The Latest in AI: How AI is Shaping Student Support and a New Buzz Word in AI
In this week’s BAIC Center Newsletter:
Educator’s Corner – “Beyond Gamified Learning: How AI Is Reshaping Student Support”: Kristina discusses a study on how artificial intelligence can support students within digital game-based learning environments.
This Week in AI – “‘Agentic’: Silicon Valley’s new Buzzword on the Rise”: The word Agentic has become a new tech buzzword, especially in the AI industry. This highlights how Silicon Valley is transforming the language used to describe work and success.
Beyond Gamified Learning: How AI Is Reshaping Student Support
At some point, most of us have heard the same advice: “Make studying fun! Turn it into a game!”
This idea has shaped how many classrooms and learning tools are designed today. And in many cases, it works. When learning feels engaging, students are more likely to participate, stay focused, and persist through challenges. But as learning increasingly does feel like a game, a new question begins to emerge: what comes next?
A recent study published in the Journal of Educational Computing Research addresses this question by examining how artificial intelligence can support students within digital game-based learning environments. Digital game-based learning (DGBL) refers to the use of interactive, game-like environments to teach academic content. These systems combine structured learning goals with elements of play such as levels, challenges, and rewards, to make abstract concepts more engaging and accessible.
The Role of Scaffolding in Learning
As students move through game-based tasks, they can still experience confusion, uncertainty, or cognitive overload, especially when material is unfamiliar or complex. This is where support, such as scaffolding, becomes essential.
Scaffolding refers to the guidance provided to learners as they work through new or challenging material. In the context of DGBL, scaffolding can include hints, explanations, or feedback that help students progress until they can complete tasks independently.
In digital learning environments, scaffolding is often built into the system. Traditionally, this means pre-written hints or fixed feedback appear when students make mistakes. Because these supports are static, they cannot adjust to individual needs in real time. As a result, students may still feel stuck, even when help is available. Recognizing this limitation, researchers asked a key question: what if support could respond to students as they learn?
How Does AI Shape the Role of Support?
The study included 80 fifth-grade students, divided into two groups, who completed pre- and post-tests to assess learning outcomes. In the experimental condition, students engaged with a game-based learning environment enhanced by AI-based scaffolding, allowing them to receive real-time, tailored feedback through an interactive assistant. The control group used the same game but relied on traditional, pre-written support.
Key findings include:
Improved learning outcomes: Students who used AI-based scaffolding performed significantly better on post-test assessments than those in the control group. This suggests that timely, responsive feedback can make it easier to work through unfamiliar or complex material.
Reduced cognitive load: Students in the AI-supported group reported lower cognitive load, or less mental strain during learning. While the material did not necessarily become easier, it felt more manageable.
More active learning behaviors: Students with AI support were more likely to pause, revisit content, and actively seek clarification, reflecting a more self-directed approach to learning.
Greater use among struggling students: Students who experienced more difficulty used the AI assistant more frequently, suggesting that AI functioned as a support tool rather than a replacement for effort.
Rethinking What “Making Learning Fun” Means
Making learning feel like a game can increase motivation, but motivation alone does not guarantee understanding. Students still need support to process information, work through confusion, and build knowledge over time. For parents and educators, this reframes how we think about AI in learning environments.
Using AI as a Tool for Learning
Rather than treating AI as a shortcut or replacement for thinking, it can be more useful to view it as a tool for support and clarification.
Students can be encouraged to:
Attempt tasks independently
Use AI to ask follow-up questions
Reflect on how their understanding has changed
This reflection can be guided with questions such as:
What part of this makes more sense now?
Did the explanation change how you were thinking?
What questions do you still have?
As learning tools continue to evolve, so can we. While gamified learning can draw students in, it is the presence of meaningful, timely support that helps them progress. This study suggests that learning is not just about having access to information, but about developing the skills to ask questions, seek support, and work through challenges more effectively.
Source: Gong, Y., Wang, M., He, L., Xu, C., & Yu, Y. (2026). Asking, Playing, Learning: Investigating Large Language Model-Based Scaffolding in Digital Game-Based Learning for Elementary Artificial Intelligence Education. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 64(2), 311-343. https://doi-org.du.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/07356331251396354
Written by: Kristina Kealoha
“Agentic”: Silicon Valley’s new Buzzword on the Rise
Category: Culture
The New York Times recently published an article highlighting the rise of the word “agentic,” a term that has become popular in Silicon Valley. Traditionally, “agentic” refers to the ability to influence and control outcomes through assertive individual action, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In tech culture, “agentic” is being used to describe both computing systems and one’s personality. An “agentic” person is someone who takes initiative and actively shapes outcomes instead of waiting for direction.
At the same time, the tech industry is expanding upon generative AI to developing agentic AI models designed to independently perform tasks such as coding, shopping, and planning. This newer meaning contrasts with the more familiar non-tech usage of “agent” to mean someone who acts on behalf of another person, such as a talent agent or travel agent. The increasing spread of Silicon Valley vernacular into everyday language highlights how tech culture is not just transforming the workforce through new tools, but also through the language used to describe work and success.
Source: Worried About A.I. Taking Your Job? That’s Not Very ‘Agentic’ of You. Written by: Jenna Chin
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