Image under license by freepik/freepik.com

Research & Scholarship

Why Research AI in Teaching, Learning & Assessment?

Generative AI is raising important questions about learning, assessment, academic integrity, disciplinary knowledge, graduate capabilities and the future of higher education. At Stellenbosch University, colleagues across faculties and professional academic support environments are exploring these questions through research, scholarship and collaborative inquiry.

Emerging Questions

These are not settled questions. They are areas of active inquiry and debate across the university. 

  • What counts as evidence of learning when AI is widely available?
  • How should assessment evolve in AI-rich environments?
  • What kinds of AI literacy matter in different disciplines?
  • How can universities support human agency while engaging AI?
  • How should AI be incorporated into postgraduate research?
  • What are the implications of AI for equity, multilingualism, and epistemic access?
  • How might AI reshape the purposes of higher education?
  • What is the role of the lecturer in an AI-infused higher education environment?
  • Can AI systems support academic advising towards student success? 

Research Themes @ SU

ThemeOpportunities for CollaborationCurrent ProjectsContact
Assessment and Evidence of Learning
  • Evaluative judgement; oral assessment
  • Formative assessment and AI
  • Programme-level assessment design
  • Oral assessment
  • Formative Assessment in the age of AI
  • Dos, Don’ts and Don’t Knows of assessment in the age of AI (collaboration with UCT)
Hanelie Adendorff, [email protected]
AI Literacy and Learning
  • Cognitive offloading;
  • AI literacy
  • Student perceptions and use of AI
  • AI Tutor bot-building
  • AI literacy framework development
  • Critical Thinking in the age of AI (collaboration with Bath University)
Sonja Strydom, [email protected]
Ethics, Governance and Responsible AI
  • Guideline development
  • Responsible AI use
  • AI and academic integrity
  • Equity and access
  • Development of institutional guidelines
Magriet de Villiers [email protected]
The University and Human Formation in an AI-Rich World
  • Graduate formation
  • Purposes of the university
  • Human Deepfakes
  • Pedagogies of distrust
Hanelie Adendorff, [email protected]
AI systems for supporting student success
  • Academic Advising with AI technologies
  • Academic Tutor bots
  • AI Applications for TLA
  • PhD Study on an Academic Advising Digital Human Model
  • AI Assistants and Lecturer agency

Jan Petrus Bosman, [email protected] & 

Yakhuluntu Dubazana, [email protected]

Recent Publications & Outputs

  • Strydom, S., Adendorff, H. J., Cilliers, F. J., Huang, C.-W., Lester, S., & Walji, S. (forthcoming). Working with the “Don’t Knows” of AI-rich assessment: Reflexive judgement, practitioner agency and collective sense-making. In K. Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts (Ed.), Assessment in the Age of AI: Inclusive Design, Reflexive Pedagogies and Multimodal Literacies. Δίσιγμα Publications.
  • Adendorff, H., Herman, N., & Joubert, D. (2025). Avoiding human deepfakes: A learning and care-centred approach to learning in higher education. Critical Conversations in Higher Education, 7.
  • Bosman, J. P., Van Petegem, W., De Laet, T., Tshuma, N. 2025. How to select the right AI tool for the job? An Autonomy-values framework for educational AI with a focus on academic advising. Ubiquity Proceedings, 6(1): 37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/uproc.205
  • Joubert, D., & Strever, A. (2025). Towards pedagogies of distrust: Higher education learning in the age of generative artificial intelligence. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, 13(2), 59–76.
  • Bosman, J. P., van Petegem, W., de Laet, T., Tshuma, N. 2024. Cracking the AIEd code: Dialogic-relational academic advising. Ubiquity Proceedings, 4(1): 9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/uproc.131
  • Eacersall, D., Pretorius, L., Chugh, R., Smirnov, I., Spray, E., Illingworth, S., Strydom, S., Stratton-Maher, D., Simmons, J., Jennings, I., Roux, R., Kamrowski, R., Downie, A., Thong, C. L., & Howell, K. A. (2024). Navigating ethical challenges in generative AI-enhanced research: The ETHICAL framework for responsible generative AI use. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 8(2), 102–115.
  • Bosman, J. P., Van Petegem, W., De Laet, T., & Tshuma, N. (2022). Edubots as academic advisers: A speculative social science fiction thought experiment. In Dortmund International Research Conference 2022 Proceedings (Issue July, pp. 90–97). Fachhochschule Dortmund. https://irc.go-study-europe.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IRC-2022_Proceedings_Web.pdf

Scholarly Events

Assessment in the Age of AI Symposium

1 April 2026 

Programme

SoTL conference

17&18 November 2026, Protea Hotel Stellenbosch and Conference Centre, Techno Park, Stellenbosch

Programme

Get Involved

We welcome collaboration on the scholarship of teaching and learning projects, research partnerships, conference proposals, co-authored publications, postgraduate projects, writing retreats and communities of practice.

Submit a project or research idea

AL TLA Research Projects, Ideas and Collaborations Opportunities - Collaboration

Click Here

Apply for FIRTL ("Finlo") funding

Learn more about the support for TLA-focused research projects (AI-themed projects are welcome) 

Click Here

Have a question, an idea, or a possible collaboration? 
We would love to hear from you. Reach a real person via [email protected], and we will be in touch.

ATTRIBUTION: Image under license by freepik/freepik.com