Efficiency, Specificity, and Ease

Abstract

Education has aims beyond knowledge transfer, such as developing critical thinking skills and socialization, or as philosophers of education and virtue epistemologists argue, the cultivation of intellectual virtues. There is, however, limited research on the influence of generative AI (GenAI) on the cultivation of intellectual virtues in education, and the research that exists remains largely theoretical. Based on interviews with high school students, this article shows that the perceived benefits of GenAI—efficiency, specificity, and ease—can disrupt moments and experiences crucial for practicing intellectual virtues. Students use GenAI to offload or avoid epistemic tasks, such as reading contextual information, and experiences, such as facing uncertainty and being stuck. This article provides novel insight into the influence of GenAI on intellectual virtues by emphasizing the mediating influence of technologies and focusing on the experiences and (self-)reflections of students. By doing so, it becomes apparent that the perception of students toward certain moments and experiences relevant for the cultivation of intellectual virtues is changing and is increasingly evaluated in terms of efficiency and ease.