Less knowledge, more trust? Exploring potentially uncritical attitudes towards AI in higher education
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Published:
Jul 24, 2024
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence in Education, Artificial Intelligence Literacy, Education, Ethics, Educational Technology, Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)
Main Article Content
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform various aspects of our lives, but its development has been accompanied by several social and ethical concerns. To comprehend the implications and underlying mechanisms, it is essential to acquire a broad understanding of its benefits and drawbacks. To this purpose, AI literacy is a fundamental driver for more aware attitudes towards AI development and implications. However, AI literacy research is still in its infancy. To contribute to advances in the sector, this paper presents the results of a study aimed at assessing students’ AI literacy in the context of higher education, focusing on doctoral students. A survey on AI literacy was performed in four dimensions: cognitive, operational, critical and ethical. The results show that while participants had little AI knowledge, they were overconfident of the technology’s capabilities. The study highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach to AI literacy that encompasses a deeper understanding of its ethical, social and economic implications.
Article Details
How to Cite
Biagini, G., Cuomo, S., & Ranieri, M. (2024). Less knowledge, more trust? Exploring potentially uncritical attitudes towards AI in higher education. Italian Journal of Educational Technology. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1337
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Articles - Special Issue
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How to Cite
Biagini, G., Cuomo, S., & Ranieri, M. (2024). Less knowledge, more trust? Exploring potentially uncritical attitudes towards AI in higher education. Italian Journal of Educational Technology. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1337
References
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Cetindamar, D., Kitto, K., Wu, M., Zhang, Y., Abedin, B., & Knight, S. (2022). Explicating AI Literacy of Employees at Digital Workplaces. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2021.3138503
Cuomo, S., Biagini, G., & Ranieri, M. (2022). Artificial Intelligence Literacy, che cos’è e come promuoverla. Dall’analisi della letteratura ad una proposta di Framework. Media Education. https://doi.org/10.36253/me-13374
Deuze, M., & Beckett, C. (2022). Imagination, Algorithms and News: Developing AI Literacy for Journalism. Digital Journalism, 10(10), 1913–1918. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2119152
Druga, S., Christoph, F. L., & Ko, A. J. (2022, April). Family as a Third Space for AI Literacies: How do children and parents learn about AI together?. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-17).
Druga, S., Vu, S. T., Likhith, E., & Qiu, T. (2019). Inclusive AI literacy for kids around the world. In Proceedings of FabLearn 2019 (pp. 104-111).
Joint Research Centre & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (JRC, & OECD). (2021). AI watch, national strategies on artificial intelligence: a European perspective. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/069178
Floridi, L., Cowls, J., Beltrametti, M., Chatila, R., Chazerand, P., Dignum, V., Luetge, C., Madelin, R., Pagallo, U., Rossi, F., Schafer, B., Valcke, P., & Vayena, E. (2018). AI4People—An Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, Principles, and Recommendations. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 689–707. http://dx. doi.org/10.1007/s11023- 018- 9482- 5.
Gašević, D., Siemens, G., & Sadiq, S. (2023). Empowering learners for the age of artificial intelligence. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100130
Gouseti, A. (2017). Exploring doctoral students’ use of digital technologies: what do they use them for and why?. Educational Review, 69(5), 638-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1291492
Hazell, C.M., Chapman, L., Valeix, S.F., Roberts, P., Niven, J. E., & Berry, C. (2020). Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. Systematic Reviews, 9, 197. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01443-1
Hermann, E. (2022). Artificial intelligence and mass personalization of communication content—An ethical and literacy perspective. New Media & Society, 24(5), 1258–1277. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211022702
Kandlhofer, M., Steinbauer, G., Hirschmugl‑Gaisch, S., & Huber, P. (2016). Artificial intelligence and computer science in education: From kindergarten to university. In IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. 1–9). https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2016.7757570
Kim, S., Jang, Y., Kim, W., Choi, S., Jung, H., Kim, S., & Kim, H. (2021). Why and What to Teach: AI Curriculum for Elementary School. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 35(17), 15569–15576. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v35i17.17833
Kong, S. C., Cheung, W. M. Y., & Zhang, G. (2023). Evaluating an artificial intelligence literacy programme for developing university students’ conceptual understanding, literacy, empowerment and ethical awareness. Educational Technology & Society, 26(1), 16-30.
Kong, S.-C., & Zhang, G. (2021). A Conceptual framework for designing artificial intelligence literacy programmes for educated citizens. In S. C. Kong, Q. Wang, R. Huang, Y. Li, & T.-C. Hsu (Eds.), Conference proceedings (English paper) of the 25th Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education (GCCCE 2021) (pp. 11-15). Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology, The Education University of Hong Kong.
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121.
Laupichler, M. C., Aster, A., Haverkamp, N., & Raupach, T. (2023). Development of the “Scale for the assessment of non-experts’ AI literacy”– An exploratory factor analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 12, 100338.
Liu, B. L., Morales, D., Roser-Chinchilla, J., Sabzalieva, E., Valentini, A., Vieira do Nascimento, D., & Yerovi, C. (2023). Harnessing the era of artificial intelligence in higher education: a primer for higher education stakeholders. UNESCO. unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386670/PDF/386670eng.pdf.multi
Liu, S., & Xie, X. (2021, July). AI quality cultivation and application ability training for normal university students. In 2021 7th Annual International Conference on Network and Information Systems for Computers (ICNISC) (pp. 116-120). IEEE.
Long, D., & Magerko, B. (2020, April). What is AI literacy? Competencies and design considerations. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-16).
Ng, D. T. K., Leung, J. K. L., Chu, S. K. W., & Qiao, M. S. (2021). Conceptualizing AI literacy: An exploratory review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100041
Perrotta, C., & Selwyn, N. (2020). Deep learning goes to school: Toward a relational understanding of AI in education. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(3), 251-269.
Schepman, A., & Rodway, P. (2020). Initial validation of the general attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 1, 100014.
Schepman, A., & Rodway, P. (2023). The General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS): Confirmatory validation and associations with personality, corporate distrust, and general trust. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 39(13), 2724-2741.
Selwyn, N. (2022). The future of AI and education: Some cautionary notes. European Journal of Education, 57(4), 620–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12532
Sindermann, C., Sha, P., Zhou, M., Wernicke, J., Schmitt, H. S., Li, M., Sariyska, R., Stavrou, M., Becker, B., & Montag, C. (2021). Assessing the attitude towards artificial intelligence: Introduction of a short measure in German, Chinese, and English language. KI-Künstliche Intelligenz, 35, 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-020-00689-0
Su, J., & Zhong, Y. (2022). Artificial Intelligence (AI) in early childhood education: Curriculum design and future directions. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3, 100072.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2019). Beijing consensus on artificial intelligence and education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark: /48223/pf0000368303
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2021). AI and education: Guidance for policy makers. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark: /48223/pf0000376709
Wang, B., Rau, P.-L. P., & Yuan, T. (2022). Measuring user competence in using artificial intelligence: Validity and reliability of artificial intelligence literacy scale. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2022.2072768
Wang, Y. Y., & Wang, Y. S. (2022). Development and validation of an artificial intelligence anxiety scale: An initial application in predicting motivated learning behavior. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(4), 619-634.
Weber, P., Pinski, M., & Baum, L. (2023). Toward an objective measurement of AI literacy. Weber, P., Pinski, M., & Baum, L.C. (2023). Toward an Objective Measurement of AI Literacy. Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems.
Wienrich, C., & Carolus, A. (2021). A more holistic view of literacy specifications in the context of speech-based systems. Proceedings 2021 ISCA Symposium on Security and Privacy in Speech Communication, 73-75
Williams, R., Park, H. W., Oh, L., & Breazeal, C. (2019). Popbots: Designing an artificial intelligence curriculum for early childhood education. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence,Vol. 33, No. 01, (pp. 9729-9736).
Wong, G. K., Ma, X., Dillenbourg, P., & Huan, J. (2020). Broadening artificial intelligence education in K-12: where to start?. ACM Inroads, 11(1), 20-29.
Yi, Y. (2021). Establishing the concept of AI literacy: Focusing on competence and purpose. JAHR- – European Journal of Bioethics, 12(2), 353–368. https://doi.org/10.21860/j.12.2.8
Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education–where are the educators? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1), 1–27. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0
Zhang, H., Lee, I., Ali, S., DiPaola, D., Cheng, Y., & Breazeal, C. (2022). Integrating Ethics and career futures with technical learning to promote AI literacy for Middle School students: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-022-00293-3
Casal-Otero, L., Catala, A., Fernández-Morante, C., Taboada, M., Cebreiro, B., & Barro, S. (2023). AI literacy in K-12: a systematic literature review. International Journal of STEM Education, 10(1), 29.
Cetindamar, D., Kitto, K., Wu, M., Zhang, Y., Abedin, B., & Knight, S. (2022). Explicating AI Literacy of Employees at Digital Workplaces. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2021.3138503
Cuomo, S., Biagini, G., & Ranieri, M. (2022). Artificial Intelligence Literacy, che cos’è e come promuoverla. Dall’analisi della letteratura ad una proposta di Framework. Media Education. https://doi.org/10.36253/me-13374
Deuze, M., & Beckett, C. (2022). Imagination, Algorithms and News: Developing AI Literacy for Journalism. Digital Journalism, 10(10), 1913–1918. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2119152
Druga, S., Christoph, F. L., & Ko, A. J. (2022, April). Family as a Third Space for AI Literacies: How do children and parents learn about AI together?. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-17).
Druga, S., Vu, S. T., Likhith, E., & Qiu, T. (2019). Inclusive AI literacy for kids around the world. In Proceedings of FabLearn 2019 (pp. 104-111).
Joint Research Centre & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (JRC, & OECD). (2021). AI watch, national strategies on artificial intelligence: a European perspective. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/069178
Floridi, L., Cowls, J., Beltrametti, M., Chatila, R., Chazerand, P., Dignum, V., Luetge, C., Madelin, R., Pagallo, U., Rossi, F., Schafer, B., Valcke, P., & Vayena, E. (2018). AI4People—An Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, Principles, and Recommendations. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 689–707. http://dx. doi.org/10.1007/s11023- 018- 9482- 5.
Gašević, D., Siemens, G., & Sadiq, S. (2023). Empowering learners for the age of artificial intelligence. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100130
Gouseti, A. (2017). Exploring doctoral students’ use of digital technologies: what do they use them for and why?. Educational Review, 69(5), 638-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1291492
Hazell, C.M., Chapman, L., Valeix, S.F., Roberts, P., Niven, J. E., & Berry, C. (2020). Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. Systematic Reviews, 9, 197. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01443-1
Hermann, E. (2022). Artificial intelligence and mass personalization of communication content—An ethical and literacy perspective. New Media & Society, 24(5), 1258–1277. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211022702
Kandlhofer, M., Steinbauer, G., Hirschmugl‑Gaisch, S., & Huber, P. (2016). Artificial intelligence and computer science in education: From kindergarten to university. In IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. 1–9). https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2016.7757570
Kim, S., Jang, Y., Kim, W., Choi, S., Jung, H., Kim, S., & Kim, H. (2021). Why and What to Teach: AI Curriculum for Elementary School. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 35(17), 15569–15576. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v35i17.17833
Kong, S. C., Cheung, W. M. Y., & Zhang, G. (2023). Evaluating an artificial intelligence literacy programme for developing university students’ conceptual understanding, literacy, empowerment and ethical awareness. Educational Technology & Society, 26(1), 16-30.
Kong, S.-C., & Zhang, G. (2021). A Conceptual framework for designing artificial intelligence literacy programmes for educated citizens. In S. C. Kong, Q. Wang, R. Huang, Y. Li, & T.-C. Hsu (Eds.), Conference proceedings (English paper) of the 25th Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education (GCCCE 2021) (pp. 11-15). Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology, The Education University of Hong Kong.
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121.
Laupichler, M. C., Aster, A., Haverkamp, N., & Raupach, T. (2023). Development of the “Scale for the assessment of non-experts’ AI literacy”– An exploratory factor analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 12, 100338.
Liu, B. L., Morales, D., Roser-Chinchilla, J., Sabzalieva, E., Valentini, A., Vieira do Nascimento, D., & Yerovi, C. (2023). Harnessing the era of artificial intelligence in higher education: a primer for higher education stakeholders. UNESCO. unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386670/PDF/386670eng.pdf.multi
Liu, S., & Xie, X. (2021, July). AI quality cultivation and application ability training for normal university students. In 2021 7th Annual International Conference on Network and Information Systems for Computers (ICNISC) (pp. 116-120). IEEE.
Long, D., & Magerko, B. (2020, April). What is AI literacy? Competencies and design considerations. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-16).
Ng, D. T. K., Leung, J. K. L., Chu, S. K. W., & Qiao, M. S. (2021). Conceptualizing AI literacy: An exploratory review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100041
Perrotta, C., & Selwyn, N. (2020). Deep learning goes to school: Toward a relational understanding of AI in education. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(3), 251-269.
Schepman, A., & Rodway, P. (2020). Initial validation of the general attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 1, 100014.
Schepman, A., & Rodway, P. (2023). The General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS): Confirmatory validation and associations with personality, corporate distrust, and general trust. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 39(13), 2724-2741.
Selwyn, N. (2022). The future of AI and education: Some cautionary notes. European Journal of Education, 57(4), 620–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12532
Sindermann, C., Sha, P., Zhou, M., Wernicke, J., Schmitt, H. S., Li, M., Sariyska, R., Stavrou, M., Becker, B., & Montag, C. (2021). Assessing the attitude towards artificial intelligence: Introduction of a short measure in German, Chinese, and English language. KI-Künstliche Intelligenz, 35, 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-020-00689-0
Su, J., & Zhong, Y. (2022). Artificial Intelligence (AI) in early childhood education: Curriculum design and future directions. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3, 100072.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2019). Beijing consensus on artificial intelligence and education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark: /48223/pf0000368303
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2021). AI and education: Guidance for policy makers. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark: /48223/pf0000376709
Wang, B., Rau, P.-L. P., & Yuan, T. (2022). Measuring user competence in using artificial intelligence: Validity and reliability of artificial intelligence literacy scale. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2022.2072768
Wang, Y. Y., & Wang, Y. S. (2022). Development and validation of an artificial intelligence anxiety scale: An initial application in predicting motivated learning behavior. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(4), 619-634.
Weber, P., Pinski, M., & Baum, L. (2023). Toward an objective measurement of AI literacy. Weber, P., Pinski, M., & Baum, L.C. (2023). Toward an Objective Measurement of AI Literacy. Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems.
Wienrich, C., & Carolus, A. (2021). A more holistic view of literacy specifications in the context of speech-based systems. Proceedings 2021 ISCA Symposium on Security and Privacy in Speech Communication, 73-75
Williams, R., Park, H. W., Oh, L., & Breazeal, C. (2019). Popbots: Designing an artificial intelligence curriculum for early childhood education. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence,Vol. 33, No. 01, (pp. 9729-9736).
Wong, G. K., Ma, X., Dillenbourg, P., & Huan, J. (2020). Broadening artificial intelligence education in K-12: where to start?. ACM Inroads, 11(1), 20-29.
Yi, Y. (2021). Establishing the concept of AI literacy: Focusing on competence and purpose. JAHR- – European Journal of Bioethics, 12(2), 353–368. https://doi.org/10.21860/j.12.2.8
Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education–where are the educators? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1), 1–27. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0
Zhang, H., Lee, I., Ali, S., DiPaola, D., Cheng, Y., & Breazeal, C. (2022). Integrating Ethics and career futures with technical learning to promote AI literacy for Middle School students: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-022-00293-3