Exploring the Role of AI-Driven Feedback in Influencing Students' Anxiety and Stress During Academic Assessments

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the  AI-provided feedback on students' test anxiety and experience stress in college courses. The main objective of this study was to explore whether AI-based feedback can reduce the anxiety level of students and deriving design implications for AI feedback systems in alleviating academic stress. For data collection, purposive and snowball sampling were used and in this way 30 undergraduate students from a public university of Pakistan were sampled. This was a qualitative study utilizing semi-structured interviews to allow participants to discuss their experiences with AI-generated feedback. A thematic analysis was then used to examine the effect of real-time, direct feedback that is targeted in nature on anxiety. The result found that fast feedback from automated AI resulted in less stress for students, as they received instant answers to how well they were doing and could correct wrong behavior immediately. It was less threatening and it allowed them to focus on improvement and many of the students experienced a big increase in their confidence. While AI-generated feedback has the potential to alleviate academic anxiety by providing clear, timely and personalized responses. AI feedback systems to foster a supportive learning environment providing such supportive context helps students know where they stand what areas or subjects they need to improve on in order to achieve their goals.