Repositioning Smart Classrooms in the AI Era: A Systematic Review of Online Interaction and AI-Driven Pedagogical Innovations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a technological advancement in online learning, and the emergence of ChatGPT has brought about a technological revolution in AI-enhanced learning. With smart classrooms at the forefront of educational innovation, this study aims to reevaluate their design to incorporate online learning and AI-enhanced tools effectively. It has become clear that incorporating online learning and AI-enhanced learning into smart classroom design process is important. This paper attempts to fill the research gap by providing a systematic review of the current state of conceptual research and theoretical practice in the smart classroom. The study selected target documents from the literatures of the past ten years covered 443 studies published from 2014 to 2023. Firstly, these studies are readily available for review to address the three sub-objectives about: (1) To analyze the development of the theoretical concept of smart classrooms over recent years; (2) To examine the advancements in smart classrooms equipped with educational technology in recent years; (3) To investigate the practical implementations and explorations of smart classrooms in the recent years. Secondly, these 443 articles were analyzed for the patterns and trends. These analyses helped to explain the status of research on smart classrooms that incorporate online learning and AI-enhanced learning in various nations and disciplines around the world, as well as the contemporary technological environment of smart classrooms. At last, this study examined approaches to incorporate traditional, online, and AI-enhanced learning to redefine the role of the smart classroom as a hub in the landscape of modern educational technologies.