Early Findings from Pilots in AI-Driven Education: Effects of AI-Generated Courses and Videos on Learning and Teaching

This paper presents the (preliminary) findings from three pilot activities conducted at TU Graz over the past 18 months, exploring the use of AI in generating (open) educational resources. The first pilot involved developing a MOOC titled “Societech: Society in the Context of Information Technologies”, which utilized various AI tools to create videos and learning materials, engaging over 500 participants. The second pilot focused on creating multilingual videos for the MOOC “Open Educational Resources in Higher Education”, using AI-generated avatars of course instructors, involving more than 800 participants. The third pilot was a field study conducted in an Austrian secondary school, where 20 students aged 12–15 could choose between videos featuring their teacher, an AI-generated human avatar, or a cartoon character. Preliminary results indicate a clear preference for teacher-led videos, highlighting the significant role of the teacher in the learning process. While AI tools facilitated qucker and more cost-effective production of educational resources, challenges such as the need for quality assurance and handling of (now possible) automatic translations were noted.