In education, AI is no longer just an auxiliary or productivity tool; it increasingly shapes how learners think, reason, and construct knowledge. As AI systems participate in reasoning, writing, and decision-making, educational discourse is shifting from viewing AI as a neutral instrument toward understanding it as a “teammate” within learning processes. This shift raises fundamental questions about who (or what) performs cognitive work, how epistemic responsibility and judgment are distributed, and what it means to learn in partnership with AI.

This participatory workshop places this transition at center stage and examines it through the lens of Andy Clark’s theory of extended cognition. Clark’s extension conditions – reliable availability, easy accessibility, automatic endorsement, and integration into cognitive routines – provide a structured lens to interrogate when AI merely supports learning and when it becomes part of the learner’s cognitive system. At the same time, the growing entanglement of AI with teaching and learning practices calls for new literacies that extend beyond traditional notions of digital literacy.

The workshop brings together researchers, designers, and practitioners interested in human–AI collaboration in educational contexts. Building on the AIED 2026 theme “From Tools to Teammates: Human–AI Synergy for Augmented Learning”, the workshop aims to surface design patterns, theoretical frameworks, empirical insights, and open challenges related to agency, trust, explainability, and ethics in AI-mediated learning.

The program combines short participant contributions with interactive activities, including design sprints, speculative design fiction discussions, and collaborative mapping exercises. Participants will analyze educational design fiction scenarios that depict different configurations of AI integration, using Clark’s conditions to identify implicit assumptions and structural tensions in how AI is positioned relative to learner cognition.

Outcomes include a shared conceptual vocabulary and a forward-looking research agenda for human–AI collaboration in education, grounded in real-world constraints and opportunities across schools, higher education, and workplace learning.

Workshop Goals

This workshop pursues three interconnected goals:

1. Articulate design principles and theoretical lenses for human–AI teaming in education (e.g., joint goal setting, shared situational awareness, role negotiation, and co-adaptation)

2. Share and analyze empirical insights through design fiction narratives that explore how teachers, students, and institutions engage with AI as collaborators rather than tools

3. Build a multidisciplinary research community, identifying open challenges and future directions aligned with the AIED 2026 theme “From Tools to Teammates: Human–AI Synergy for Augmented Learning”

We are looking forward to your participation!