Using AI to facilitate feedback on the learning experiences of doctoral students

The Causal Map team has conducted a trial of an innovative approach to securing feedback from students using online open-ended interviews conducted by the app Qualia, which uses generative AI (gen-AI), followed by a second use of gen-AI within the app Causal Map to semi-automate causal coding of the narrative transcripts thereby generated. The trial was conducted with students registered on the doctorate in policy research and practice (DPRP) at the University of Bath.

This generated credible evidence of diverse positive and negative drivers of learning from eleven students. The trial suggests that incorporation of gen-AI into causal mapping of narrative data about students’ study experiences enhances the potential to use the method cost-effectively on a larger scale, whether alongside or instead of more traditional approaches to eliciting student feedback on teaching and learning.