Learner agency — the capacity of learners to act intentionally, make choices, and exercise control over their own learning. In AI in education, agency is a central concern because AI tools can both support and undermine learners' control: well-designed AI preserves and amplifies learner autonomy, while over-reliance or passive acceptance of AI output can erode it. Agency connects to Self Regulated Learning, Motivation, Self Efficacy, and the ethical design of AI systems, and is closely related to the psychological concepts of autonomy and sense of agency.
Agency matters because learning is most effective when learners are active, intentional participants rather than passive recipients. AI systems — whether tutoring agents, robots, or chatbots — shape how much control learners retain over their learning process. Preserving agency is therefore a key design principle in responsible AI in education, alongside supporting Self Efficacy, building Trust, and avoiding Over Reliance.
How agency appears in the wiki's research
Robotics and human-robot interaction: RoboBlockly Studio was explicitly designed to preserve learner agency in computational thinking; a systematic review examines how human-robot interaction affects human autonomy and sense of agency, central to well-being and governance debates.Collaborative learning: Human AI Collaboration research examines how cognitive tasks are shared between learners and AI, with agency determining whether the human or the AI directs the interaction.Critical engagement: Cognitive offloading research shows how students who delegate interpretation to AI can lose agency over their own reasoning; critical and metacognitive approaches aim to protect it.Design for agency: Knowledge-based design for generative social robots (Teachy Mini) addresses risks like overreliance that undermine learner agency.Agency connects to Self Regulated Learning, Motivation, Self Efficacy, Student Experience, Human AI Collaboration, Ethics, Over Reliance, and Metacognition. It is a core consideration in robotics, tutoring, and the design of AI learning agents.
Connected Concepts
Self Regulated LearningMotivationSelf EfficacyStudent ExperienceHuman AI CollaborationMetacognitionEthicsOver RelianceEducational RoboticsConnected Articles
Human Autonomy Agency Hri Review 2025 — Human Autonomy and Agency in HRIRoboblockly Conversational Block Robotics Ct 2026 — RoboBlockly StudioCognitive Offloading — Cognitive Offloading in Student–AI CollaborationTeachy Mini Generative Social Robot Higher Ed 2026 — Teachy MiniKnowledge Based Design Generative Social Robots 2026 — Knowledge-Based Design for Generative Social Robots