Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course

There is minimal research concerning the role of custom-trained artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education, with a lack of research concerning the pedagogical qualities of an AI-based personal tutor. To fill this literature gap, we examined how a custom GPT personal tutor shapes key teac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nikša Alfirević, Marko Hell, Darko Rendulić
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-08-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8764
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849407544442748928
author Nikša Alfirević
Marko Hell
Darko Rendulić
author_facet Nikša Alfirević
Marko Hell
Darko Rendulić
author_sort Nikša Alfirević
collection DOAJ
description There is minimal research concerning the role of custom-trained artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education, with a lack of research concerning the pedagogical qualities of an AI-based personal tutor. To fill this literature gap, we examined how a custom GPT personal tutor shapes key teaching and learning qualities. Using the mixed-methods approach, we aimed to demonstrate preliminary and exploratory empirical evidence concerning the contribution of custom-trained AI tutors to building up students’ competencies. Our research analyzed the subjective assessments of students related to the GPT tutor’s contribution to improving their competencies. Both the qualitative and quantitative empirical results confirmed the positive contribution. In addition, we triangulated the results to evaluate the potential of custom-trained AI chatbots in higher education, focusing on undergraduate business courses. However, the results of this study cannot be generalized to the entire student population of business schools, since the participation in the AI-assisted tutor program was voluntary, attracting only intrinsically motivated students.
format Article
id doaj-art-cfe73f6d1bde40a8b4ee19e83f7132e2
institution Kabale University
issn 2076-3417
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Applied Sciences
spelling doaj-art-cfe73f6d1bde40a8b4ee19e83f7132e22025-08-20T03:36:02ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-08-011515876410.3390/app15158764Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education CourseNikša Alfirević0Marko Hell1Darko Rendulić2Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, CroatiaFaculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, CroatiaDepartment for Management, Karlovac University of Applied Sciences, Trg Josipa Jurja Strossmayera 9, 47000 Karlovac, CroatiaThere is minimal research concerning the role of custom-trained artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education, with a lack of research concerning the pedagogical qualities of an AI-based personal tutor. To fill this literature gap, we examined how a custom GPT personal tutor shapes key teaching and learning qualities. Using the mixed-methods approach, we aimed to demonstrate preliminary and exploratory empirical evidence concerning the contribution of custom-trained AI tutors to building up students’ competencies. Our research analyzed the subjective assessments of students related to the GPT tutor’s contribution to improving their competencies. Both the qualitative and quantitative empirical results confirmed the positive contribution. In addition, we triangulated the results to evaluate the potential of custom-trained AI chatbots in higher education, focusing on undergraduate business courses. However, the results of this study cannot be generalized to the entire student population of business schools, since the participation in the AI-assisted tutor program was voluntary, attracting only intrinsically motivated students.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8764AI-assisted teachingcustom GPT tutorpedagogical qualitystudent engagementlearning environment
spellingShingle Nikša Alfirević
Marko Hell
Darko Rendulić
Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
Applied Sciences
AI-assisted teaching
custom GPT tutor
pedagogical quality
student engagement
learning environment
title Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
title_full Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
title_fullStr Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
title_full_unstemmed Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
title_short Pedagogical Qualities of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Teaching: An Exploratory Analysis of a Personal Tutor in a Voluntary Business Higher-Education Course
title_sort pedagogical qualities of artificial intelligence assisted teaching an exploratory analysis of a personal tutor in a voluntary business higher education course
topic AI-assisted teaching
custom GPT tutor
pedagogical quality
student engagement
learning environment
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8764
work_keys_str_mv AT niksaalfirevic pedagogicalqualitiesofartificialintelligenceassistedteachinganexploratoryanalysisofapersonaltutorinavoluntarybusinesshighereducationcourse
AT markohell pedagogicalqualitiesofartificialintelligenceassistedteachinganexploratoryanalysisofapersonaltutorinavoluntarybusinesshighereducationcourse
AT darkorendulic pedagogicalqualitiesofartificialintelligenceassistedteachinganexploratoryanalysisofapersonaltutorinavoluntarybusinesshighereducationcourse