Panel I.09 — Teachers Attitudes, behaviors and sense of self-efficacy towards Artificial Intelligence
Convenors Francesca Storai (INDIRE, Italy); Sara Mori (INDIRE, Italy); Jessica Niewint (INDIRE, Italy)
Keywords self-evaluation; self-efficacy; attitude; Artificial Intelligence, Self-perception
Interest in the use of technologies associated with artificial intelligence (AI) in education is currently booming on a national and international level. In fact, there are many countries that are investing in researching the latest generation of technological solutions powered by AI (Pedrò et al., 2020) to support the teaching/learning process, with the aim of creating school curricula suitable for improving students’ complex skills in the digital age. As stated in the Unesco document (ibid.) Artificial intelligence can offer concrete opportunities for the development of educational policies in the field of education and offer suggestions for solutions for how to close digital gaps with a view to equity and inclusion through the conscious use of big data, or who to operate targeted interventions to improve learning and counteract gender inequalities and disadvantages due to students’ social background (Lameras, & Arnab, 2021). It’s mandatory to start reflecting on the role of the teacher as in the future the use of AI generative technologies will no longer be just a choice, and the enormous impact these technologies will have on their work (Hwang et al., 2020). Research conducted by INDIRE (report in press), carried out as part of an Erasum K3 project (AI for and by teachers) on teachers’ attitudes towards AI, revealed that as the awareness of teachers for the subject AI increased, so did also their anxiety about the possible impacts on their work. Recent research also (Lindner et al., 2019) highlighted the lack of an in-depth idea by teachers of what artificial intelligence is. As Felix (2020) argues, in preparing teachers for the future with AI, it is important to try to contain the concerns of teachers who are already under strong external pressures, as it is rather a matter of providing them with as many tools as possible to cope with change and make them participants and involved in the process (Celik et al, 2022). Models on Technology Acceptance (Davis et al., 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003) highlight how personal attitude can be important and contribute to the intention to use technology in everyday classroom practice. Based on the above, contributions are welcomed that discuss and reflect on the teacher’s role in self-assessment with respect to certain factors that have a positive impact on the experimentation of new tools in the classroom, and specifically:
- Sense of self-efficacy in using digital technologies (Self-efficacy teaching with digital technologies)
- Familiarity with AI tools Knowledge (Knowledge of how AI works, familiarity with AI technologies, ability to identify AI tools)
- Perceptions with respect to the ability to use AI Perceptions (Perceived ease of use of AI, perceived anxiety and enjoyment of AI; perceived usefulness of AI)
- Perception of ethics in this field Use (Ethical awareness of use; Intention to use AI)
- Satisfaction with the possibility of using AI….Professional learning pathway (PLP) (Commitment to PLP, Satisfaction with usefulness of PLP)