‘Use it as a backup rather than your main pillar of learning’: how self-directed learners use Generative AI in Project Based Learning

The purpose of this paper is to learn from the strategies used by skilled self-directed learners who successfully integrate GenAI tools into project-based learning, to inform future educational practices for students and educators. The paper reports a thematic analysis of interviews with ten final-year undergraduate computer science students using a coding scheme based on previous self-directed learning (SDL) frameworks. Findings indicate that the students used GenAI tools to gather information, deepen topic understanding, and explore resources. The students had high self-efficacy towards their ability to use GenAI tools but were appropriately critical of the tools’ accuracy. Students used GenAI throughout the planning, monitoring, evaluating and adapting phases of the SDL process. The paper also presents vignettes of four contrasting approaches from students who mastered prompt engineering, learned a new programming language with a GenAI tool in the role of a knowledgeable friend, used a GenAI tool to assist with motivational regulation, and deliberately opted out of GenAI tools for particular tasks which needed a human touch. The students remained autonomous; they were directors of their own learning, choosing when to use GenAI tools for particular learning tasks.Form these findings we developed a framework of reflective questions to guide students in the appropriate use of GenAI tools at each stage of the self-directed learning process. We offer recommendations for educators focus on modelling and supporting learners to incorporate GenAI tools appropriately and responsibly into self-directed learning projects.