AI’s Potential to Reframe Student Agency and Democratic Participation in Educational Contexts (K-12 and Higher Education): Perspectives from Student Leaders
Özge Hacifazlioglu, Professor
Berkeley School of Education
Applications for Fall 2025 are closed for this project.
The paradox of progress in educational technology is that, while it aims to enhance student engagement and facilitate personalized learning paths, it often overlooks the diverse personal and sociocultural realities of students’ lives. The challenge lies in balancing the allure of technological solutions with the complex socio-cultural contexts that shape the meaning of lifelong learning. To transcend the simplistic dichotomy of enhancing or impeding student learning, this study seeks to develop a more nuanced understanding of generative AI tools, focusing on their potential to facilitate the interplay between technology, societal awareness, and the lived experiences of students in navigating student leadership across both K–12 and higher education settings. Within this well-informed theoretical and analytical framework, the role of technology, particularly AI can help dispel the interpretative illusions around student learning. There is a pressing need for further exploration of AI's implications for educational micropolitics, including the micropolitics that students engage with and are exposed to. Understanding these dynamics will provide a more holistic view of AI's potential impacts on educational institutions (Koksal, Patrick and Hacıfazlıoğlu, 2025). The purpose of this study is to explore student leaders' perspectives on AI's potential role in fostering student agency and democratic participation in K-12 and higher education contexts. We seek answers to the following research questions:
- How can perspectives of former student leaders and their experiences inform our understanding of AI’s potential role in enhancing student agency and facilitating democratic participation within K-12 school settings?
- How can perspectives of student leaders and their experiences inform our understanding of AI’s potential role in enhancing student agency and facilitating democratic participation within higher education settings?
- How can participation in student leadership enable students to enact change within their school, university, or community as aspiring leaders?
- What are student leaders' suggestions for K-12 and higher education leaders to foster student agency and democratic participation?
Role: We are looking for 2-3 undergraduate students who will be actively engaged in a research project focusing on undergraduate students’ leadership practices in conjunction with AI.
- Literature Review
- Conducting interviews in collaboration with the research team
- Cleaning interview transcripts
- Qualitative data analysis (coding, categorizing and thematic analysis) [Preferably on MAXQDA]
Qualifications: - Communication skills
- Organizational skills
- Research Skills [while students may not have prior experience in qualitative research, we expect candidates to be open to learning and implementing the steps throughout the research process]. If you are selected to join this project, you will also be invited to join the monthly research mentorship meetings led by the PI.
We are seeking applicants who meet all the preferred qualifications listed below. We encourage applicants who have a commitment to engaging in educational projects:
- Interest in using qualitative methods
- Interest in qualitative data analysis
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: Online. Monthly research mentoring meetings will be held in person.