Appendix C

To complement the survey findings, five students participated in follow-up interviews that explored their experiences with GenAI in greater depth. The interview protocol below was used with all informants. Following the protocol, we provide selected student quotations that exemplify how students engaged with GenAI across the different interventions.

Interview Protocol

1. Before using GenAI in this course, how did you typically seek feedback on your work?
2. What challenges did you face when preparing for debates, writing reports, or moderating discussions without AI support?
3. Can you describe a specific time you felt unsure about your work but didn’t receive feedback? What did you do?
4. When did you start using AI to help with your coursework? What prompted that decision?
5. What kinds of prompts did you first try?
6. How did you use AI to stimulate feedback – for example, did you ask it to play the role of a lecturer or tutor?
7. Describe a specific task or assignment where you used AI in place of educator feedback. What did you ask? What did it give you?
8. What differences did you notice in the quality, structure, or clarity of your work after incorporating AI?
9. Can you provide or describe the difference between an earlier piece of work (without AI) and a later one (with AI)? What improved or changed?
10. Do you feel AI gave you better, faster, or more helpful feedback than a human educator? Why or why not?
11. When do you still prefer human feedback? When do you rely on AI?
12. How has AI changed your sense of independence or confidence in completing academic tasks?

Exemplar Quotations

• “Without AI sometimes it is hard to find a place to start on assignments of the ‘correct academic language’ to answer the question when you know the answer.”
• “I gave it my task and rubric then gave it a copy of my work, and it provided comments on each of the criteria and ways to improve.”
• “I’ve always understood concepts but sometimes struggle to find the ‘academic language’ to explain it in report form – using AI my work is more refined.”
• “I prefer human feedback always, rely on AI for expanding research e.g. find a source I like and ask for similar ones.”
• “Using AI has made me more independent – I don’t need to wait for feedback to keep working.”