Most younger educators are AI advocates and more likely to use AI chatbots in teaching, according to AI in Education, a D2L survey of U.S. educators, administrators, and public respondents detailed in eSchool News.
Most educators see AI’s classroom potential while emphasizing the need for clear AI policies and guidelines, including direction for classroom use. Other must-haves: maintaining a human connection, thoughtful integration, ongoing training, and policies balancing innovation with academic integrity.
Some specific survey findings:
- Eighty-eight percent of Gen Z educators – born mid-1990s to early 2010s — used AI in the 2024–25 academic year at twice the rate of Gen X (48 percent) and four times that of Baby Boomers (19 percent). Gen Xers were born early 1960s – early 1980s. Baby boomers were born 1946-1964.
- Sixty-three percent of Gen Z and Millennial educators believe AI will be “important or essential” to teaching by 2030, compared to less than half (48 percent) of Gen X and Boomer-aged educators.
- Thirty-eight percent of Gen Z educators cite cheating as the top reason students use AI. Only about one in four (26 percent) of Gen Z educators think students use AI to save time on schoolwork.
- Educators are 3 times more likely to say AI has enhanced, rather than worsened, classroom engagement when asked how AI has impacted learning in the classroom environment.
- Educators cited “loss of human connection” as their top concern as AI use increases, followed by student over-reliance on AI tools. Only 9 percent said they have no concerns about AI in education.
- Slightly less than half of educators surveyed (44 percent) said AI made learning more efficient, but not necessarily more engaging or personalized.
- Nearly two-thirds of educators (65 percent) believe teachers, professors and school administrators should make primary decisions on AI adoption, compared to 13 percent who favor state or federal government control.
- ChatGPT (OpenAI) ranks as the AI tool most used by educators, followed by Gemini (Google) and Copilot (Microsoft). Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of educators said they worry that using the AI tools could be interpreted as taking shortcuts.
AI is becoming the norm in learning environments. Most educators (54 percent) already say they used AI tools in the 2024-2025 academic year and that number will grow slightly (to 56 percent) in the 2025-2026 academic year. The three most-cited AI growth areas: supporting students with accessibility needs, detecting plagiarism and developing lesson plans.
eSchool News
