Understanding what good education is: a phenomenographic investigation of university teachers’ understandings of AI

Understanding what counts as good education in technological iterations is critical. Adopting a phenomenographic perspective, this study critically investigates how AI is understood and framed by higher education teachers. Based on interviews with 16 teachers in Danish higher education, teachers’ conceptions of AI in higher education teaching processes and student learning processes are identified along with their approaches to designing AI into student learning experiences. The empirical study identifies three qualitatively different ways of understanding the relationship between teaching and AI and three qualitatively different ways of understanding the relationship between learning and AI. Further, four qualitatively different approaches to designing for student learning experiences around AI are mapped. The identified outcome spaces highlight the plurality and messiness that undergird educational practice. The study also points to the need to pay attention to agency and teachers’ labour.