Differentiate T2I pedagogy by student profile and adopt a stage-sensitive approach to AI literacy and assessment in studio courses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Based on the finding that students with different competence levels and risk perceptions engage with T2I tools differently across task stages, the article recommends that instructors "identify different student profiles within specific courses and adoptdifferentiatedteachingstrategieswithdistinctdevelopmental goals". It further recommends institutions redefine AI literacy in design domains with a stage-sensitive approach to capability development and evaluation, rather than treating AI use as a monolithic category with uniform training or undifferentiated assessment.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Instructors need to recognize distinct student profiles (e.g., less-experienced dependents, execution-stage retreaters, risk-sensitive restrainers) within their courses

Constraints¶

• The article frames these as practical implications from a context-sensitive study in one national context; it does not report a test of the differentiated strategies themselves

Target Learners¶

• Art and design students in higher education studio courses

Target Learning Goals¶

• Balanced integration of T2I GenAI into creative workflows, preserving authorship, originality, and foundational disciplinary skills

Affordances¶

• Extended Utaut Creative Competence T2I

Claims¶

• Students exhibit an inverted competence profile, endorsing creation-level GenAI tasks above several foundational items that would normally precede them [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Differentiated, profile-matched university AI-readiness and career-education support instead of uniform AI-literacy programs

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Liu Y, Meng M and Zhang Y (2026) The competence paradox: negotiating ease, risk, and creative identity in text-to-image generative AI use among art and design students. Front. Psychol. 17:1858187. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1858187