Exploring the Impact of AI on Teaching in Higher Education: an Exploratory Study

AI has gained its momentum and has entered higher education learning. This paper focuses on the students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia (FHSS), and their views and opinions about AI in their learning process. The research study used an online 18-question questionnaire administered to students from end of December 2023 to mid-January 2024. The findings indicate occasional use of AI supported tools in searching sources of information on the internet and possible improvement of that search. The same tools have potential to improve library services at the FHSS. The AI supported tools are used mostly for text creation and for self-tracking progress in learning. The students don’t expect AI supported tools to give grades and make the final assessment of their learning progress. They don’t believe AI supported tools will be a replacement for teachers and communication with them, however, they believe that AI will influence the labor market and that learning can be improved by AI to a certain extent. More than half of the students haven’t received any education yet about AI. The students at the FHSS are getting acquainted with AI abilities, but they still need additional education about AI.