COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Fred Bonner

TITLE: EXPLORING AFRICAN AMERICAN HBCU COLLEGE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THROUGH THE LENS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT: This study explores African American students’ perceptions of generative artificial intelligence (AI) within Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), focusing on how students understand and make meaning of their engagement with emerging AI technologies in academic settings. Using a basic interpretive qualitative approach, the study is informed by New Technology Engagement as discussed in this study, drawing on concepts related to Technological Self-Efficacy, Technological Identity, and the Technology Acceptance Model. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with ten African American students enrolled at an HBCU to examine how beliefs about technological capability, identity, and perceptions of AI’s usefulness and ease of use shape academic engagement and educational experiences. Data will be analyzed thematically to capture students’ meaning-making processes related to generative AI. By centering student voices within the culturally affirming context of an HBCU, this study addresses a gap in the literature on equitable AI integration in higher education. The findings aim to inform culturally responsive strategies for implementing generative AI to support student engagement and academic persistence.

Keywords: Generative Artificial Intelligence, African American College Students, HBCUs

Room Location: Delco Building, Room # 228