Beyond AI adoption: virtual assistants and critical thinking in vocational higher education

Abstract

Purpose: to examine the effect of AI-based virtual assistant usage on students’ critical thinking skills in vocational higher education.

Method: this study employed a quantitative approach using a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected through an online questionnaire distributed to 131 vocational higher education students who had experience using AI-based virtual assistants in academic activities. The data were analyzed using validity and reliability tests, classical assumption tests, and simple linear regression analysis with SPSS to examine the effect of AI-based virtual assistant usage on students’ critical thinking skills.

Findings: the use of AI-based virtual assistants has a positive and significant effect on students’ critical thinking skills. The regression analysis shows that AI usage significantly predicts critical thinking ability, and the model demonstrates a moderate explanatory power. Greater engagement with AI-based virtual assistants is associated with higher levels of students’ critical thinking skills in vocational higher education.

Implications: AI-based virtual assistants can enhance students’ critical thinking skills when appropriately integrated into the learning process.

Originality: focusing on vocational higher education students and empirically examining how the use of AI-based virtual assistants relates to their critical thinking skills in an emerging digital learning context.