This summer, I had the chance to intern on a project that explored how generative AI is changing education. The focus was on how AI can help students be more creative, motivated, and confident in expressing their unique identities. The project, “Empowering Learners: Identity, Creativity, and Motivation in the Age of Generative AI,” opened my eyes to how technology can improve learning in exciting new ways.
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E allow students to create content, not just learn from it. During my internship, I worked with my intern manager and other interns to explore how students use AI within education. AI can help students find new ways to express themselves, discover their passions, and push the limits of their creativity.
One key lesson I learned was about motivation. When students feel like they can be themselves, when their backgrounds, interests, and voices are valued, they are more likely to stay engaged. Generative AI can help create that kind of environment by offering personalized learning experiences. For example, AI can suggest topics that match a student’s interests or guide them in exploring ideas they might not have considered on their own. However, the internship also highlighted some important challenges. We had to consider issues like access to technology, fairness in AI tools, and how to teach students to think critically about the content AI produces. We discussed questions like: Who should use AI, and how can we make sure it’s being used responsibly?
As part of my internship, I helped design a survey that used AI in a way that encouraged creativity and student choice. Seeing how students could use AI to express their own ideas was very eye-opening.
This internship taught me that AI in education isn’t just about using new tools, it’s about making learning more inclusive, creative, and personalised.