to the student voice specifically.

High-level overview of the study

3:33Before we take a deep dive into the study, can you give us a high level overview of your study? What did your research aim to explore and what was the main motivation for your project? Yeah, sure. So this study was really about putting students at the center of the conversation around generative AI in higher education. We wanted to understand how students were using Gen AI, what benefits they saw in it, and what concerns they had about its impact on learning assessment and education more generally.

4:08At the time, the data was collected in 2024. Much of the discussion around Gen AI in higher education was focused on how universities and academic staff should respond to this rapidly emerging technology. And particularly, it was that the focus was around assessment, academic integrity, and its use in teaching and learning. But we felt that what was missing, sometimes missing from the conversation was the student perspective.

4:39So rather than just asking how universities should respond to Gen AI, whether we need to create guides, et cetera, we wanted to ask students directly, how are you actually using these tools and what do you find useful about them? What are their views? What are their concerns? What are the concerns that they have regarding Gen AI? And we chose to conduct the research at Queen's University, Belfast, and then University of Glasgow because we actually wanted to capture student perspectives across two different university contexts.

5:17Both universities are quite large research-intensive universities, but they have their own institutional cultures and student communities. So looking at students across both universities allowed us to explore, basically, whether there were common experiences and concerns around Gen AI, while also recognizing that students' perspectives can be shaped by their specific university environment.

5:48Another important part of the project was how we collected the data. At the time, there was still relatively little research focusing directly on students' experiences of Gen AI, and much of the existing work actually relied on surveys. So we wanted to go beyond simply asking students to select answers or a questionnaire, and we wanted to give them an opportunity to explain their experiences in their own words and get a more in-depth information.

6:20So, but ultimately, the goal was to put the student voice at the center of the conversation and contribute to a more informed discussion about how Gen AI can be integrated into higher education in a way that genuinely supports learning. Absolutely. So as Alida says, we were interested in hearing how students were experiencing, and also negotiating the use of generative AI.

6:50And it is, Gen AI has come along so quickly that universities were, and I would say still are to a certain extent, trying to work out the guidance and to give both staff and students in real time to how, how can universities keep up with something that moves that fast? Although it is difficult, it's important because students do need clarity then on what is and what isn't appropriate, and then staff also need to feel equipped to support students as well. I think you're right. I think whenever there's a new technology that comes in or a big change that comes in, it is quite common that, you know, the university will come in or like an institution, an educational institution will go in and start doing things.

7:35You know, start putting specific support in place, policies in place, and so on. And I think it's really important, as you said, to take a step back and to think about the students, right? And to ask students as well. So that's quite nice that that is an approach that you took for your specific research.

Why researchers used focus groups

8:01So to explore your research question, you use qualitative data from focus groups. Why did you decide to use focus groups to explore the topic and not, let's say, other methods such as interviews or open ended questions in surveys? And can you give us or can you give our listeners a better idea of how the study was conducted? Yes, so we chose focus groups because rather than being kind of so interested in what individuals shouldn't stop the JNEI.

8:33So that's one aspect of it. We're also interested in how students actually make sense of it together. This is a rapidly changing technology. So it is about how they do that together as well. So JNEI is a topic where students may have different experiences and opinions. So doing focus groups then allows there to be an opportunity for participants to then build on each other's ideas, raise issues that other people might not have considered, and then actually think it through all the complexities of using AI and education in a more interactive way.

9:13So if we compare that then to methods like surveys with open ended questions, focus groups allow for a deeper exploration of students' experiences. So surveys are good at capturing a broad range of views, but they often then don't allow researchers to ask for questions or understand the reasoning behind students' perspectives. And similarly, individual interviews are really good because they provide valuable insights into those personal experiences, but the benefit of focus groups is it allows us to then see how those ideas develop through discussion

9:47and how there is a collective understanding in terms of JNEI. Yeah, just to add to Ashley's point and how we conducted the study basically, an important aspect of the study was that the data collection was carried out by students themselves rather than staff members. So the focus groups were facilitated by student researchers who were masters of conversion in both universities with their own cohort needs,

10:18which it was done intentionally to create a more kind of like peer-to-peer environment, and it was used and found more beneficial, especially for a topic like Gen AI, where students do not feel very comfortable speaking openly with staff members, but they may feel more comfortable around students who share similar experiences of university learning. And in addition, we were also conscious that they may be more open and more honest about their Gen AI views with other students rather than with us.

10:57So having student facilitators helped create this sense of trust, hopefully, and encouraged more authentic conversations about both the opportunities and concerns students had around Gen AI. And this was actually seen from the depth of the answers that we got and the very honest students shared. Yeah, so basically, in terms of how the study was conducted,

11:28as we mentioned, students were from Queen's University and from the University of Glasgow. And it was mostly postgraduate students, but also final year undergraduate students from the University of Glasgow in the School of Psychology. The discussion explored areas such as how students were currently using Gen AI, what were the benefits that they perceived in their work, what risks they were concerned about,

12:00and what support they felt universities should provide. So, yeah, as Ashley highlighted, basically, overall, the focus group approach allowed us to capture not just individual opinions, but the wider student conversations around Gen AI, and how they are using it and ushering it and thinking about its implications in learning. Yeah, that's interesting. So basically, what it is, is a focus group with… How many people were in one group?

12:31Seven. That's quite interesting because I like the aspect of using and choosing a research method, such as focus group, right? Where you have multiple people at a table together and discussing a topic. But one thing that you also, both of you actually highlighted, was the importance of how do you negotiate and navigate that new technology. And that can be best captured if you actually have different voices, right?

13:05Because that you have one person uses it or has one specific way to use it, but another one maybe raises a point with that. So you have kind of that ongoing discussion as part of the focus group, which I would think really enriches your data. Yeah, exactly. One of the benefits of focus group is that, as you said, the conversation actually incites more discussion and gets people to remember things that probably they didn't think

13:38or they may not think when they are doing an individual interview. So that's very beneficial, especially in these kinds of topics. Yeah, and actually, it's really good as well, I think, because you do get agreement, but you also don't always have agreement. You sometimes have disagreement, and that's sometimes where the best conversation or discussion comes from is actually students then, or anyone who's part of the focus group, talking about, you know, why they think of protecting their ways, about the protecting topic that they're talking about.

14:09So let's get to the most interesting part.

Key findings on student perspectives

14:12I'm curious, and our listeners are curious as well, the finding, right? So what did you find in your research? Was there anything that surprised you? And were you anticipating maybe certain findings that did not occur? Yes. So one of the main things we found was that students had a very nuanced relationship with Gen.AI. So basically, as I mentioned, when we started this project, it was at a time when Gen.AI was introduced very rapidly into higher education.

14:47There was a great deal of uncertainty and apprehension around its use from both academic staff, from students, from the institution in general. So from our perspective as teaching-focused academics, we were particularly interested in understanding the student experience. And we noticed that from the transcripts and from the discussion, the students were often hesitant to openly discuss their use of Gen.AI

15:19because they were concerned that it might be perceived as inappropriate or that they could be accused of academic misconduct. At the same time, there was uncertainty about how these tools could be used in a way that genuinely supported learning. So one of the most interesting findings was actually that students did not simply view Gen.AI as a shortcut. Many students described using it as a learning support tool, for example,

15:51to explain difficult concepts, to help them organize their ideas, or also to provide feedback on their work. In particular, it was found very useful for neurodivergent students and those who did not speak English, non-English learners, whose English is not first language. So they found it very valuable to support their learning and taking the anxiety out of many tasks.

16:21Yeah, so these are some points. Ashley, if you'd like to add some of our findings. So however, alongside these benefits, students also expressed real concern about whether using AI might mean that they were missing out on the process of learning itself. So the students that took part in the research, some of them were scared about cognitive overloading and that meant that many of them were then afraid to use it. They mentioned specifically being concerned

16:53that AI was doing really too much of the critical thinking, therefore meaning that independent judgment wasn't something that was taking place. And I think this is one of the most important insights from the study because it kind of moves on beyond just thinking, is AI good or bad and are students cheating with it? But instead asking, how do we use AI in a way that enhances learning rather than replacing the learning process? And I think something that was really important

17:23is that students raised concerns about fairness, particularly regarding the overuse of JNI assessment writing. So participants felt that students who then relied heavily on these tools had an unfair advantage over those who completed the walk independently. And as well as those concerns about other students cheating, as it were, students were also worried about fairness in relation to group projects, where one person who misuses AI could end up with their behaviour,

17:55you know, then affecting a grade for the whole group. And probably to add to that, to the findings, what surprised us was just how reflective the students were. They recognised the value of Gen AI, but they also understood that learning involves effort, challenge and active engagement. So they were really, they really wanted clear guidance on how to use these tools responsibly,

18:25but also still maintaining ownership of their learning. They saw, they also talked about what they saw as a kind of defensive criticism of Gen AI within academia, at least at that time it was much more than it may be now. perhaps this idea that there can sometimes be resistance to new technologies because of concerns about the impact they have on learning, and ultimately on students' futures.

18:56But they also emphasised that universities are, that we need to learn more about Gen AI, because universities are the institutions that prepare students for the world beyond university. And therefore, Gen AI is going to be an important part of the future workplace. So students are really keen to learn more about the students and develop the skills they need to use them effectively. I think what they're really asking for is that balance, understanding how to use it,

19:30but to use these tools, but also knowing when to step back and make sure they're still doing the thinking and learning themselves. Yeah, so these were really interesting conversations. I think it's incredibly insightful because when Gen AI came about, we immediately entered cheetah detection mode, right? And we saw the very negatives around that as well.

20:02And obviously cognitive offloading and aspects of declining cognitive abilities are things that we, as teachers and as an institution, are worried about. But I find it interesting that when you ask students, they have the same concerns. So we are operating from the same worries and from the same point of views.

20:36And that's very useful to highlight because I think in education in general, so that's not just in higher education, but in education in general, it can be quite quickly. You can enter that dichotomy between us and them. But that's not the case. Maybe there is a common ground of, you know, what are we here for? What do we want to achieve? And so on. And, you know, it's learning, it's developing our skills and so on.

21:10And starting from that point to say that is, that's what we all want. And how do we make this happen when new developments occur, when changes occur and so on. So a month ago, I wrote a blog post exactly on that topic as well. And it's quite interesting to see that what you two have highlighted in today's episode have been found in other studies as well.

21:42Particularly the point about, you know, students being quite critical towards Gen AI and how to use it. Particularly students who had the opportunity to have more experience with it. They are more apprehensive about it. But also their curiosity about, but what can we do with the tool? How can the tool support us? And so on. And so on. So, as you said, it's that nuanced approach and the nuanced findings that makes this so exciting.

22:16Yeah, there was this dichotomy of, and the need for balance, that we need to learn it because it is there and it is going to stay. And, but at the same time, how can we use it responsibly so that we are getting the most from our education, from the learning, and that we're not. And, and, and, and, and you can see that they are very responsive, responsible young people who care about the environment and know the impact of, of Gen AI and environment and ethical issues that come with misusing it and the academic issues.

22:55So it was, it was, it was really enlightening, especially, I mean, these conversations now are commonplace in, in higher education, but I, like, we were surprised to see these discussions being very early on from students when we just probably suspected how they are misusing it only. But these deeper conversations were quite interesting to see. I'm going to throw your earth ball. That's not something that I actually asked before, but because you just mentioned environmental impact of Gen AI and students raising or being more aware of this and being more vocal about that as well.

23:39Is there something, was there something in your specific study that, like, the students raised in regard to that? Not really exactly on that. I think at that time it was really discussions around learning, academic practice, how I can learn it, benefit from it. There was not so much, I think the discussions around environmental impact rooms a bit later, but I've seen in other articles where these discussions that students are, are very concerned about these things and some actually deny using Gen AI entirely.

24:23So, yeah, it didn't come up in our study, but it's a discussion that was, for example, I see, I saw after, so basically the idea of doing this study, I, because I teach qualitative research and then I get, I got students from the next year discussing with them about, in a focus group about this topic. It was very interesting to see how from year to year actually their thinking develops and where they mention about these environmental aspects of, and many other concerns and many other benefits of it.

25:04So I had recently, I have been thinking about this a bit more, and then I talked to someone actually at the University of Glasgow, who is working specifically on policy around Gen AI for the university. And one thing that they actually said, it was really interesting, was that people very often, or we all very often say Gen AI is just like that one thing, right? But there are different models and there are different models that you can use, actually, and some are environmentally conscious.

25:40So it is about maybe, you know, the next step would be to dig a bit deeper and not just go to the, to the easy one, like GPT or something like that, but to actually explore what, what do different companies do? What models do they use, what models do they use in order to say to students, okay, I have made an informed decision and here are my suggestions, which model actually contributes to the environment by maybe paying back and so on and opening that kind of discussion more directly.

26:14Yeah, absolutely. That's very important.

Practical implications for the classroom

26:16I'm going to continue with my next question. So after we heard about your, your findings from your study, how can students and educators use the findings of your study? I guess I'm asking about practical implications for the classroom. Okay, so I think that there are important implications for both students and staff. And one of the key messages from our research is that generative AI is already part of the landscape. So it's part of the higher education landscape, but it's part of all the landscapes, I think at the moment. So the question isn't really now whether students should or shouldn't use these tools, but rather how we can support them to use them in ways that genuinely enhance learning.

27:01So for students, the findings highlight the importance of developing that AI literacy, understanding both the opportunities and the drawbacks and limitations of them. Gen AI can be a really valuable learning support tool being used appropriately. So for example, to help explain complex concepts, to help generate ideas and support reflection or to provide feedback. I think it's really important that students then need to maintain ownership of their own learning and be aware of the risks that relying too heavily on Gen AI could have.

27:37Essentially, they could reduce opportunities to develop skills like critical thinking, problem solving and independent judgment. Yeah, to add to that, as we discussed a little bit, one of the most interesting concerns raised by students was the worry that they might no longer be doing the actual learning themselves if Gen AI takes over the thinking process. So that tension is really important because learning is not just about reaching the right answer.

28:10It's about the process of questioning, of struggling and thinking and reflecting and developing the understanding, basically. So I think if we think then about staff in universities, so the findings then suggest, or wider higher education institutions, the findings then suggest that we then need to move beyond focusing solely on preventing post-use or detecting and equivalent rules of Gen AI.

28:40So students were looking for reassurance and support and understanding what responsibilities actually looks like. And that means that we as educators have an important role in communicating these expectations clearly and consistently. But that then puts staff in quite a difficult position if they don't feel able or supported to do this themselves. We're all learning about it at the same time. And then universities or wider educational institutions then need to invest in staff confidence here as well, so that they feel able to have these conversations with students.

29:18And just to add to that, while institutional guidelines are essential, they're not enough on their own, we also need to create those reflective spaces where staff can discuss the pedagogical and ethical challenges that Gen AI presents and to develop the judgment which is needed to respond properly across different teaching and assessment contexts in higher education. So what I'm hearing here in regards to Gen AI for Gen AI for students, staff, institutions is probably something that could be summarized under the umbrella of Gen AI literacy.

Defining generative AI literacy

30:07So it is a skill that is becoming more and more important, so we hear and see it everywhere, post it and discuss. How would you define Gen AI literacy and what do you think is the best way to develop that skill in students, but really also in teachers? Yeah, we're hearing a lot more about Gen AI literacy and I think Gen AI literacy is about much more than simply knowing how to use tools like GGBT, Gemini or CLOT.

30:41It's really about developing the knowledge, the critical understanding and judgment to use these tools effectively, ethically and responsibly. And that means understanding not only what these tools can do, but also where they have limitations. For example, being aware of issues around accuracy, bias and privacy and recognizing the risk of becoming too reliant on AI rather than thinking for ourselves.

31:17And also issues like we talked about the environmental impact that Gen AI can have in general and making students aware of the safer tools that they can use. So students told us in our study that they needed a baseline understanding when they are learning basically of a topic before Gen AI became useful to them, before using Gen AI.

31:51So this suggests that Gen AI literacy should be developed in conjunction with subject expertise rather than something that's bolded on separately. Yeah, so for students, I think then, if you think about it, it's really focusing on teaching how to think and learn with Gen AI rather than simply how to use it. So it actually means helping students develop the judgment to recognize when to use AI and when it can actually enhance the learning and when it might actually be more of a barrier and get in the way.

32:28I also don't think that Gen AI literacy can just be about giving students a guidance document and giving them a warning structure. They need opportunities, hands-on opportunities, to actually use these tools with some guidance. And also to then have the opportunity to reflect on the experiences. And that's then how students can begin to understand not just what Gen AI can do, but what their limitations are and where they still need to rely on them. And the same actually applies to staff as well. Academic staff members also need time and space to explore Gen AI, experiment with it, and basically critically reflect on how it might influence teaching, learning, and assessments.

33:13Many staff, as we know, haven't had formal training on Gen AI or much experience actually using it themselves and are expected to be able to guide students. And I think we need to basically create safe spaces or spaces where staff can share their experiences, can learn from each other, and develop the confidence and professional judgment to make informed decisions in different educational contexts.

33:44And I think this also means rethinking how we assess students rather than focusing only on the final product of the work. We need to pay more attention to the learning process, how students develop their ideas, how they make the decisions, how they value information, and reflect on their learning. So for me, Gen AI literacy isn't simply about learning how to use a new technology. It's about developing the critical thinking and reflective skills to use it in a way that genuinely supports human learning.

34:20So I can see that. And it's also something that has been highlighted in other studies and working groups as well. So the idea really that it is about changing the mindset to think about, okay, what is it that we want in education? What is it that we want students to have learned, to have developed with the parameters that are given to us, right?

34:54So I think, yeah, that's a good point. And these are so many practical implications and tips.

Future research directions

35:00So thank you so much. Now thinking again back on your study and thinking about how you conducted your study in general and so on, what would you do differently if you were to do the study again? And what do you think should future studies focus on? So I think if I had to do the study again, I would maybe have more of a balance between undergraduate and postgraduate students. So we are constrained due to the logistics of the projects, as is often the case that happens in research.

35:33But these two different groups of students are undergoing different educational experiences. And it would be really nice to dig a bit more into the details here. One additional area that may be interesting to focus on is getting more of a clear picture about how policies differ between institutions and then how those different environments might then affect student experiences with GNI. So, for example, some places will ban it completely and others are more permissive.

36:06So that might gain an impact on students' experiences with GNI. If I were to do the study again, I think there is, there would have more scope to look more in more depth at how students are actually using GNI. Yeah, I want to explore more deeply the different ways they use it, whether those different uses genuinely support their learning or in some cases, replace parts of the learning process.

36:36I think something that we can look into in the future is also that we need to hear more from staff members. A lot of the conversation has focused on students. The staff are also trying to navigate major changes in how they teach, in how they design assessments, support students. So understanding what guidance, training, and support teachers actually need is going to be a really important go-forward.

37:05And an interesting finding, actually, from this study was that students were curious about how lectures are using GNI in their daily work. And that lectures should be more open to talk about this, how they are using it, so that students can learn from that experience as well.

Final tips for students and teachers

37:24So, as my final question, I always ask about practical tips for teachers and students. You have already discussed practical implications before, but if I asked you for one tip for students and one for teachers based on your research, or even beyond on the topic of GNI in education, what would they be? So, I think for me, one thing I'd say to students is to make sure that you have that understanding of where they are going. Make sure that you dig into and critically evaluate everything that GNI gives you.

38:01Use it to spark ideas, to give suggestions, but not to do the work for you. You should be the one who's the expert in the room. And if you aren't sure whether the output is correct or not, then it might be a sign that you should revisit that closing. I think for staff, I would say it's really important to be open to having conversations with students about GNI, which kind of follows up with what you read this out of the area, even if you don't feel entirely confused about it. So, for example, a student came to me recently who wanted to talk about how they use GNI and we ended up having a really nice discussion about appropriate and appropriate uses and the importance of then owning the work that we've done as part of our degree.

38:42And I felt a bit nervous about having that conversation, but I was really glad that I kind of went beyond that. So, to add to the point of Ashley as well, that it aligns quite to a similar point, an advice that I could give to students would be to think of GNI as a learning partner rather than something that does the thinking and the work for you. I think a useful question to ask yourselves is, is this helping me understand something better or is it just helping me get the task done faster?

39:21Because there's a huge difference there and it's important that students know this. And if GNI is doing the thinking, problem solving or reflecting for you, then you might be getting the answer, yes, but you could also be missing out on some of the most valuable parts of the learning. So, I wouldn't say don't use GNI at all. I'd say use it in a way that helps you learn rather than in a way that learns for you.

39:55And the same applies to staff. Academic staff also need the time and space to explore GNI, experiment with it, and think critically about how it might affect teaching, learning, and assessment. And, yeah, as we mentioned, many staff haven't had formal training in GNI or even had much opportunity to use it themselves, yet they are expected to guide and support students. I think we need to actually create those spaces where staff can share those experiences and can learn from each other and develop the confidence and the judgment on making these informed decisions.

40:38Thank you. Alright, so I'd like to thank Elida and Ashley again for joining our podcast episode today and for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us. I certainly have learned new things today and so I would like to thank you for that. Thank you, Karolina. It's been a pleasure to be here and to share our research. Thank you. To all our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Stay safe and until next time, goodbye.

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