The present contribution is an extended abstract of the chapter with the same title, signed by Dr. Andreea Mitan in the book edited by Alexandra Zbuchea, Florina Pinzaru, and Cristian Vidu – Changing the Game. AI and Education.
AI is a game changer. Since ChatGPT, one of the more famous Generative AI tools, became available to the general public in late 2022, an increasing number of scientific articles concerning the use of Generative AI in education has been published. The easy access to some AI tools, be it for educational, work, or entertainment purposes, made the global audience aware that the 4 th Industrial Revolution is about to take momentum and that the new technologies it will bring to the fore will impact all of us on the more profound level. Both positive and negative implications of AI development and widespread use have been pointed out by the authors who approached the topic, and a focus on the importance of maintaining a human-centric perspective concerning it and identifying and managing associated risks is noted.
Not long before the COVID-19 pandemic, in May 2019, more than 100 countries sent their representatives to China to discuss, under the auspices of UNESCO, the future of AI technologies and their expected multifold influences on human society and development. More recently, in November 2023, representatives of over 25 countries and the European Union gathered in the United Kingdom for the AI Safety Summit to discuss the right of every country on Earth to develop and implement AI technologies and the risks that the use of AI might imply, with possible consequences on a global scale.
Much can be said regarding the fair uses, the benefits, and the potential misconduct involving AI tools in education. The literature abounds with articles praising the usefulness of AI tools for educators and students. In a nutshell, professors’ workloads are expected to decrease due to the availability of tools that would do repetitive tasks such as grading, and more avenues of tailoring and improving the course materials are awaited. By using AI tools, schools would allow students access to more tailored and fun learning experiences, thus increasing performance. Among the main fears associated with AI, we cite that some professors fear that their role would be diminished in a new educational paradigm, including the use of (too many or too powerful) AI tools, and also the fear that Generative AI would lead students to cheat on their essays and homework and to avoid learning overall. Acknowledging the current state of the art regarding the literature on the employment of AI in education, this chapter argues that before engaging in a conversation concerning the use of AI in Romanian tertiary education and its impact on student learning experience, one needs to apprehend that the Romanian educational system encounters several challenges that prevent it from maximizing the benefits of embracing a fast-forward movement towards embracing AI tools. The last part of this chapter proposes a human-centric take on improving the current student experience in Romania and urges Scholars to work together as public counselors to smooth the transition to a new version of the education system that would reap the benefits of using AI.
The full chapter can be downloaded here.
About the author
Andreea Mitan is an Associate Professor at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), in Bucharest, Romania, and the CEO of the Norwegian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce. Andreea holds a PhD in Management (2022) and a PhD in Communication Studies (2014). She joined SNSPA in 2012 and has since served as professor of management and of business communication, and director of multiple master’s programs, as academic conferences organizer, as educational marketing specialist, and as specialist in quality assurance in higher education. She is affiliated to IAKM, BSLab, and EBES. She is a reviewer for Emerald, Inderscience, and MDPI journals. She published 2 books as single author, 5 books as co-author, and over 35 articles and book chapters. Her most recent book „Managerial Relationships and SMEs Internationalization. Un-weaving the Fabric of Business Performance”, co-authored by Elena-Mădălina Vătămănescu, was published by Routledge in September 2023.
