Between Opportunity and Uncertainty: Teacher Education Students’ Perspectives on AI in Education
Poster
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping teaching and learning in higher education, creating both opportunities and uncertainties for future educators. As AI tools become more integrated into academic work, teacher education students are navigating complex questions surrounding learning, creativity, academic integrity, classroom interaction, and the future role of teachers in technology-mediated learning environments. Understanding how future educators perceive these changes is important for informing teacher preparation programs and responsible AI integration in education. Guided by the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework, this study explores teacher education students’ perspectives on the use of AI in education within the context of higher education in Ghana. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teacher education students at University of Ghana. The study examined participants’ experiences, perceived benefits, concerns, and recommendations regarding AI tools in teaching and learning. Findings suggest that participants viewed AI as both a supportive learning resource and a source of uncertainty. Students identified opportunities such as improved access to information, personalized learning support, enhanced lesson preparation, and increased efficiency in academic tasks. At the same time, concerns emerged regarding overreliance on AI, reduced critical thinking, misinformation, academic dishonesty, and the potential erosion of human interaction in classroom teaching. Participants also expressed uncertainty about how future teachers should responsibly integrate AI into instructional practice. Beyond identifying challenges, participants proposed several approaches for the responsible integration of AI in education. These included introducing AI literacy training within teacher education programs, developing institutional guidelines for ethical AI use, designing assessment strategies that encourage critical thinking, and positioning AI as a supportive instructional tool rather than a replacement for human teaching and interaction. Participants further emphasized the importance of balancing technological innovation with meaningful teacher-student engagement in future classrooms. The study contributes to ongoing discussions about teaching and learning in the age of AI by foregrounding the perspectives of future educators within an African higher education context.
Presenters
Stephen Ameko
Graduate Student
Stephen Kwame Ameko is a PhD student and graduate research assistant in the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences at Utah State University. His research looks at how educational policies, educational technology, digital learning environments, and student engagement all connect, especially focusing on digital distraction, multi-device learning behaviours, and technology-mediated learning experiences in higher education. His work examines how instructional design and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, influence attention, independent learning, and classroom engagement. Stephen’s broader academic interests include instructional design, learning sciences, educational technology, and the development of distraction-aware learning environments that support meaningful and sustained student learning.
Deborah Agbemakor
Graduate Student
Deborah Agbemakor is a PhD student in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Utah State University and a graduate instructor with experience teaching ENGL 1010. Her teaching and research interests sit at the intersection of technical communication, accessibility, workplace communication, and student engagement. Drawing from both academic and professional experience in human resource management and communication, her work explores how people learn, collaborate, participate, and communicate across educational and professional spaces.
Her research pays particular attention to peer review practices, structured talk in writing classrooms, accessibility and disability rhetorics, professional editing, and inclusive engagement practices within organisations and creative workplaces. Deborah is especially interested in how communication practices shape belonging, confidence, participation, and meaningful learning experiences for diverse groups of people.
Beyond the classroom, she is passionate about creating supportive and people-centred learning and workplace environments that value collaboration, accessibility, rhetorical awareness, and human connection.