New
Communications of the Association for Information Systems (2025) AI Processed Human Approved
Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education:Mediating Learning for Literacy Development
This study explores how integrating generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools like ChatGPT into higher education coursework can mediate learning and support student literacy. Grounded in technology-mediated learning theory, the authors conduct a qualitative comparative case study analyzing 45 student groups across two business courses in a French business school.
Problem
Despite widespread recognition of GAI's transformative potential in education, little empirical research exists on how GAI actively functions as an interactive participant in learning processes. Higher education educators lack clear guidance on how to design assignments that effectively develop students' GAI literacy while balancing technological reliance with critical human oversight.
Outcome
- GAI tools act as active learning mediators that help bridge knowledge disparities and deliver adaptive, scalable support to diverse student groups.
- Experiential engagement with GAI develops crucial literacy skills including prompt engineering, task allocation, and critical output evaluation.
- Human educators remain essential to supply emotional, ethical, and contextual guidance that GAI cannot replicate.
- Experiential engagement with GAI develops crucial literacy skills including prompt engineering, task allocation, and critical output evaluation.
- Human educators remain essential to supply emotional, ethical, and contextual guidance that GAI cannot replicate.
What it means for you
- CIO / IT Executive: On Monday morning, direct your team to initiate a pilot program with ChatGPT-4 for a select group of faculty in the business school to explore its integration into curriculum design and assess infrastructure readiness for wider deployment.
- IT Manager: On Monday morning, schedule a meeting with the faculty involved in the pilot program to gather initial feedback on their experience using GAI tools and document any technical challenges encountered during their setup or usage.
- Business Strategist: On Monday morning, begin researching and analyzing how competitor business schools are currently leveraging generative AI in their curricula and draft a preliminary report on potential competitive advantages or disadvantages for our institution.
- Researcher: On Monday morning, begin drafting a research proposal to investigate the specific prompt engineering strategies employed by students in the pilot program and how these strategies correlate with improved literacy development outcomes.
- Policymaker: On Monday morning, initiate a review of existing academic integrity policies to identify areas that need to be updated or expanded to address the ethical use of generative AI by students and faculty.
Transcript
Host: Welcome to A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. I'm your host, Anna Ivy Summers. Today, we're diving into a fascinating new study titled "Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Mediating Learning for Literacy Development." Joining me to break it down is our lead analyst, Alex Ian Sutherland. Alex, welcome!
Expert: Thanks, Anna! It's great to be here. This study tackles a topic that is top of mind for educators and corporate leaders alike: how generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, actually impact how people learn and build skills.
Host: Exactly. Everyone is talking about AI in the classroom and the workplace. But there's a lot of debate over whether these tools genuinely enhance learning or just encourage lazy shortcuts. What real-world problem does this study address?
Expert: While the transformative potential of Generative AI is widely recognized, there’s been very little empirical research on *how* it actively functions as a participant in the learning process. Educational institutions and businesses know they need AI-literate people, but educators lack clear guidance on how to design assignments that build this literacy. The study addresses how to effectively integrate GAI into learning environments so students develop practical AI skills without losing their critical thinking.
Host: That is a huge challenge. So how did the researchers approach this problem?
Expert: They conducted a qualitative case study analyzing 45 student teams—comprising nearly 190 Master's students—at ICN Business School in France. The students were tasked with developing tech startup concepts using ChatGPT and DALL-E. In some assignments, ChatGPT acted as a digital business consultant; in others, it was framed as an AI CEO. Using Technology-Mediated Learning theory, the researchers evaluated how GAI mediated student learning and shaped their literacy skills.
Host: That sounds like a really practical hands-on experiment. What were the key findings of the study?
Expert: There are three main takeaways. First, GAI acts as a powerful equalizer. It helped students bridge knowledge gaps in complex subjects like Big Data and entrepreneurship, boosting their confidence and leveling the playing field regardless of their background.
Host: That’s remarkable for accessibility. What was the second finding?
Expert: Second, GAI enables scalable, adaptive learning. It acts like a personalized, 1-on-1 tutor that provides instant, continuous feedback. Students learned through trial-and-error how to master prompt engineering, reframe generic answers, and integrate AI insights with their own human creativity.
Host: But what about the role of the teacher? Does GAI replace human instructors?
Expert: That brings us to the third crucial finding: absolutely not. The study clearly showed that human educators remain irreplaceable. While GAI is great at providing structure and raw information, students explicitly noted that human teachers are essential for emotional intelligence, ethical boundaries, cultural context, and encouraging deep critical reflection.
Host: That brings us to why this matters so much for business. How do these findings apply to corporate leaders and working professionals?
Expert: Today's students are tomorrow's workforce. Business leaders are struggling to figure out how to upskill knowledge workers for human-AI collaboration. This study demonstrates that true GAI literacy isn't just about knowing how to open ChatGPT—it’s about knowing how to assign tasks, engineer effective prompts, and critically evaluate the AI's output for inaccuracies or bias.
Host: So companies shouldn't just give employees access to AI and expect miracles; they need to foster structured, reflective usage.
Expert: Precisely. GAI works best as a collaborative team member that accelerates ideation and execution, while humans maintain control over strategy, ethics, and quality control. Businesses that build this hybrid mindset will see massive gains in productivity and innovation.
Host: That is a crucial insight for any organization navigating digital transformation. To wrap up, GAI is here to stay, but its real value depends on how intentionally we integrate it with human guidance.
Expert: Spot on, Anna. Hands-on experience combined with critical human reflection is the secret sauce for building true AI literacy.
Host: Excellent summary, Alex. Thank you so much for sharing these insights today. And thank you to our listeners for tuning into A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Until next time!
Expert: Thanks, Anna! It's great to be here. This study tackles a topic that is top of mind for educators and corporate leaders alike: how generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, actually impact how people learn and build skills.
Host: Exactly. Everyone is talking about AI in the classroom and the workplace. But there's a lot of debate over whether these tools genuinely enhance learning or just encourage lazy shortcuts. What real-world problem does this study address?
Expert: While the transformative potential of Generative AI is widely recognized, there’s been very little empirical research on *how* it actively functions as a participant in the learning process. Educational institutions and businesses know they need AI-literate people, but educators lack clear guidance on how to design assignments that build this literacy. The study addresses how to effectively integrate GAI into learning environments so students develop practical AI skills without losing their critical thinking.
Host: That is a huge challenge. So how did the researchers approach this problem?
Expert: They conducted a qualitative case study analyzing 45 student teams—comprising nearly 190 Master's students—at ICN Business School in France. The students were tasked with developing tech startup concepts using ChatGPT and DALL-E. In some assignments, ChatGPT acted as a digital business consultant; in others, it was framed as an AI CEO. Using Technology-Mediated Learning theory, the researchers evaluated how GAI mediated student learning and shaped their literacy skills.
Host: That sounds like a really practical hands-on experiment. What were the key findings of the study?
Expert: There are three main takeaways. First, GAI acts as a powerful equalizer. It helped students bridge knowledge gaps in complex subjects like Big Data and entrepreneurship, boosting their confidence and leveling the playing field regardless of their background.
Host: That’s remarkable for accessibility. What was the second finding?
Expert: Second, GAI enables scalable, adaptive learning. It acts like a personalized, 1-on-1 tutor that provides instant, continuous feedback. Students learned through trial-and-error how to master prompt engineering, reframe generic answers, and integrate AI insights with their own human creativity.
Host: But what about the role of the teacher? Does GAI replace human instructors?
Expert: That brings us to the third crucial finding: absolutely not. The study clearly showed that human educators remain irreplaceable. While GAI is great at providing structure and raw information, students explicitly noted that human teachers are essential for emotional intelligence, ethical boundaries, cultural context, and encouraging deep critical reflection.
Host: That brings us to why this matters so much for business. How do these findings apply to corporate leaders and working professionals?
Expert: Today's students are tomorrow's workforce. Business leaders are struggling to figure out how to upskill knowledge workers for human-AI collaboration. This study demonstrates that true GAI literacy isn't just about knowing how to open ChatGPT—it’s about knowing how to assign tasks, engineer effective prompts, and critically evaluate the AI's output for inaccuracies or bias.
Host: So companies shouldn't just give employees access to AI and expect miracles; they need to foster structured, reflective usage.
Expert: Precisely. GAI works best as a collaborative team member that accelerates ideation and execution, while humans maintain control over strategy, ethics, and quality control. Businesses that build this hybrid mindset will see massive gains in productivity and innovation.
Host: That is a crucial insight for any organization navigating digital transformation. To wrap up, GAI is here to stay, but its real value depends on how intentionally we integrate it with human guidance.
Expert: Spot on, Anna. Hands-on experience combined with critical human reflection is the secret sauce for building true AI literacy.
Host: Excellent summary, Alex. Thank you so much for sharing these insights today. And thank you to our listeners for tuning into A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Until next time!