Navigating AI in Education—Towards a System Approach for Design of Educational Changes

As artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence (AI) (AI) continues to advance, recent developments of Generative AIGenerative AI (GenAI) (GenAI) have sparked great interest, posing questions for policymakers, technology innovators, educators, and EdTech researchers about possible paradigm changes for educationEducation. This chapter critically examines the development of Artificial Intelligence in Education, which promised to revolutionise educational practices by providing effective, personalised, learning at scale—first through rudimentary teaching machinesTeaching machine and subsequently via advanced adaptive learningAdaptive learning systems. We argue that Adaptive Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) reinforce the content delivery model and restrict pedagogic opportunities in teaching and learning when adapted to existing educational models. The chapter examines the relevance and value of existing theories of learning in the development of educational technologyEducational technology integration and a need for new theories when an AI agentAI agent becomes an active partner in teaching and learning process and discusses the complexity of educational innovation from interdisciplinary perspectives. Finally, we offer an analytical assessmentAssessment of the opportunities and limitations of GenAI in education using the cybernetic principle of varietyCybernetic principle of variety, and propose a framework to address organisational, pedagogical, and technological challenges for using GenAI to support new formal learning and pedagogical practices.