Article Sidebar

Submitted
Aug 12, 2024
Accepted
Sep 14, 2025
Published
Oct 28, 2025
Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 3 Download : 1

Main Article Content

Abstract

The public availability of the Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, led to diverse reactions in society. In higher education, these emerging technologies have brought several challenges, particularly with regard to ethical considerations, assessment frameworks, and new paradigms in teaching and research practices. In this article, we intend to explore the issues related to integration and ways of using the Gen-AI tools in higher education, especially in initial teacher education, and the implications of this use for education policies. A qualitative approach was used with recourse to non-participant observation and narrative research methods through the analysis of experiences developed in Initiation to Professional Practice curricular unit of a Master’ in Teaching. It was found that future teachers were able to use the ChatGPT as a tool to plan lessons and create digital educational resources, but the results obtained from its use always need careful and rigorous scrutiny and verification. Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in learning is important to increase creativity, innovation, and adaptability among preservice teachers. One also concludes that it is relevant to address and include issues relating to artificial intelligence in higher education, reflecting them particularly in regulations, legislation, and educational policy.

Keywords

Generative Artificial Intelligence GenAI Entrepreneurial Mindset Initial Teacher Education Education Policy

Article Details

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The author declares that the submitted to Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society (Je-LKS) is original and that is has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
The author agrees that SIe-L (Italian Society of e-Learning) has the right to publish the material sent for inclusion in the journal Je-LKS.
The author agree that articles may be published in digital format (on the Internet or on any digital support and media) and in printed format, including future re-editions, in any language and in any license including proprietary licenses, creative commons license or open access license. SIe-L may also use parts of the work to advertise and promote the publication.
The author declares s/he has all the necessary rights to authorize the editor and SIe-L to publish the work.
The author assures that the publication of the work in no way infringes the rights of third parties, nor violates any penal norms and absolves SIe-L from all damages and costs which may result from publication.

The author declares further s/he has received written permission without limits of time, territory, or language from the rights holders for the free use of all images and parts of works still covered by copyright, without any cost or expenses to SIe-L.

For all the information please check the Ethical Code of Je-LKS, available at http://www.je-lks.org/index.php/ethical-code

Author Biographies

Ana Luísa Rodrigues, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação

Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education, University of Lisbon, Portugal, in areas of Teacher Education, Adult Education, ICT in Education, Entrepreneurship, Didactics of Economics and Accounting. PhD in Education, ICT in Education. Master in Management and Master in Teaching Economics and Accounting. Currently coordinates the Scientific Commission of this master's degree.

Member of the Education Research and Development Unit (UIDEF), involved in various research projects. Author of several publications, reviewer, and member of the Scientific Council of indexed journals. More information: http://www.ie.ulisboa.pt/docente/ana-luisa-rodrigues

Carmen Cavaco, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação

Associate Professor at the Institute of Education, University of Lisbon, Portugal, with experience in the development of both graduate and undergraduate courses. She is a member of the Education Research and Development Unit (UIDEF), in education and training policies. She earned his Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Lisbon.

Author of over many scientific publications and has supervised Post-Doc projects, PhD thesis and Master dissertations. Its main areas of teaching and research are adult education, adult education policy, nonformal and informal education, experiential learning, adults with low educational level and illiterate adults, validation and recognition of prior learning, and biographical approach. Involved in various research projects in adult education. More information: http://www.ie.ulisboa.pt/docente/carmen-cavaco

Carolina Pereira, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação

Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education, University of Lisbon, Portugal, in areas of teacher education. PhD in Education, she has worked in distance and online learning programmes with teachers and other education professionals since 1998. Involved in projects concerning the Digital Skills development of adults and teachers, including digital technologies in the classroom. Complementary has experience in working with international cooperation and development projects in international contexts since 2001​.

How to Cite
Rodrigues, A. L., Cavaco, C., & Pereira, C. (2025). Exploring Generative AI tools in higher education: insights for policies. Journal of E-Learning and Knowledge Society, 21(2), 61-72. https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/1135999

References

  1. Amado, J., & Freire, I. (2014). Estudo de caso na Investigação em Educação. In J. Amado (Org.), Manual de investigação qualitativa em educação [Handbook of qualitative research in education] (2nd ed., pp.121-168). Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  2. An, Y., Yu, J. H. & James, S. (2025). Investigating the higher education institutions’ guidelines and policies regarding the use of generative AI in teaching, learning, research, and administration. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 22(10). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-025-00507-3
  3. Banihashem, S. K., Kerman, N. T., Noroozi, O. et al. (2024). Feedback sources in essay writing: peer-generated or AI-generated feedback? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 21(23). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00455-4
  4. Bardin, L. (2013). Análise de Conteúdo [Content Analysis]. Edições 70.
  5. BERA (2011). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. https://eera-ecer.de/about-eera/ethical-guidelines
  6. Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. (1994). Investigação Qualitativa em Educação. Uma introdução à teoria e aos métodos [Qualitative Research in Education. An introduction to theory and methods]. Porto Editora.
  7. Bolívar, A., Domingo, J., & Fernández, M. (1998). La investigación biográfico–narrativa en educación. Guía para indagar en el campo [Biographical-narrative research in education. A guide to investigating the field]. Grupo FORCE, Universidad de Granada, y Grupo Editorial Universitario.
  8. Bozkurt, A. (2023). Unleashing the Potential of Generative AI, Conversational Agents and Chatbots in Educational Praxis: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis of GenAI in Education. OpenPraxis, 15(4), 261–270. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.4.609
  9. Chiu, T. K. F. (2023). Future research recommendations for transforming higher education with generative AI. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100197
  10. Chomsky, N. (2023, May 2). ChatGPT contra o pensamento crítico [ChatGPT against critical thinking]. Outras Palavras Newspaper. https://outraspalavras.net/tecnologiaemdisputa/chomsky-o-chatgpt-contra-o-pensamento-critico/
  11. Damásio, A. (2024, February 23). Ciclo Futuros da Educação, Cátedra UNESCO. Diário de Notícias Newspaper. https://files.quickcom.pt/Files/Imprensa/2024/02-23/0/5_3332029_B32CE058F3214B9EB0FD5B8474DD604F.pdf
  12. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd ed., pp. 1-34). Sage Publications.
  13. De Winter, J.C.F., Dodou, D., & Stienen, A.H.A. (2023). ChatGPT in Education: Empowering Educators through Methods for Recognition and Assessment. Informatics, 10, 87. https://doi.org/10.3390/ informatics10040087
  14. Dempere, J., Modugu, K., Hesham, A., & Ramasamy, L.K. (2023). The impact of ChatGPT on higher education. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1206936. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1206936
  15. Elicit (2023). AI Research Assistant (Dec 28th) [Large language model]. https://elicit.com
  16. Elicit (2025). AI Research Assistant (Jul 29th) [Large language model]. https://elicit.com
  17. BERA (2011). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. https://eera-ecer.de/about-eera/ethical-guidelines European Commission (2022). Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for educators. Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/153756
  18. Figueiredo, A. D. (2023, June 30). Inteligência Artificial Generativa e Construção de Conhecimento [Generative Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Construction]. [Personal communication]. In Processamento de Linguagem Natural: Tendências e Aplicações Práticas Conference. Coimbra University, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.25801.52328
  19. Freire, P. (1987). Pedagogia do oprimido [Pedagogy of the Oppressed] (17th ed.). Paz e Terra.
  20. Fuchs, K. (2023). Exploring the opportunities and challenges of NLP models in higher education: is Chat GPT a blessing or a curse. Frontiers in Education, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1166682
  21. Ganuthula, V. R. (2025). The Solo Revolution: A Theory of AI-Enabled Individual Entrepreneurship, Computers and Society, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.00009
  22. Han, B.C. (2022). Não-Coisas. Transformações no mundo em que vivemos. [Non-Things. Transformations in the world we live in]. Relógio d´Água.
  23. Heimans, S., Biesta, G., Takayama, K., & Kettle, M. (2023). ChatGPT, subjectification, and the purposes and politics of teacher education and its scholarship. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51(2), 105-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2023.2189368
  24. Hong, W.C.H. (2023). The impact of ChatGPT on foreign language teaching and learning: Opportunities in education and research. Journal of Educational Technology and Innovation, 5(1), 37-45. https://jeti.thewsu.org/index.php/cieti/article/view/103
  25. Jardim, J. (2022). Competências Empreendedoras para Ser Bem-Sucedido no Mundo Global e Digital: proposta de um quadro de referência. [Entrepreneurial Skills for Success in the Global and Digital World: Proposal for a Reference Framework]. Video Journal of Social and Human Research, 1(2), 1-24. https:// doi.org/10.18817/vjshr.v1i2.24
  26. Jarvis, C., Gaggiotti, H., & Kars S. (2021). Is It All in the Mindset? Team Coaching, Psychological Capital, and the Collaborative Development of an Entrepreneurial Mindset. In E. Vettraino, & B. Urzelai (Eds.), Team Academy: Leadership and Teams (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003163121
  27. Kasneci, E., Sessler, K., Küchemann, S., Bannert, M., Dementieva, D., Fischer, F., Gasser, U., Groh, G., Günnemann, S., Hüllermeier, E., Krusche, S., Kutyniok, G., Michaeli, T., Nerdel, C., Pfeffer, J., Poquet, O., Sailer, M., Schmidt, A., Seidel, T., Stadler, M., Weller, J., Kuhn, J., & Kasneci, G. (2023). ChatGPT for good? On opportunities and challenges of large language models for education. Learning and Individual Differences, 103, 102274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102274
  28. Kelley, M., & Wenzel, T. (2025). Advancing Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Teacher Education Through Professional Partnership Inquiry. Education Sciences, 15(6), 659. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060659
  29. Khalid, N., Kolivand, H., Balas, V.E., Paul, A, & Ramachandran, V. (2020).Artificial intelligence learning and entrepreneurial performance among university students: evidence from Malaysian higher educational institutions. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 39(4), 5417-5435. https://doi.org/10.3233/JIFS-189026
  30. Knoth, N., Tolzin, A., Janson, A., & Leimeister, J. M. (2024). AI literacy and its implications for prompt engineering strategies. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 6, 100225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100225.
  31. Lee, D., & Palmer, E. (2025). Prompt engineering in higher education: a systematic review to help inform curricula. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 22(7). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-025-00503-7
  32. Lo, C.K. (2023). What Is the Impact of ChatGPT on Education? A Rapid Review of the Literature. Education Sciences, 13, 410. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040410
  33. Morse, J. M., Barrett, M., Mayan, M., Olson, K., & Spiers, J. (2002). Verification Strategies for Establishing Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 1(2), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690200100202
  34. Moura, A., & Carvalho, A. A. (2024). Literacia de Prompts para Potenciar o Uso da Inteligência Artificial na Educação. [Prompt Literacy to Enhance the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education.]. RE@D - Revista de Educação a Distância e Elearning, 6(2), e202308. https://doi.org/10.34627/redvol6iss2e202308
  35. Ng, D. T. K., Leung, J. K. L., Su, J., Ng, R. C. W., & Chu, S. K. W. (2023). Teachers’ AI digital competencies and twenty‑first century skills in the post‑pandemic world. Educational Technology Research and Development, 71,137–161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10203-6
  36. OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14, 3.5 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
  37. OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (Jul 29, 4 version). [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
  38. 1. Park, J.-H., Kim, S.-J., & Lee, S.-T. (2025). AI and Creativity in Entrepreneurship Education: A Systematic Review of LLM Applications. AI, 6(5), 100. https://doi.org/10.3390/ai6050100
  39. Rabelo, A. O. (2011). A importância da investigação narrativa na educação. [The importance of narrative research in education]. Educação & Sociedade, 32(114), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-73302011000100011
  40. Ratten, V., & Jones, P. (2023). Generative artificial intelligence (ChatGPT): Implications for management educators. The International Journal of Management Education, 21(3), 100857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2023.100857
  41. Rawas, S. (2023). ChatGPT: Empowering lifelong learning in the digital age of higher education. Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12114-8
  42. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V., & Friedman, T. (2022). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Challenge. IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study International Report. https://www.iea.nl/sites/default/files/2023-12/ICCS-2022-International-Report.pdf
  43. Strzelecki, A. (2023a). To use or not to use ChatGPT in higher education? A study of students’ acceptance and use of technology. Interactive Learning Environments. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2209881
  44. Strzelecki, A. (2023b). Students’ Acceptance of ChatGPT in Higher Education: An Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Innovative Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09686-1
  45. an den Berg, G., & du Plessis, E. (2023). ChatGPT and Generative AI: Possibilities for Its Contribution to Lesson Planning, Critical Thinking and Openness in Teacher Education. Education Sciences, 13, 998. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100998
  46. UNESCO (2021). AI and education: Guidance for policy-makers. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://doi.org/10.54675/PCSP7350
  47. UNESCO (2023). Guidance for generative AI in education and research. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
  48. https://doi.org/10.54675/EWZM9535
  49. U.S. Department of Education (2023). Artificial Intelligence and Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations. Office of Educational Technology, Washington, DC, US. https://tech.ed.gov
  50. Usher, M. (2025). Generative AI vs. instructor vs. peer assessments: a comparison of grading and feedback in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.2487495
  51. UNESCO (2021).
  52. Van den Berg, G., & Du Plessis, E. (2023). ChatGPT and Generative AI: Possibilities for Its Contribution to Lesson Planning, Critical Thinking and Openness in Teacher Education. Education Sciences, 13, 998. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100998
  53. Wang, N. C. (2025). Scaffolding Creativity: Integrating Generative AI Tools and Real-world Experiences in Business Education. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '25), April 26-May 01, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA (pp.1-9). https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.372028
  54. White House Office (2022). Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Blueprint-for-an-AI-Bill-of-Rights.pdf
  55. Xiao, P., Chen, Y, & Bao, W (2023). Waiting, Banning, and Embracing: An Empirical Analysis of Adapting Policies for Generative AI in Higher Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4458269
  56. Xie, Y., & Wang, S. (2025). Generative artificial intelligence in entrepreneurship education enhances entrepreneurial intention through self-efficacy and university support. Scientific Reports, 15, 24079. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09545-3
  57. Zemlyak, S., Naumenkov, A., & Khromenkova, G. (2022). Measuring the Entrepreneurial Mindset: The Motivations behind the Behavioral Intentions of Starting a Sustainable Business. Sustainability, 14(23), 15997. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315997
  58. Zhou, J., & Cen, W. (2023). Investigating the Effect of ChatGPT-like New Generation AI Technology on User Entrepreneurial Activities. Innovation & Technology Advances, 2(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.61187/ita.v2i2.124