Student Perceptions of Faculty AI Use and Teacher-Student Relationships
Role: Graduate Research Assistant | Timeline: Jan. 2026-Sept. 2026 | Advisor: Dr. Yasmine Kotturi
Overview
Student perceptions of instructor AI use are poorly understood, although such use is common and rarely disclosed. These perceptions matter because they shape how students relate to instructors. That said, I investigate how students perceive instructor AI use in a U.S. public university by conducting four workshops, 15 interviews, and a vignette survey (N=400) with students from diverse disciplines and levels.
Responsibilities
- Designed and led three workshop series collaborating with UMBC librarians
- Conducted qualitative thematic analysis on interviews audio transcriptions
- Developed IRB Protocol and managed compensations for participants
- Submitted the paper based on this study to CHI 2027
Research Questions
R1: How do students perceive instructor AI use?
R2: How do students’ perceptions of instructors’ AI use shapre teacher-student relationships?
R3: What can instructors and institutions do to support teacher-student relationships when instructors useAI?
Participants
30 workshop attendess, 15 interview participants, and 400 survey participants across diverse disciplines and levels at UMBC
Methods
- Four workshops with activity sheets
- Follow-up interviews
- Vignette survey
Findings
- Students judged instructor AI use by oversight, disclosure, and student AI Policy, not by instructional task
- Students see AI as a tool insturcotrs use in the work, not a separate entitiy that receive judgement from students detached from the instructor
- Instrocutr's AI disclosure, oversight, and student and instructors' AI policy alignment will maitain positive teacher-student relationships