Cultivating the AI-Augmented Scholar

Social Sensemaking and Practice Co-Construction in Graduate Student Communities / Cultivar al investigador asistido por la IA: construcción de significado social y coconstrucción de prácticas en comunidades de estudiantes de posgrado

Bibliographic Data

ID23310496
AuthorsXuelong Chen (0000-0002-9683-9200, Anhui University of Science and Technology), Yanping Qi (0000-0003-4438-1098, Anhui University of Science and Technology, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-07-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture and Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1135-6405 • E-ISSN: 1578-4118
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/11356405261465552
OpenAlexW7170195094
LanguageEN
References cited15

This paper traces the concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs) of graduate students’ negotiation and co-construction of norms around generative AI-augmented scholarship, a change in perspective of individual adoption to social normalization. Based on CoPs theory, Social Shaping of Technology and organizational sensemaking theories, we did a comparative qualitative multi-case study among graduate disciplinary graduate programs ( N = 60–75 interviews, six months of participant observation). The major findings include: heterogeneity in AI adoption following the disciplinary epistemologies and methodologies; peer-mediated learning is more relevant than formal institutional instruction in developing AI competencies; and localized and negotiated ethical guardrails can take the form of shared artifacts and narratives. These micro-social processes indicate that technological disruption induces collective sensemaking with divergent and discipline-specific routes of scholarly augmentation. The results add to organizational learning theory since the practice co-construction in digitally saturated settings is empirically documented and the results have an impact on designing adaptive mentorship and graduate curricula frameworks.

Curriculum · Discipline · Ethnography · Negotiation · Perspective (graphical) · Sensemaking · Social practice · Sociocultural evolution · Digital Education and Society · Educational Leadership and Innovation · Higher Education Practises and Engagement

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