The new academic survey aims to understand current usage and experiences, and build a national picture that can help guide policy and potential implementation of artificial intelligence technologies going forward.
The new study aims to provide the “first national picture” of how artificial intelligence is affecting the day-to-day learning of Scottish students.
The research, led by the University of Edinburgh, will support a larger project to gauge secondary school students' and teachers' attitudes towards AI. By asking high school students about their use of AI in their work, experts argue that the results could help teachers better support their students to use AI responsibly in their learning.
Research co-leader Fiona McNeill explained that the new information will hopefully provide assurance that Scottish education is properly preparing students for the future, as current pupils will be “among the first” to join an AI-driven workforce.
The questions will focus on generative AI, which research from the Higher Education Policy Institute finds is already being used by more than half of UK undergraduates to create course material for their grades.
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Students will be asked about the AI tools they use and their knowledge of so-called hallucinations, a term applied when an AI system misidentifies or misinterprets patterns and returns inaccurate or nonsensical responses.
The researchers also want to know what policies schools have in place regarding the use of AI, and whether teachers and students understand them.
The research could also help to bridge the digital divide, explained study leader Prof Judy Robertson.
“Young people who don't have access to AI tools at home may not be able to acquire the skills they need in the workplace,” she says. “That's why it's so important that we teach key AI literacy in schools. Understanding how learners are using AI tools is the first step to developing an AI literacy framework. We need to stay in step with our learners to understand how AI plays into their digital lives.”
The survey is funded by the University of Edinburgh's Generative AI Lab and will run until June 30th.
A version of this story originally appeared in Public Technology's sister publication Holyrood.
