The affordances of artificial intelligence-based tools for supporting 21st-century skills: A systematic review of empirical research in higher education

Abstract

Twenty-first-century skills should be integrated into higher education to prepare students for complex working-life challenges. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools have the potential to optimise skill development among higher education students. Therefore, it is important to conceptualise relevant affordances of AI systems for 21st-century skills development in higher education. This study aimed to present an overview of journal articles published in the Web of Science database that specifically addressed the affordances of AI-based tools for 21st-century skills development. Four distinct categories of AI-based tools (intelligent tutoring systems, chatbots, AI-powered dashboards and automated grading systems) were identified as capable of promoting six main 21st-century skills (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, information and communication technology and problem-solving). The review revealed that the utilisation of AI-based tools might contribute to the simultaneous development of multiple 21st-century skills (e.g., collaboration and critical thinking). The results showed that adaptive feedback from AI plays a significant role as a facilitator in the development of 21st-century skills. Furthermore, the utilisation of diverse functional AI affordances (e.g., prediction and profiling) might contribute to the development of various skills. AI-based technologies appeared to target the 21st-century skills of problem-solving and its subskills the most.

Implications for practice or policy:

• More functional affordances of AI (e.g., prediction and profiling) should be employed in AI-based tools. This could support higher education students’ 21st-century skills.
• AI-based tools (e.g., chatbots and intelligent tutors) interact with end users through their data. AI systems have the potential to promote 21st-century skills by using students’ multimodal data.
• AI technologies should be more integrated into the social sciences and humanities in the higher education context to support students’ 21st-century skills.