University of Hong Kong
Title: Using generative AI to engage students: Boon or bane?
Abstract: The rapid spread of generative AI (GenAI) tools has opened up exciting new possibilities for educators and students worldwide. However, as noted by the editors of the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), the rush to embrace these technologies has also led to a surge in speculative work, often resembling opinion pieces rather than rigorous research. This raises critical questions about the role of GenAI in education: Is it a boon or a bane for student engagement? In this presentation, I will first discuss the notion of student engagement. Next, I shall critically examine the use of GenAI in engaging students to provide a balanced perspective. Based on my own empirical studies, I will explore how GenAI can be effectively harnessed to support student self-regulation, a crucial skill in online learning environments where students have greater autonomy over when, how, and where they learn. Specifically, I will discuss how GenAI tools can aid students in goal-setting, planning, monitoring, and evaluating their learning activities. At the same time, I will address the potential pitfalls of over-reliance on GenAI, particularly the risk of metacognitive laziness—a phenomenon where students may disengage from critical thinking and self-reflection by deferring too much to AI-generated outputs. By examining both the opportunities and pitfalls, I hope to spark meaningful discussion and collaborative exploration among educators about how these technologies can be thoughtfully and effectively employed to enhance teaching and learning, while mitigating their risks.
Timothy Hew is a Full Professor of Education at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and PhD from the USA. He worked as a software engineer at Sony, and an Assistant Professor in NTU before joining HKU in Jan 2014. Over the last 10 years, his research focuses mainly on optimizing student engagement in online activities through game elements, self-regulation and conversational agents. Throughout his career, Professor Hew has received more than 50 types of recognitions and awards. Notably, he was honored with the HKU Faculty of Education Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award in 2020. Since 2015, Professor Hew has been recognized as a World Top 1% scholar in his field by Essential Science Indicators (http://hub.hku.hk/local/top1pc/top1pc.jsp).