Generative AI as a didactic-pedagogical mediator: rethinking human roles and pedagogical design in higher education

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is significantly impacting higher education by offering new pedagogical capabilities like generating explanations, feedback, and learning resources. While it presents opportunities as a complementary tool, institutions also perceive it as a threat to academic integrity, leading to reactive measures like prohibition. Current AI frameworks in education are primarily functional, overlooking how GenAI fundamentally reshapes pedagogical agency, responsibility, and knowledge work.

Why it matters

The rapid integration and dual perception of Generative AI in higher education necessitate a proactive and strategic approach to understanding its systemic impact. Institutions must move beyond reactive measures to develop comprehensive strategies that leverage GenAI's benefits while mitigating risks, ensuring long-term pedagogical integrity and effectiveness.

Key insights

• GenAI is rapidly transforming pedagogical practices in higher education through capabilities such as generating explanations, feedback, simulations, and learning resources.
• Higher education institutions frequently view GenAI as a complementary tool.
• There is a concurrent framing of GenAI as a threat to academic integrity, prompting reactive responses such as prohibition, surveillance, and detection.
• Existing AI frameworks in education largely focus on functional roles (e.g., tutoring, assessment, governance, learner literacy).
• A theoretical gap exists regarding how GenAI redefines pedagogical agency, responsibility, and knowledge work, which current framings do not adequately address.

Source

Frontiers in Education — https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1856839