Scaffold or Shortcut? Postgraduate IT Students' Use of Generative AI and Self-Regulated Learning

Synthesis: Scaffold or shortcut? — a mixed-methods study of 267 postgraduate IT students in Australia showing that GenAI plays a dual role in SRL: it can act as a cognitive scaffold that supports goal setting, monitoring, and self-evaluation, or a cognitive shortcut that displaces them. Whether it scaffolds or short-circuits depends less on the tool than on how students regulate its use.

Key Findings

• GenAI's dual role. Students used GenAI both as a practical aid and a cognitive partner — supporting goal setting, reflection, and feedback, yet at times displacing monitoring and self-evaluation when used uncritically.
• Scaffolded vs. substitutional Cognitive Offloading. The study distinguishes two modes: scaffolded offloading (students use GenAI to clarify goals, generate ideas, or obtain feedback that they then critique and adapt — agency stays with the learner) versus substitutional offloading (students accept outputs with minimal verification, shifting control to the tool).
• Patterns were differentiated, not homogeneous. Most students gained confidence and AI literacy over the term, but some became confident, regular users while others stayed hesitant; postgraduate cohorts are not a homogeneous "AI-literate" group.
• Confidence shaped orientation. Confident users demonstrated agency and autonomy in reflective goal setting and monitoring; less confident students were more likely to view GenAI as a shortcut or form of academic misconduct.

Implications

• Embed structured reflection and justification. Learning design should require students to justify or adapt AI outputs, and offer explicit guidance on productive tool use — an expanded view of AI literacy that includes critical, strategic, and responsible engagement.
• Design for learner agency. Scaffolded GenAI use can enhance autonomy and critical reflection when integrated thoughtfully into postgraduate education.

Connected Concepts

• Self-Regulated Learning
• Cognitive Offloading
• Generative AI
• Metacognition
• AI Literacy
• Learner Agency
• Higher Education

Connected Articles

• Artificial intelligence as a cognitive partner: a developmental framework for human-AI co-regulation in learning — AI as cognitive partner in co-regulated learning
• Thoughtless Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence and College Students' Self-Directed Learning: A Multi-Group SEM Analysis of Gender Differences — Thoughtless GenAI use and self-direction

Citation

Atif, A., & Dickson-Deane, C. (2026). Scaffold or shortcut? Postgraduate IT students' use of generative AI and self-regulated learning. Learning Letters, 8, Article 63. https://doi.org/10.20851/ll.v8.63