Bridging Resource Gaps in Adult Education - The Role of Generative AI

Oct 15, 2026

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Bridging Resource Gaps in Adult Education examines how generative AI can strengthen adult foundational learning when educator time, capacity, and resources are constrained. It synthesizes adult educator perspectives on GenAI use and highlights edtech features that support instructional design, writing, communication, and resource creation. Evidence discussed includes AI-generated micro-learning videos and outcomes tied to assessment improvements, while emphasizing ethical use, equity, and learner-centered design.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Bridging Resource Gaps in Adult Education: The Role of Generative AI

Adult Educator Perspective on GenAI

Exploring GenAI in EdTech Tools

ADULT LITERACY EDUCATION FALL 2023 | [http://doi.org/10.35847/SCacicio.RRiggs.5.3.80](http://doi.org/10.35847/SCacicio.RRiggs.5.3.80) | | | --- | --- | | | Technology and Adult Learning | Bridging Resource Gaps in Adult Education: The Role of Generative AI Sarah Cacicio, Adult Literacy & Learning Impact Network, and Rachel Riggs, World Education Generative AI (GenAI ) refers to the production of entirely new creative works, such as text, pictures, music, or poetry, in response to simple prompts (Lanxon et al. , 2023) . Some view GenAI as a disruption to our education system, pointing to biases in the training data, concerns about misleading or inaccurate information, challenges to educators, as well as issues of personal safety and privacy (Weil, 2023, Yu & Guo, 2023) . In adult foundational education, where teacher capacity and resources are limited, AI-powered edtech tools have the potential to support the rapid creation of high quality, tailored, and engaging materials for instruction and assessment in any learning context. This article aims to provide insight into adult educator perspectives on the use of GenAI as well as highlight edtech tools and features that educators can use to strengthen their instructional design skills and more effectively meet diverse learner needs. The pandemic made clear that adult educators need to build capacity as instructional designers, leveraging research-based instructional frameworks and digital technologies to enhance learning opportunities (Vanek, 2022) . When ChatGPT was released to the public in 2022, educators began to experience the powerful capabilities of new GenAI tools and features. Advances inAI-powered tools—such as ChatGPT, Dall-E 2, or Synthesia—can assist educators by automating tasks like assessment, communication, and resource creation, providing more time and space for creativity and efficiency in instruction (Atlas, 2023; Zhai, 2023) . Growing evidence reveals that AI-powered technology, used ethically, can promote greater equity, access, and quality learning in education, especially when educators' professional judgment and learners' experiences are centered in the design and features (Rochelle et al. , 2021) . Research about the impact of GenAI on adult learning outcomes is just starting to emerge. Leiker et al. (2023) explored the use of the GenAI video creation platform to create instructional videos in a micro-learning course. The experiment—which was conducted in an online professional learning setting for technicians, engineers, and administrators in the battery industry—aimed to understand the impact of AI-generated instructional videos compared to traditional instructional videos created by trained teachers. Importantly, the course content was developed by human subject matter experts who knew the learner population, then used the platform Synthesia to generate text-to-videos with photorealistic synthetic actors, essentially avatars that look like real instructors. Results indicate significant improvement between [Correspondence: Sarah@barbarabush.org](Correspondence: Sarah@barbarabush.org) 80 pre-and post-learning assessments among those who viewed the traditional video recorded by an instructor and the AI-generated video, with no statistical difference in terms of learning gains (Leiker et al. , 2023) . Findings suggest that AIgenerated learning videos could be an effective substitute in online educational settings. With GenAI, the rapid and affordable production of instructional materials has the potential to address some of the most significant resource gaps in adult learning communities, such as geographically remote and/or incarcerated settings. At First Glance: The Adult Educator Perspective on GenAI In response to the growing interest in AI for adult education, The EdTech Center @ World Education recently launched Leveraging AI for Learning and Work, an initiative focused on gathering information, facilitating collaboration, an

FAQs

What does generative AI enable in adult education?

Generative AI can produce new instructional materials such as text-based resources, images, and videos in response to prompts, helping educators create engaging content and assessments more rapidly.

Why is GenAI considered especially relevant for adult foundational education?

Adult educators often face limited teacher capacity and resources, so AI-powered tools can support the rapid creation of tailored, high-quality materials while freeing time for instructional creativity and efficiency.

What example research is cited about GenAI video creation?

Leiker et al. (2023) examined AI-generated instructional videos created with Synthesia and reported significant improvement between pre- and post-learning assessments, with no statistical difference in learning gains compared to traditional videos.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Đào