Abstract

This article is part of an ongoing cycle of research projects theorizing and testing out various options for digital-human collaboration in higher education, noting which processes should be carried out by humans or artificial intelligence (AI). While research shows that AI can amplify and expand educational data processing exponentially, it must be emphasized that AI-tools have cognitive empathy only. This means that they can use induction to ascertain what learners are thinking (from textual and timing cues) but not what they actually need at any given moment. While near-instantaneous responses to learner queries are possible using AI, it must be noted that human procedures follow certain sequences and that learners do not need (or want) to be constantly monitored and bombarded with “help” at all levels of the spectrum simultaneously. In order to demonstrate how human and AI aptitudes can best be combined in digital-human collaboration in teaching and learning, this article uses a model of human/AI interaction to analyze two projects involving higher degree course evaluation. The projects involve both agentic AI and AI agents, and the theoretical framework used shows how human functioning is augmented by AI tools.