Evaluating teachers’ perceptions of artificial intelligence tools in education: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The active growth of the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology in education has presented both opportunities and challenges never before seen that require a systematic study. Although AI has been widely integrated in K-12 and academic institutions, there is scarce empirical data on how teachers perceive the implementation, thus, establishing a critical gap in the knowledge about the feasibility of the implementation and the technological revolution in education. The study is a mixed-methods study that examine the perceptions of K-12 and higher education teachers regarding AI tools on various dimensions, such as perceived usefulness, easy to use, pedagogical integration, ethical issues, and professional development requirements. Based on structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, this study creates and confirms a multidimensional AI Perception Framework taking into consideration constructions of Technology Acceptance Model including education-specific variables. An analysis of survey data shows that, although 73.8 of the teachers confirm that AI has the potential to transform the teaching process, only 45.2 of them actively use AI tools in education, which differ dramatically depending on the subject area, grade level, and given school resources. The statistical tool proves that behavioral intention is significantly predicted by perceived ease of use (β =0.426, p <0.001), but ethical concerns moderate this association (β = -0.283, p=0.001). The results present three main opportunities, including the improvement of administrative efficiency, the role of personalized learning, and the establishment of innovative assessments; and four fateful issues, such as a lack of personal growth, information privacy, a threat of algorithmic bias, and implementation equity discrimination.