The Initial Context and the Emergence of Research Interest
My PhD journey began at a historically significant moment for the worlds of education and technology. November 30, 2022, the day of ChatGPT’s public release by OpenAI, represented for me a watershed moment, comparable-at least in symbolic impact-to the dates we study in history books.
At that time, I was completing my master’s degree, and I vividly remember the sense of astonishment I felt when interacting with a new, immaterial entity capable of answering a wide range of questions. What initially started as a personal curiosity quickly turned into a scientific interest: I began to increasingly document myself on new Generative Artificial Intelligence tools, exploring not only their technical functioning but, above all, their educational and pedagogical implications.
The First Year of the PhD: Exploration and Orientation
The first year of my PhD was mainly devoted to observation and orientation. I sought to understand the directions taken by major ed-tech companies and the different positions adopted by universities worldwide regarding the use of artificial intelligence in teaching.
A significant turning point came in February 2024, when I began a period of collaboration with Susanna Sancassani, Director of the METID Center at the Politecnico di Milano and my first PhD supervisor. I had the opportunity to engage directly with the Politecnico context and to attend the doctoral course Teaching Strategies, within which an artificial intelligence tool developed internally by the university was used.
This experience strengthened my research interest and initiated a phase of intense experimentation, study, and exchange with other researchers and professionals in the field.
Defining the Object of Study and Challenges in the Literature
The object of study of my thesis was initially clear in intention but complex to position within the existing literature. The goal was to pedagogically integrate an artificial intelligence tool coherently into a university course.
The literature review proved particularly challenging: at the start of the research, the topic was still very recent, and many available contributions showed not so coherent pedagogical grounding from my theoretical perspective.
Collaboration with SceneSnap and an Interdisciplinary Perspective
After a period of reflection and redefinition of my research interests, the opportunity arose to collaborate with a young Milan-based start-up, SceneSnap, engaged in the development of an AI-enhanced learning platform for Higher Education.
Within this context, initially composed mainly of engineers, I contributed by bringing an educational and pedagogical perspective, collaborating in the definition of the platform’s features, structure, and related learning objectives.
This experience allowed me to develop a more comprehensive and articulated view of my object of study, thanks to continuous interdisciplinary exchange.
Current Research: Case Studies and Rethinking University Teaching
I am currently structuring a series of case studies aimed at implementing the platform in specific university teaching contexts. The objective is not so much to measure the tool’s impact in a strict sense, but rather to identify new approaches to teaching that can support instructors in rethinking their teaching methods.
Each case study is followed step by step through constant dialogue with the involved instructors, who are willing to experiment with the use of artificial intelligence tools in their professional practice. My role is often similar to that of a pedagogical consultant: I start by listening to established teaching practices and, together with the instructors, work on designing a new course structure, from in-class and out-of-class activities to assessment methods.
Why the University
My choice to focus on Higher Education also reflects a personal standpoint. I believe that the use of artificial intelligence is more appropriate in contexts where students have already developed fundamental basic skills, such as note-taking, building concept maps, and synthesizing content.
In my view, the introduction of artificial intelligence tools at earlier levels of education could be problematic and potentially harmful to the development of essential cognitive skills.
Affiliations and Research Groups
I am a member of LISP – Computer Laboratory for Pedagogical Experimentation, and I closely follow the activities of DitWel, an interdepartmental research center at my university.
Finally, I am involved, supporting Professor Dimitri Ognibene and his team, in the ongoing Erasmus+ project Integrating Data Analysis and AI in Learning Experiences.