Gaurika Agarwalla

Masters Student in Applied Psychology (Industrial and Organisational Psychology), JIBS.

The Illusion of Learning: AI and Its Impact on Higher Education

(This special issue is a collaborative initiative between the Nottingham Institute of Education at Nottingham Trent University and the Trent Institute of Teaching and Learning (TILT) – Generative AI Usage in Academic Environments group.)

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has significantly increased; it encompasses crucial benefits like personalised learning experiences, enhanced research efficiency, and skill development. However, this rapid adoption has also raised concerns surrounding ethical implications, behavioural impacts, and the potential to undermine human uniqueness. This narrative overview of the literature suggests investigating the use of AI in higher education, with an emphasis on the problem of the illusion of learning, cognitive impacts, and ethical issues. This idea describes how students hold a facade of productivity, while in reality AI is doing the intellectual work, thus impairing their ability to think critically and creatively. This study uses secondary data analysis to examine the cognitive advantages of AI, like improved memory retention and task simplification, as well as its disadvantages, such as decreased creativity, engagement, and dependency. Examining the effects of AI on cognitive processes and intellectual property, it addresses behavioural hazards, biases, and academic integrity. To balance AI's potential with its ethical and intellectual underpinnings, the research proposes frameworks that synthesise concepts from behavioural science and literature to encourage mindful AI use. It adds to the discourse on educational policy and tactics for encouraging reflective behaviours and human creativity. Read Here