Rivista di Digital Politics

B. Mairéad Pratschke (Author) Valentina Reda (interviewed by)

From consumers to designers: strategic pathways for European higher education in the AI age

KEYWORDS: Generative AI, Pedagogical Agency, European Digital Sovereignty, Human-AI Collaboration, Educator Designer

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/119399

Alessandra Petrucci, Maria Ranieri

L’Intelligenza artificiale nell’educazione: utopie, distopie, rischi e speranze

The article examines the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, with a particular focus on the spread of generative AI in higher education and its implications for teaching practices, assessment, and the teaching profession. To move beyond overly simplistic views – either enthusiastic or alarmist – the phenomenon is interpreted through four perspectives: utopias, dystopias, risks, and hopes. Utopian narratives highlight promises such as personalized learning, support for teachers’ work, and broader access to education. Dystopian views, in contrast, point to potential negative effects, including cognitive dependence, weakened critical thinking, reduced professional autonomy for teachers, and concerns regarding surveillance and privacy. The article also discusses emerging challenges, such as the passive use of AI tools and the risk that disparities in resources and skills may lead to less equitable and uneven innovation. In conclusion, it proposes a path toward a more responsible integration of AI, grounded in AI literacy, ethical accountability, and pedagogical choices oriented to the common good.

KEYWORDS: AI in Education, Generative AI, Personalized Learning, Educational Equity, AI Literacy

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/119802

Thomas Staubitz, Christoph Meinel, Mike Friedrichsen

From open courses to accredited degrees. A journey in digital education

The German University of digital science (Uds) is a new private, non-profit, and fully online startup university. Officially approved by the German State of Brandenburg, it has offered six accredited master’s and Mba programs since April 2025. Its current form is the result of the merger of the two founders’ visions for digitalizing education. The article highlights the development of the German Uds, focusing on the journey from the launch of the successful openHpi Mooc platform in 2012 via the merger process to the current state of the German Uds more than a decade later. The decision to focus on the history of only one of the two pillars of the German Uds is not intended to diminish the importance of the other pillar’s development and influence; it is simply a different narrative to be told elsewhere. As active participants in this process, the authors offer an insider’s perspective rather than an objective scientific analysis. The development of openHpi began as a small research project with a few doctoral candidates and student assistants. It eventually expanded to a team of nearly thirty individuals with various roles in the development and management of the platform and its associated projects. However, during the transition from the Mooc platform to the online university, only a small fraction of this team moved to the newly formed organization, and the technological foundation was largely abandoned. Despite this, the Mooc platform served as a valuable tool for fostering online education research in a real-life, non-laboratory setting, providing researchers with direct access to a large user base. Consequently, although only minor parts of the openHPI team and software transitioned to the German Uds, the institution continues to build on this rich legacy and experience and it benefits from the connections that have been established to the relevant international research communities.

KEYWORDS: Mooc, Digital Education, Digitalization, Startup University, Micro-Degrees

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/119803

Yanyao Deng Antonio Martinez-Arboleda Noorhan Abbas Karen Lizette Matias López Antonis Mouhtaropoulos Sandra Abegglen Esperanza Román Mendoza Helen Titilola Olojede Francisco José García-Peñalvo Rich de Blacquiere-Clarkson Felix Kayode Olakulehin

The political economy impact of Generative AI on higher education

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping knowledge production and education within Higher Education (HE). This study investigates how GenAI adoption in teaching and learning affects power dynamics between educators, students, and service providers. Grounded in platform capitalism and data colonialism, the research analyses 70 survey responses through descriptive statistics and thematic/comparative coding. The results identify three primary developments: (1) educator expertise is displaced by algorithmic mediation; (2) student learning is commodified as training data; (3) contractual and infrastructural dependencies bind universities to GenAI providers. These dynamics accelerate neoliberal marketisation and data rentiership, reinforcing systemic inequalities across stratified HE systems. The findings provide a framework for digital governance and offer specific recommendations, based on concrete political economy arguments, for communities, universities, and public interest actors seeking to navigate these technological shifts.