When students interact with artificial intelligence in the classroom, something interesting happens. In Pearson’s new Asking to Learn report, researchers examined nearly 130,000 student queries to AI-powered study tools. The research showed that most students begin prompting AI with quick requests such as definitions, summaries, and straightforward clarifications.

But a striking number go further. About one-third of student inputs reflected more advanced cognitive complexity, and 20% of all inputs were at levels consistent with higher-order critical thinking. This means that while 80% of queries focused on basic factual or conceptual knowledge, one in five went further, which demonstrates students actively using AI to engage in deeper inquiry, connect ideas, or challenge assumptions.

Yet these moments of curiosity don’t arise by accident. They’re shaped—and either encouraged or constrained—by the systems and cultures that surround students. The future of higher education with AI depends not just on which tools institutions adopt, but on whether they build environments that reward questioning at every level.

Some campuses are already leading the way, moving beyond technology for efficiency’s sake to redesign the student experience itself. Their goal: to put inquiry and agency at the heart of learning.

At Virginia Commonwealth University, the rollout of an AI-powered advising tool marked a turning point. Instead of simply automating course drop requests, the system shows students the downstream effects of each decision—credits lost, graduation timelines shifted, financial aid implications. What was once a perfunctory task is now a moment for students to pause, reflect, and ask, “What if?” Students leave with answers, but more importantly, with the habit of questioning their own choices and understanding the consequences.

Virginia Commonwealth University is a member of the University Innovation Alliance, a national coalition of public research universities focused on expanding student success through innovation. As Executive Director, Bridget Burns guides the UIA’s collaborative efforts—including VCU’s work—to pilot and scale AI-driven strategies for student engagement and support. She captures the ethos that the UIA aims to encourage: “Every one of my institutions should be actively using AI and not hiding from it… in ways that are rigorous but ambitious.”

AI, used intentionally to support student decision-making, can turn routine administrative moments into formative learning experiences. The technology becomes an inspiration for self-reflection and thoughtful decision-making, not just a means to create efficiency.

A few years ago, South Carolina State University faced declining enrollment and the threat of closure. Instead of retreating, SCSU, in partnership with Ed Advancement—a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening mission-driven colleges and HBCUs—invested in a robust CRM and a 24/7 chatbot, making it effortless for students to ask about deadlines, billing, resources, or academic roadblocks—anytime, anywhere.

The result was transformative. First-year enrollment grew by 32% in a single year, fueled by a staggering 176% increase in applications. Total enrollment jumped 13% after the first year, with another 15% increase the following year. The number of new students surged by 57% in year one alone. These technology-driven changes didn’t just fill seats—they generated over a million dollars in new tuition and fees in 2023 and freed up more than 400 hours of administrative staff time.

Behind every metric—enrollment gains, reduced summer melt—was a simple shift: students were empowered to ask, and the institution was ready to listen and respond.

As Cecilia Marshall of Ed Advancement explains, “For us it was really about meeting with the institutions, understanding what their needs were to grow enrollment and increase retention and then going into the space and seeing what [supports] would be a good fit [for] HBCUs.” Marshall spotlights the challenge and the opportunity: “We’ve encountered a lot of siloed systems… [I]n the past 15 years there’s been a lot of great technology… but, generally speaking, it’ll be [only one] department that picks it up… But that data is not necessarily shared across campus, [such as] between enrollment management, student success and graduation.”

Removing barriers to inquiry is a force multiplier for student success. When students can ask questions without friction or delay, they’re more likely to take ownership of their education and persist.

For many instructors, scaling meaningful discussion in large courses has long been a losing battle. Packback set out to change that. Originally launched as an inquiry-based, AI-powered discussion platform, Packback puts students in the driver’s seat—literally having them ask the questions that shape the conversation. The pedagogy is simple but powerful: When students are empowered to generate questions, they’re more invested, more curious, and more likely to engage in higher-order thinking.

The results are striking. In a 2020 A/B study with 10 community colleges—including Ivy Tech and Miami Dade College—students using Packback cited sources in their discussion posts at more than double the rate of those in traditional LMS forums (47% vs. 23%). Participation also nearly doubled. The study found that underrepresented students saw particular benefits, including higher success rates and improved persistence.

Packback also doesn’t leave AI literacy to chance. Every institutional partnership includes hands-on AI literacy training for faculty. Even in academic integrity, the focus is on metacognition, not surveillance: Students are invited to review and annotate their own writing changes, putting them in the driver’s seat as learners, not just subjects of detection. As CEO Kelsey Behringer explained in an interview, the goal is to “bring in these kind of fun metacognitive learning experiences that put students in the driver’s seat, avoid academic dishonesty, but under the guise of helping them learn, and not under the guise of like, we’re going to get you. You have to prove that you did it.”

When AI is used to scaffold inquiry, empower student voice, and support—not supplant—educators, technology becomes a catalyst for the kinds of metacognitive growth and academic engagement that define meaningful education.

Digital Promise focuses on a deeper challenge: ensuring that AI doesn’t just make education faster or more convenient, but richer. Their approach is to train faculty and students alike to treat AI as a thinking partner. Through research-practice partnerships and the creation of inclusive, AI-powered courseware, Digital Promise is raising the bar. Here, students are guided to ask better questions, critique AI responses, and reflect on their own reasoning. Inquiry isn’t just permitted—it’s required.

Barbara Means of Digital Promise is blunt about the risks: “We don’t believe in banning [AI] because it’s ineffectual… but if we don’t attend to how students use AI—and really scaffold the metacognitive side—we’re actually likely to increase equity gaps rather than closing equity gaps.”

She’s clear about the essential skills: “Just because you can get the answers from generative AI doesn’t mean that students don’t need to have their own deep domain knowledge and expertise in those fields in order to be sort of well equipped to use the tools.”

While quantitative outcomes from Digital Promise’s programs are still emerging, their focus on faculty development and metacognitive scaffolding is aligned with evidence showing AI can increase students’ engagement in higher-order thinking.

The most meaningful uses of AI in education do more than deliver answers—they sharpen metacognition and critical thinking. The goal isn’t just digital literacy, but AI literacy: developing learners who question, adapt, and think about their own thinking.

Across all these innovations—whether it’s a late-night study tool, an advising dashboard, or a campus chatbot—the common thread is clear. When students have the freedom and encouragement to ask, reflect, and connect, technology becomes a launchpad for agency and deeper learning.

Pearson’s data makes the case: when AI is woven into a culture that values curiosity and self-awareness, it’s not just a tool for efficiency—it’s a catalyst for equity, engagement, and transformation.