Smarter or Dependent – The impact of AI use on Learning, Thinking, and Writing

In this workshop, we explore the impact of generative AI on learning, thinking, and writing. We move beyond the hype and examine what really happens in the learning process when students use AI. AI is changing the way students learn—sometimes for the better, but sometimes at the expense of deep understanding.

Drawing on insights from recent empirical research and psychological theories of learning, we explore the conditions under which AI supports the learning process, and when it instead takes over essential thinking activities. Throughout, the focus is on translating these insights into educational practice.

The workshop offers not only conceptual insights, but also concrete tools for interpreting and guiding AI use. We also explicitly take time to reflect on participants’ own teaching practice: how is AI already being used there, and how can it be integrated in a responsible way so that students’ learning is genuinely strengthened rather than replaced?

Intended Learning Outcome

After this workshop you will be able to

• explain how AI can both enhance and hinder learning through processes of deskilling, offloading, and cognitive scaffolding;
• recognise how student characteristics, task design, and the functions of AI tools influence learning outcomes when AI is introduced;
• understand the challenges of AI in education on the basis of relevant theoretical frameworks and recent empirical research;
• develop a sense of what is needed to integrate AI into education in ways that safeguard the development of essential academic skills.