Effect of digital technology and leadership competencies on students’ engagement at higher education institutions

Abstract

In innovative pedagogies supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, higher education is experiencing a revolution that reprograms the learning, engagement and contributions of students to social change. With the goal of enhancing learning effectiveness and fostering student-centred learning, various AI-tainted technologies have found their application in modern educational methods, such as intelligent tutoring systems, adaptive learning systems, and automated feedback systems. The study's objective is to measure the effect of teacher’s leadership quality, their AI literacy and use of AI in teaching on their students’ engagement in learning. A quantitative survey research design was employed in analysing the data obtained from the university teachers through a questionnaire. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select the respondent faculty members of the study. Data was collected from 250 teaching faculty member’s teachers belonging to faculty of social sciences in three public universities of Punjab province. The results showed that AI Literacy, teacher leadership and Use of AI in teaching significantly predict the students’ engagement (F =56.51, p<.001). Therefore, the study suggests that in order to successfully integrate AI in higher education, it is necessary to train the teachers for integrating AI in pedagogy to enhance students’ engagement. Further, Universities need to increase institutional support, continuous faculty development, and AI supported infrastructure, which encourage and promote the use of AI technologies in an effective and ethical manner.