AI Usage and Educational Quality: Evidence from Learning Engagement

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-733-0_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Artificial intelligence; Learning engagement; Educational quality; Vocational education; Talent training; Mediation effect

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) usage, learning engagement, and educational quality in vocational education. Drawing on a multi-source survey dataset consisting of 362 student responses and 198 teacher responses, this study constructs a cross-level analytical framework that links institutional AI adoption with student-level learning outcomes. Based on the perspective of the educational production function, a mediation model is developed to investigate both the direct and indirect effects of AI usage on educational quality. The empirical results show that AI usage is positively and significantly associated with educational quality. In addition, learning engagement is found to be positively associated with educational outcomes, indicating that students who are more actively involved in learning processes tend to achieve better training results. More importantly, the findings reveal that learning engagement plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between AI usage and educational quality. Specifically, the direct effect of AI usage becomes substantially weaker after controlling for learning engagement, while the indirect effect through engagement remains significant. This suggests that AI improves educational quality primarily by enhancing students’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional investment in learning. This study contributes to the literature by extending research on AI-enabled learning to the context of vocational education and by identifying learning engagement as a key mechanism linking technological inputs to educational outcomes. The findings provide important implications for vocational institutions, teachers, and policymakers, emphasizing that the effectiveness of AI in education depends not only on technological adoption, but also on its ability to foster meaningful student engagement and support student-centered learning.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yuanlin Wu
AU  - Jialan Ma
AU  - Huajun Zheng
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/17
TI  - AI Usage and Educational Quality: Evidence from Learning Engagement
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Internet, Education and Information Technology (IEIT 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 110
EP  - 122
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-733-0_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-733-0_14
ID  - Wu2026
ER  -