What supportive roles offered by generative AI tools for students' learning: a study note

What supportive roles offered by generative AI tools for students' learning: a study note (information from perplexity.ai)

My question 1: "What supportive roles do generative AI tools provide to university student's learning levels in terms of Bloom's taxonomy of learning hierarchy with reference to MBA degree study and housing studies degree study?"

The reply: "Generative AI tools support university students' learning across Bloom's taxonomy levels in distinct ways, particularly in MBA and housing studies degree programs, by enhancing foundational knowledge acquisition, critical thinking, creativity, and personalized learning.

Support Across Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels

• Remembering and Understanding (Lower Levels)
  Generative AI tools like ChatGPT assist students in quickly retrieving facts, summarizing concepts, and generating study notes, which helps build foundational knowledge efficiently. For MBA students, this means easier access to business theories and frameworks; for housing studies students, it facilitates understanding of housing typologies and policies61011. AI-powered simulations also immerse students in realistic scenarios, such as managing a product launch in business or exploring housing design challenges, enhancing comprehension through applied learning6.

• Applying and Analyzing (Middle Levels)
  AI tools enable students to apply theoretical concepts in practical contexts. MBA students can use AI to simulate business decisions or analyze market data, while housing studies students can explore design alternatives and contextual factors using AI-generated visualizations and simulations. This fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills by allowing exploration of multiple scenarios and outcomes67.

• Evaluating and Creating (Higher Levels)
  At these advanced cognitive stages, generative AI supports brainstorming, offering alternative solutions and perspectives, and providing personalized feedback to refine students’ work. MBA students can critique business strategies and innovate new models with AI-assisted labs, while housing studies students can generate creative design concepts using AI-driven generative design tools like Midjourney, enhancing conceptual creativity and initiative67. However, final judgments, ethical reflections, and truly novel ideas remain human-driven, with AI acting as an enhancer rather than a replacement610.

Specific Benefits for MBA and Housing Studies Students

• MBA Degree Study

  • Personalized learning frameworks to bridge knowledge gaps for diverse learners

  • AI-driven simulations for real-world business problem-solving

  • AI-assisted critical thinking and ethical reflection on business decisions

  • Streamlined assessment feedback promoting self-reflection and continuous improvement6

• Housing Studies Degree Study

  • Use of generative AI tools for conceptual creativity in design stages

  • Enhanced digital literacy and holistic competencies such as time management and stress tolerance

  • AI-generated visual content to deepen understanding of housing contexts and typologies

  • Personalized learning paths reducing academic anxiety and improving self-management7

Pedagogical Implications

Educational institutions are encouraged to embed generative AI training across curricula to help students understand AI’s capabilities and limitations, ensuring effective and responsible use that supports intellectual development and workplace readiness9. This integration aligns with Bloom’s taxonomy by scaffolding learning from foundational knowledge to higher-order thinking skills, with AI tools augmenting but not replacing human creativity and critical judgment610.

In summary, generative AI tools provide MBA and housing studies students with personalized, interactive, and creative learning support across all levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, enhancing foundational knowledge, applied skills, and innovative capacities while preserving the essential human elements of learning and ethical reasoning."

My question 2: "What are the pitfalls and challenges facing the students' learning on this topic?"

The reply: "Students face several pitfalls and challenges regarding learning when using generative AI tools, including issues related to academic integrity, development of critical thinking, and ethical considerations124.

Here are some key challenges:

• Academic Integrity: A significant challenge is the threat to academic integrity, with students potentially using AI to generate essays and reports, making it harder to detect plagiarism2. Universities need to update their policies and provide clear guidelines on the ethical use of AI to address this issue2.

• Critical Thinking and Autonomy: Over-reliance on generative AI can hinder the development of critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and autonomy among students45. Using AI as a shortcut without proper validation and critical analysis can impede genuine learning and comprehension2.

• Data Integrity and Bias: Generative AI learns from existing data, so biases in that data can be reflected in the output, leading to students unknowingly internalizing these biases5. Ensuring the integrity and fairness of datasets is crucial5.

• Security and Privacy: Generative AI systems require access to large amounts of data, including sensitive student information, raising privacy and security concerns5. Data breaches and unauthorized access are potential threats that need to be addressed through robust security measures5.

• Hallucinations and Misinformation: AI tools can generate information that seems credible but may be inaccurate or completely fabricated (referred to as "hallucinations")2. Students need to validate AI-generated content with rigorous scholarship and critical thinking2.

To mitigate these pitfalls, universities should invest in training for both staff and students on the effective and ethical use of AI2. Students must learn to validate AI-generated information through critical thinking and rigorous scholarship2. Maintaining a balance between AI assistance and human interaction is essential to foster critical thinking and social interaction skills5. Educational institutions are encouraged to integrate generative AI training across curricula to help students understand AI’s capabilities and limitations, ensuring effective and responsible use that supports intellectual development and workplace readiness."

My question 3: "How can universities ensure academic integrity in the face of generative AI?"

The reply: "Universities can ensure academic integrity in the face of generative AI by adopting a multifaceted approach combining clear policies, education, assessment redesign, and fostering a culture of ethical AI use:

1. Establish Clear Policies and Guidelines

• Formulate explicit policies on the responsible use of generative AI, clearly defining what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable use in coursework and assessments.

• Include these policies prominently in course syllabi and university academic integrity codes to ensure transparency and student awareness14.

• Require students to disclose and properly cite any AI-generated content, following established citation standards (e.g., APA, MLA)45.

2. Educate Students and Faculty

• Provide education and training on the capabilities, limitations, and ethical considerations of generative AI tools to both students and faculty.

• Promote understanding of academic integrity principles in the AI context, encouraging students to make ethical choices rather than simply banning AI outright34.

• Encourage ongoing dialogue about AI use and integrity throughout courses, not just at the start4.

3. Redesign Assessments

• Move away from traditional assessments that are easily completed by AI, toward more authentic, application-based, and personalized tasks such as capstone projects, presentations, and oral exams that require direct demonstration of knowledge and skills35.

• Design assignments that integrate AI use transparently, encouraging students to critically engage with AI outputs rather than passively submit them37.

4. Foster a Culture of Academic Honesty

• Emphasize academic honesty as a core value, cultivating an environment where students feel responsible for their own learning and ethical behavior3.

• Use AI as a tool to support learning rather than a shortcut, promoting critical thinking and originality24.

5. Use AI Detection and Monitoring with Caution

• While some institutions employ AI-detection tools, these have limitations and should not be solely relied upon. Instead, focus on preventive strategies like meaningful assignment design and education57.

6. Empower Faculty Autonomy

• Allow instructors flexibility to set course-specific AI policies and adapt teaching methods to best uphold integrity while leveraging AI’s educational benefits5.

By combining clear rules, education, assessment innovation, and ethical culture-building, universities can uphold academic integrity effectively while embracing generative AI as a valuable educational resource rather than a threat. The University of Bologna exemplifies this balanced approach by redefining assessments and fostering student empowerment rather than outright AI bans3."

My question 4: "Different generative AI tools have different strengths and weaknesses. In this regard, suggest the best generative AI tool to use for dissertation project students with reference to: (1) dissertation proposal formulation, (2) academic and public domain context exploration for justifying dissertation project objective choice, (3) literature search and review, (4) evaluation of the quality of line of reasoning of the dissertation project, and (5) ethical evaluation of the dissertation project, with reference to the MBA degree program and Housing Studies degree program."

The reply: "For dissertation project students in MBA and Housing Studies degree programs, different generative AI tools excel at various stages of the research and writing process. Based on current AI capabilities and features, here are the best recommended tools for each key task:

Additional Notes

• Team-GPT stands out for proposal formulation due to its ability to customize AI behavior and facilitate team collaboration, which is valuable for complex dissertation planning5.

• Perplexity is preferred for context exploration because it integrates research-backed content generation with citation support, helping justify research objectives with credible sources5.

• Textero.ai is excellent for literature review tasks as it allows uploading and analyzing multiple source types, summarizing content, and managing citations seamlessly6.

• Writefull Academizer enhances the quality of academic writing and reasoning by offering paraphrasing and clarity improvements tailored for scholarly work45.

• For ethical evaluation, ChatGPT is versatile when used with carefully crafted prompts to explore ethical dimensions, though human judgment remains essential45.

Suitability for MBA vs Housing Studies

• MBA students benefit from AI tools that emphasize business language, strategic reasoning, and ethical business practices (Team-GPT, Perplexity, ChatGPT).

• Housing Studies students require tools that support contextual understanding of social, environmental, and policy aspects (Textero.ai for literature, ChatGPT for ethics), along with creative and critical thinking support.

In summary, combining these generative AI tools tailored to each dissertation phase maximizes support for students in both MBA and Housing Studies programs, enhancing proposal quality, research depth, reasoning rigor, and ethical reflection."

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.