Students' Readiness for AI-assisted Learning and its Relationship to Technological Acceptance and Academic Engagement in Digital Learning Environments

Abstract

The current study had two purposes: to explore students' readiness for learning with AI and to assess the link between the readiness and some aspects of technology acceptance and engagement in the digital learning environment. The study sample consisted of 200 undergraduate students from various academic years and majors at Al-Balqa Applied University by using convenience sampling method. The research design used is a descriptive correlational research which tackles the relationships among the various variables of the study and the students' level of readiness through a quantitative approach. A researcher-adapted 18-items 5-point Likert questionnaire was used to collect the data in three dimensions: students' readiness for AI-assisted learning, technological acceptance, and academic engagement (six items each). The results showed high level of students' readiness to learn using AI (M = 3.88 SD = 0.63). In addition, results showed that there was a positive and statistically significant correlation between students' level of readiness for AI-assisted learning and Technological acceptance (r = .68, p < .001), which means that students who had a higher readiness level tended to exhibit higher Technological acceptance. There was also a significant and positive correlation between students' readiness and academic engagement (r = .61, p < .001), which indicates that students' overall readiness to use AI was positively related to their engagement with digital academic activities. The study's results underscore the need to foster students' skills, confidence, and readiness to embrace AI technologies and actively learn in digital environments.