The OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 “Exploring Effective Uses of Generative AI in Education” brings together current research findings and international perspectives on the use of generative AI in education. For this, Dr. Sebastian Strauß, associated researcher in the CAIS research program “Educational Technologies and Artificial Intelligence,” and Prof. Dr. Nikol Rummel, research professor and head of the CAIS research program “Educational Technologies and Artificial Intelligence,” wrote a contribution on the potential role of generative artificial intelligence (especially large language models, LLMs) in supporting cooperative learning.
Their contribution reviews current approaches to using large language models (LLMs) to support small-group learning by asking: What role does an LLM play while learners collaborate (e.g., a tutor or a peer group member)? Which aspects of collaboration are supported (e.g., cognitive or social processes)? On what basis does the support system decide when and how to provide support to the group (e.g., is the system expected to follow prompts or did the models receive context information)? How effective is the support for knowledge acquisition? Based on the various limitations associated with LLMs, the authors present potential suggestions for future empirical research and discuss how LLMs can be combined with established, rule-based support measures. At the same time, the authors highlight the risks and costs associated with the use of LLMs and call for a more cautious integration of these technologies.
The OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 is available on the website:
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-digital-education-outlook-2026_062a7394-en.html
To mark the publication a webinar is held on January 19, 2026. A recording and the slides presented are available for viewing afterwards.
Recording of the webinar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um6BZFrD36k
Presentation slides from the webinar:
https://de.slideshare.net/slideshow/19-january-2026-andreas-schleicher-digital-education-outlook-2026-pdf/285363410