Integrating Artificial Intelligence to Support Students' Independent Learning in Flipped Law Courses

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support students' independent learning within a flipped classroom (FC) pedagogy. The main challenge of FC has been students' insufficient preparation for classroom activities. To address the challenge the Essentials of Business Law course was implemented with FC pedagogy, granting students unrestricted access to AI tools. The study aimed to understand how students apply AI for learning and what are the challenges and potential future applications. An online survey was conducted to gather students' experiences on the implementation. The findings revealed that AI facilitated quick information access, enhanced learning efficiency, and provided personalized assistance, thereby improving students' independent learning during the first-year FC course. While supporting previous research the results highlight a tension between the risk of giving away critical reflection and necessarily learning it when using AI tools. To address this tension, it is recommended to carefully design learning tasks. Additionally, students’ perspectives suggest that using AI in legal matters would benefit from teacher-designed demonstrative use cases included in the learning materials.