arXiv · 2607.05557
AIED's Unfinished Mission: Centering Agency and Motivation in the Age of Effortless Bypass
Abstract
The widespread availability of general-purpose AI that can perform complex cognitive tasks threatens to undermine education at scale. This effortless bypass dilemma sharpens a challenge AIED has long engaged with but must now confront directly: ensuring learners choose effortful engagement when easier alternatives are available to complete learning tasks. In this paper, I argue that AIED's longstanding agenda of building more effective intelligent educational tools should continue, but with a renewed emphasis on the urgency of ensuring learners choose to engage authentically. Drawing on established motivational and learning theories, I outline five directions in which AIED can build on its existing strengths: supporting autonomy and agency, building learner resilience to metacognitive threats, designing for interest and relevance, amplifying process-based assessment, and empowering teachers. I then share four envisioned technologies that embody key features of this future and conclude by outlining how AIED must now evolve.
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H. Chad Lane. 2026-07-06. AIED's Unfinished Mission: Centering Agency and Motivation in the Age of Effortless Bypass. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-29791-4_38
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