The Effect of Generative AI Usage on Academic Engagement: A Mixed-Methods Case Study at a College of Education in Ghana

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the impact of the usage of generative AI on the academic engagement of students in a selected college of education in Ghana. The study seeks to explore and provide insights on the relationship between the use of generative AI in learning and students’ academic engagement. This approach was selected because it offers a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between generative AI use and students’ academic engagement. A sequential-explanatory mixed-method research design is applied in the study to provide in-depth enlightenment, discussion, investigation, and thorough understanding of the generative AI frequently used by students and how it affects their academic engagement. This approach was selected because it offers a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between generative AI use and students’ academic engagement. Ninety-eight (98) respondents served as participants for the quantitative phase of the study, and twelve (15) interviewees for the qualitative phase. The respondents were selected using convenience sampling, a non-probability sampling technique. The instrument for the quantitative data was a survey questionnaire to examine the type of generative AI mostly used by students and also assess the effect of generative AI on students’ academic engagement. The interview guide, on the other hand, was used to gather qualitative data to obtain rich data that could not be explored using only the quantitative data.