Eileen Schwanold

While generative AI tools are already being used in teaching and assessment across universities worldwide, evidence on students' learning experiences and outcomes, particularly for learners from diverse educational and social backgrounds, remains very limited. My PhD research will investigate the impact of AI-based assessment tools on the academic self-concept and self-efficacy in first-generation university students in the UK. My project aims to understand how students from different social backgrounds perceive and are affected by the rise of these technologies in their learning environments. Building on theory suggesting that learners from different social backgrounds have distinct needs regarding feedback and social connectedness, we expect to observe differential effects of AI-based assessment across groups.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

My interest in how to implement AI in higher education was shaped by several years of working on different higher-education-related projects. I have repeatedly witnessed the transformative potential of good education. At the same time, many students still face immense structural hurdles in schools and universities. Emerging generative AI tools hold significant potential to enhance education systems, even to make them more equitable, but only if we learn to use them effectively and responsible. The urgency to generate robust, policy-guiding research is clear, and I am motivated to contribute to this through my PhD project.