Teachers’ Perception of AI and Their Attitudes Towards AI

Mario Konecki

, Tanja Baksa

and Mladen Konecki

Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University Zagreb, Pavlinska 2, Varaždin, Croatia

Media and Communication Department, University North, Trg Žarka Dolinara 1, Koprivnica, Croatia

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, High School Teachers, Attitudes and Perception of AI, AI in Education.

Abstract: Even though artificial intelligence has been around for a while, ChatGPT is largely the reason why more

educators are now discussing it. A lot of educators are worried about artificial intelligence in schools. While

some educators believe it ought to be outlawed and prohibited from use, others find advantages. The research

presented in this paper aims to comprehend the attitudes and perception of high school educators regarding

artificial intelligence (AI), its applications in everyday life and the classroom, and the possible effects AI may

have on educator careers and the educational system. Research results show that teachers learn about AI

mostly on their own, and that their attitudes towards AI is generally positive, which suggests that additional

efforts put into organized teacher training would be beneficial.

1 INTRODUCTION

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a part of

everyday life. Today AI has many applications in

several fields, such as health care, education, speech

recognition, image processing, natural language

processing, smart robotics, autonomous cars, energy

systems, and many more (Jiang et al., 2022). Since

1956, when the term was coined by McCarthy,

development of AI had its ups and downs

(Negnevitsky, 2005). Today a renaissance of AI

development can be identified and observed.

AI in education or AIEDU is nothing new. Woolf

discussed since 1991 about AI in education, and

almost 30 years later many AI systems are used in

education in the form of tutoring systems, adaptive e-

learning, chatbots, assessments, visualization and

virtual learning environments etc. (Schmid et al.,

2021; Holmes et al., 2019; Zhang & Aslan, 2021;

Chen et al., 2020). The COVID 19 pandemic forced

educators and students to learn via computers and

Internet, thus many ICT tools were used to continue

with the teaching and learning process (Baksa & Luić,

2020).

But beside ICT tools, there are also many AI tools

that are used in teaching and learning process

(Holmes et al., 2019). However, there are also many

obstacles that impact the adoption of AI systems like

expenses and scalability (adaptability), ethics and

privacy, lack of awareness of AI among educators,

and a lack of useful advice for educators (Zhang &

Aslan, 2021). As for the use of AI systems in

education, Goksel and Bozkurt's (2019) review of the

literature on AI and education today and in the future

indicates that most research has been done on

adaptive learning, personalization and learning styles,

expert and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), and AI

as future components of educational processes.

Humble and Mozelius (2022) discuss the

advantages and disadvantages of artificial

intelligence in the classroom. They arrive to the

conclusion that while AI can help teachers and

students with language acquisition and STEM

education, it is limited by poor tutoring systems and

biased development.

Many concerns arise while discussing AI in

education, like the role of the teacher, how to

determine which AI system is effective and which

isn't, how to safeguard the data of instructors and

students, etc. Following the launch of ChatGPT 3.5 in

November 2022, a few of these questions resurfaced.

For this reason, a large number of researchers and

educators have experimented with ChatGPT's

applications and studied the benefits and drawbacks

of employing it in the classroom (Tan, 2023). As

students are already utilizing this new technology to

write essays and other academic assignments,

teachers should learn how to integrate it into teaching

and learning, according to Xin's evaluation of the

literature. In the long run, this might improve

564

Konecki, M., Baksa, T. and Konecki, M.

Teachers’ Perception of AI and Their Attitudes Towards AI.

DOI: 10.5220/0012739300003693

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2024) - Volume 1, pages 564-568

ISBN: 978-989-758-697-2; ISSN: 2184-5026

educational quality. But on the other hand, teachers

should also talk with students about the shortcomings

of this kind of programs (Xin, 2023).

1.1 Teachers’ Attitudes Toward AI

Many students are already using different AI tools,

and in comparison to older individuals, younger

people are more accepting of AI (Zhang & Dafoe,

2019; Shepman & Rodway, 2022). It is therefore the

teachers' responsibility to employ AI tools or at the

very least to be aware of their existence and

capabilities in order to keep up with the students.

Thus, teachers’ attitudes toward AI are very

important when talking about implementation of it in

the teaching and learning process, and education in

general. There aren’t many studies on the topic. In the

so far conducted studies among teachers or pre-

teachers, there are optimistic prediction, but also

concerns regarding AIEDU.

Kim et al. (2019) for instance, stated that Korean

educators thought AI could revolutionize both society

and education. The majority of educators would be

open to implementing an AI-based platform for

instruction, which may result in personalized lessons

for each student, less work for educators in terms of

administration, support for kids who are having

difficulties, and better communication with parents.

Nazaretsky et al. (2021) stated that confirmation

bias is present in teachers' attitudes regarding AI-

based technology as seen by their reluctance to accept

recommendations from the technology when they

conflict with what they already know about their

students. When it comes to evaluation, teachers

demand AI to be 100% accurate when grading open-

ended questions. Personalized instruction is

something that teachers feel AI-based technologies

can help with, but they are unsure of their capacity to

use these tools effectively because they will need to

make significant adjustments to their current teaching

methods (Nazaretsky et al. 2021). Many educators

think that integrating AI will significantly change

both society and education.

Artificial intelligence (AI) education has to

permeate both teaching and learning in order to

increase students' preparedness for future roles in

society. Additionally, a lot of educators are amenable

to using AI-powered teaching and learning platforms

because they see the potential benefits, which include

improved parent-teacher communication, more

tailored education, less administrative work, and

support for children in need (Lee et al., 2024).

2 METHODOLOGY

The aim of the research presented in this paper is to

get an insight how high school teachers feel about

artificial intelligence and its implementation. A

questionnaire from this study as well as some

questions based on relevant research on knowledge

and attitudes toward AI (KAAI) (Kim & Lee, 2020),

studies by Došenović et al. (2022), and Chao et al.

(2020), were used in the research, which was carried

out using a quantitative method that includes the

original metrics for measuring teachers’ attitudes

toward AI in education, Teachers' Attitudes Toward

AI in Education scale (TATAIE) according to

Fatalaki et al. (2024). The teachers were informed

that their participation is voluntary and anonymous.

In accordance with the aims of the research, the

following research questions were specified:

1. How do high school teachers feel about AI

and its use in general?

2. How do high school teachers feel about AI

and its use in education?

3. What concerns high school teachers have

when it comes to AI?

According to the research questions following

hypothesis were formed:

H1: High school teachers are generally positive

about AI development.

H2: High school teachers that use ICT and AI

tools in everyday life are more open to implement AI

tools into their teaching methods.

H3: Most high school teachers believe that

teachers cannot be replaced by AI.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Demographics

The research sample consisted of 95 high school

instructors (N = 85 female and N = 10 male) who

instruct students in grades 9 through 12 at high

schools, grammar schools, and vocational schools.

Thirty of them work in grammar and vocational

schools, while forty of them work in vocation

schools. Two in art school and eighteen in grammar

school. The duration of the teachers' job experience

varies as well, five years old or younger to thirty-five

years old or older. Just one person works more than

35 years while still attending school; the majority of

Teachers’ Perception of AI and Their Attitudes Towards AI

565

participants (73,68%) work between the 11 and 35

years (Table 1).

Table 1: Demographics.

Frequenc

Percent

Gende

Male 10 10.53

Female 85 89.47

Work ex

erience

(

ears

)

0-5 7 7.367

6-10 17 17.89

11-20 32 33.68

21-35 38 40.00

>35 1 1.05

Work place

Grammar school 18 18.95

Vocational school 45 47.37

Combined vocational

and grammar school

30 31.58

Art school 2 2.11

3.2 Knowledge and Source of

Information About AI

Presented research aimed to determine the teachers’

level of familiarity with AI technologies and tools, as

well as where they obtain knowledge on the subject.

The teachers should self-estimate how good they are

in knowing the AI technologies and tools. When it

comes to the source of information about AI, teachers

could select the top three sources from which they

learn the most about AI. They could choose between

teacher training, textbooks, Internet (various portals

and websites), social networks (Facebook, Instagram,

TikTok), YouTube, television, radio, printed

newspapers, literature review, family members, work

colleagues or something else.

The most named sources are different websites

and portals on the Internet (80%), social networks like

Facebook, Instagram or TikTok (53%), and the third

one is teacher training (35,8%). Work colleagues are

on the fourth place with 27,4%, followed by YouTube

with 20%. The least information about AI teacher get

from radio (6,3%), papers (3,2%) and textbooks

(3,2%). 14,7% of teachers get the most information

about AI on television, 13,7% from literature review,

and 12,6% from their family members. Two

educators also mentioned their students as a source of

information about AI.

Although the teachers don't know much about

various AI technologies and tools (1.253), they

believe they know enough about AI in general (mean

3.126), as can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2: Self-estimated AI knowledge and familiarity with

AI tools.

Self-estimated

AI knowled

Familiar with

man

AI tools

Mean 3.126 1.253

Std. dev. 1.170 0.757

Minimu

1.000 1.000

Maximu

5.000 5.000

3.3 Attitudes Towards AI

In items regarding attitudes toward AI, teachers could

choose between Strongly disagree, Disagree,

Undecided, Agree, and Fully agree. Teachers know

what artificial intelligence (AI) can and cannot do. In

general, they have more moderate and positive views

about AI than negative ones. While many educators

think AI might benefit people in their daily lives, they

are also worried that AI can rule the world and cause

job losses (Table 3). Given that the median value is

primarily positive and moderate, it can be said that

teachers have a positive view of AI, supporting H1.

Table 3: Teachers’ perception and attitudes regarding AI.

AI can / does

Median Mean Std. dev.

recognize speech 4.000 4.158 0.971

react to a person 4.000 3.758 1.028

recognize a person's

face

5.000 4.442 0.859

look like a human 2.000 2.221 1.204

move like a human 2.000 1.958 1.091

speak like a human 3.000 2.958 1.157

will rule the worl

2.000 2.337 1.217

can solve

roblems 3.000 3.284 0.907

monitor and control

3.000 2.916 1.117

store bi

data 5.000 4.516 0.742

make the quality of

life bette

3.000 3.400 0.994

help people in

everyday life

4.000 3.695 0.935

I am curious about AI

develo

ment

4.000 3.747 1.157

AI makes people

stupi

3.000 3.253 1.304

I trust full

in AI 2.000 2.368 0.957

AI is smarter than

humans

2.000 2.221 1.002

not make mistakes 1.000 1.632 0.876

is unreliable 3.000 2.937 0.848

affects the loss of

obs 3.000 3.200 1.234

AI-development –

ood or bad

3.000 3.442 0.695

–

dan

er, or benefit 3.000 2.484 1.061

CSEDU 2024 - 16th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

566

3.4 Teachers’ Attitudes Towards AI in

Education

Teachers have also positive attitudes toward AI in

education. They see AI as a good helping tool for

learning, but also for teacher preparing for the class,

and choosing teaching methods. On the other hand,

teachers are more moderate when it comes to

readiness to implement and use AI tools in teaching,

and that it brings benefits to education. Teachers also

think AI cannot replace them, and they also think AI

should not be banned from school. When it comes to

legal regulations, they are also moderate about it

(Table 4). Research results show that teacher are

curious about AI development and are positive

towards AI in education. Teachers that use AI in

everyday life are also more open to use AI tools in

teaching. Thus, H2 is confirmed.

Finally, most teachers don’t believe they could be

replaced by AI. Thus, H3 is confirmed.

Table 4: Teachers’ attitudes toward AI in education.

Median Mean Std. dev.

can replace teachers in

schools

1.000 1.411 0.805

is good as a learning

aid, not substitute for

teachers

5.000 4.632 0.730

helps me already in

teachin

3.000 3.200 1.145

can make class

reparation easie

4.000 3.674 0.972

will change the teaching

methods

4.000 3.642 0.922

can help in choosing

teachin

methods

4.000 3.684 0.937

should be banned from

schools and education

2.000 1.979 1.082

education without AI is

no longer imaginable

3.000 3.189 1.223

brings only benefits to

education

3.000 2.653 0.987

we are already late in

using AI in teaching and

education.

3.000 3.000 1.280

should be an integral

part of the educational

rocess.

3.000 3.137 1.182

readiness for AI

implementation in

teachin

3.000 2.926 0.866

should be regulated by

law

3.000

2.674

0.515

4 CONCLUSIONS

Previous studies have demonstrated that educators are

worried about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it

may affect their work (Nazaretsky et al., 2021,

Shepman & Rodway, 2022). According to the

research results, educators are aware of the benefits

and drawbacks of artificial intelligence (AI) in

general as well as of its application possibilities in the

teaching and learning process. Research results show

that the teacher informing about the AI in most cases

comes from their own online activities. This kind of

results suggest that teachers would benefit from

additional curriculums that would enable them to

learn more about the AI, and that more aiding tools

that can help teachers to use AI easier would be

beneficial.

Research results show that teachers have

generally positive attitudes toward artificial

intelligence, and this does highlight the need for more

investment in teacher education and their

understanding of AI tools so that they can inform their

students about the advantages and disadvantages of

using AI.

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