Is Artificial Intelligence Disrupting Digital Teaching and Learning Platforms? A Virtual Survey of Post-16 Learners and Educators in the Contemporary U.K. Education System

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing teaching and learning within the United Kingdom’s post-16 education sector, raising pressing questions about its relationship with established digital learning platforms such as Moodle. While Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have been central to institutional digital strategy for over two decades, the emergence of generative AI, adaptive tutoring systems, and learning analytics tools presents possibilities for personalised, immediate, and autonomous learner support. Despite heightened academic attention, limited empirical research has examined whether AI acts as a genuinely disruptive force—potentially altering, diminishing, or displacing the pedagogical functions traditionally served by Moodle. This study addresses that gap through a comprehensive virtual survey involving 482 participants across Further Education (FE), sixth-form colleges, universities, and professional-training environments in the U.K. The study’s outcome reveals that although AI is deeply reshaping individual study practices—particularly through personalised explanations, automated drafting support, and streamlined revision—Moodle retains structural and institutional relevance due to its embedded role in curriculum management, assessment administration, and quality assurance. However, evidence of behavioural substitution emerges, with students increasingly bypassing Moodle resources when AI provides quicker or clearer responses. The study concludes that AI stands for a partial disruptor: not replacing Moodle but reconfiguring its pedagogical significance and demanding strategic redesign. Ethical concerns pertaining to integrity, transparency, and data governance are foregrounded, with significance for policy, institutional strategy, and curriculum design. JEL Classifications: I21; I23; O33