Rethinking Human Agency in AI-Mediated Education
Parole chiave:
Co-Agency, Architetture educative, Metacognizione distribuitaAbstract
This paper examines the structural implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) for contemporary educational systems, arguing for a shift from a tool-centred perspective to a relational paradigm grounded in co-agency. Rather than conceptualising AI as a neutral instrument, the study frames it as a cognitive co-agent that actively participates in the construction, negotiation, and regulation of knowledge. Drawing on literature on cognitive offloading, extended cognition, and shared metacognition, the analysis explores both the transformative potential and the risks of AI integration, including passive delegation, deskilling, and the weakening of higher-order cognitive processes. In response, the concept of educational architecture is advanced as a meta-design framework capable of intentionally structuring the distribution of agency across structural, epistemic, and ethical dimensions. Within this framework, teachers emerge as architects of inter-agency and co-agency, responsible for orchestrating hybrid learning environments that preserve cognitive sovereignty while fostering distributed metacognitive awareness. The paper ultimately advocates for the development of a critical AI curriculum aimed at sustaining human epistemic agency within increasingly AI-mediated educational ecologies.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alessandro Ciasullo, Flavia Santoianni, Alessio Manfredini
Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
