Generative AI in teacher practice: Investigating the role of pedagogically informed tools in instructional design
Alavi, Hakeem Farouk (2026)
2026
Master's Programme in Sustainable Societies and Digitalisation
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2026-06-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202606097199
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202606097199
Tiivistelmä
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is becoming part of teachers’ everyday work, especially in the planning, drafting, and refining of lessons in K–12 education. These tools can be fast and useful, but the ones most commonly used were not designed around pedagogy, classroom constraints, or the kinds of engagement teachers are trying to create for students. This thesis sits in that tension and asks a simple question: what does GenAI actually support in lesson design, and what changes when teachers work with a pedagogically informed tool instead of a general-purpose one?
Using a design-based research approach with embedded mixed methods, the study followed practising teachers through a structured GenAI-supported lesson-design process. Evidence was drawn from teacher profiling, lesson plan artefacts, teacher reflections on tool use, and supplementary supporting materials. The analysis examined how teachers’ professional knowledge shaped their interaction with GenAI during planning, and how the resulting student-facing tasks created different opportunities for engagement. Across cases, GenAI support tended to do two things at once. It helped teachers move quickly from intent to a workable structure, but it also introduced friction when outputs felt difficult to steer, too segmented, or not yet classroom-ready under real planning pressure.
A consistent pattern across the lesson plan artefacts was that higher-engagement tasks were possible in both conditions, but they appeared in different ways. Kool-kit outputs were more Constructive-heavy and reflection-oriented, while ChatGPT outputs often resembled procedural worksheet-style lesson sequences. Opportunities for the highest level of engagement were comparatively rare in both conditions and became visible mainly when tasks explicitly required dialogue, critique, questioning, or co-construction. Overall, the findings suggest that pedagogically informed lesson-design tools are most valuable when they help teachers reach classroom-ready decisions efficiently, preserve teacher agency, support trust through transparency, and adapt to subject and age-level realities.
Using a design-based research approach with embedded mixed methods, the study followed practising teachers through a structured GenAI-supported lesson-design process. Evidence was drawn from teacher profiling, lesson plan artefacts, teacher reflections on tool use, and supplementary supporting materials. The analysis examined how teachers’ professional knowledge shaped their interaction with GenAI during planning, and how the resulting student-facing tasks created different opportunities for engagement. Across cases, GenAI support tended to do two things at once. It helped teachers move quickly from intent to a workable structure, but it also introduced friction when outputs felt difficult to steer, too segmented, or not yet classroom-ready under real planning pressure.
A consistent pattern across the lesson plan artefacts was that higher-engagement tasks were possible in both conditions, but they appeared in different ways. Kool-kit outputs were more Constructive-heavy and reflection-oriented, while ChatGPT outputs often resembled procedural worksheet-style lesson sequences. Opportunities for the highest level of engagement were comparatively rare in both conditions and became visible mainly when tasks explicitly required dialogue, critique, questioning, or co-construction. Overall, the findings suggest that pedagogically informed lesson-design tools are most valuable when they help teachers reach classroom-ready decisions efficiently, preserve teacher agency, support trust through transparency, and adapt to subject and age-level realities.