Figure 1
The Literature Search Process.
Table 1
Characteristics of the selected studies (N = 46) for meta-analysis (2020–2023).
| AUTHORS (YEAR) | TYPE OF AI (PERSONAL TUTORS/INTELLIGENT SUPPORT FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING/INTELLIGENT VIRTUAL REALITY) | REGION | SUBJECT (HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES/NATURAL SCIENCES) | EDUCATIONAL LEVEL (HIGHER EDUCATION/SECONDARY EDUCATION/PRIMARY EDUCATION/PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION/SPECIAL EDUCATION) | INTERVENTION DURATION (SHORT-TERM/LONG-TERM) | USER ROLE (JOINTLY LED BY STUDENTS & TEACHER/STUDENT-LED/TEACHER-LED) | LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (FORMAL/INFORMAL/MIXED) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Escalante et al, 2023) | Personal Tutors | USA | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Mixed |
| (Huang et al, 2022) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Mixed |
| (Li et al, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Liew et al, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Bachiri et al, 2023) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Africa | Social Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Informal |
| (Chiu et al, 2022) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Liyanawatta et al, 2022) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Social Sciences | Secondary Education | Short-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Taskiran & Goksel, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Europe | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Informal |
| (Yang et al, 2023) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Jointly led | Informal |
| (Chen et al, 2022) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Social Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Lin et al, 2023) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Short-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Al et al, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Social Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Lai et al, 2019) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Lin et al, 2023) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Natural Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Azamatova et al, 2023) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Sichterman et al, 2023) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Europe | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Hu et al, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Social Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Huang et al, 2023) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Hsu et al, 2023) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Bäuerle et al, 2023) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Europe | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Informal |
| (Lo et al, 2021) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Mixed |
| (Ng et al, 2024) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Lee et al, 2022) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Lin, 2023) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Herodotou et al, 2018) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Europe | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Schmidgall et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Europe | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Schoeb et al, 2020) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Europe | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Student-led | Informal |
| (van Alten et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Europe | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (van der Mei et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Europe | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Short-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Liu et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Informal |
| (Nabulsi et al, 2021) | Personal Tutors | Europe | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Hodges et al, 2020) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | USA | Natural Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Teacher-led | Formal |
| (Chen et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Social Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Chen, 2020) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Social Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Yousef, 2020) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Africa | Natural Sciences | Primary Education | Long-term | Teacher-led | Formal |
| (Bergeler et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | USA | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Teacher-led | Formal |
| (Yang et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Social Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Yang et al, 2023) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Wu & Chang, 2020) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Shih et al, 2020) | Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Mixed |
| (Zulnaidi et al, 2020) | Personal Tutors | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Jointly led | Formal |
| (Liu et al, 2022) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Short-term | Teacher-led | Formal |
| (Songet al, 2020) | Personal Tutors | USA | Social Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Informal |
| (Chang et al, 2020) | Intelligent Virtual Reality | Asia | Natural Sciences | Secondary Education | Long-term | Student-led | Formal |
| (Drissi et al, 2024) | Personal Tutors | Africa | Natural Sciences | Higher Education | Long-term | Student-led | Informal |
Figure 2
Funnel Plot of Sample Publication Bias Detection, Hedges’ g.
Figure 3
Forest Plot.
Table 2
Combined Effect Size of All Studies.
| MODEL | NUMBER OF STUDIES | POINT ESTIMATE | EFFECT SIZE AND 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL | TEST OF NULL (2-TAIL) | HETEROGENEITY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOWER LIMIT | UPPER LIMIT | Z-VALUE | P-VALUE | Q-VALUE | DF (Q) | P-VALUE | I-SQUARED | |||
| Fixed | 46 | 0.482 | 0.414 | 0.551 | 13.785 | 0.000 | 276.208 | 45 | 0.000 | 83.708 |
| Random | 46 | 0.503 | 0.330 | 0.677 | 5.691 | 0.000 | ||||
Table 3
Subgroup Analysis Results.
| GROUPS | NUMBER STUDIES | POINT ESTIMATE | EFFECT SIZE AND 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL | TEST OF NULL (2-TAIL) | TOTAL BETWEEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOWER LIMIT | UPPER LIMIT | Z-VALUE | P-VALUE | |||||
| AI Types | 1. Personal Tutors | 17 | 0.302 | 0.180 | 0.423 | 4.856 | 0.000 | QBET = 13.002 (p = 0.002) |
| 2. Intelligent Support for Collaborative Learning | 18 | 0.531 | 0.411 | 0.652 | 8.638 | 0.000 | ||
| 3. Intelligent Virtual Reality | 11 | 0.598 | 0.483 | 0.712 | 10.238 | 0.000 | ||
| Region | Africa | 3 | 0.982 | 0.704 | 1.259 | 6.931 | 0.000 | QBET = 22.114 (p = 0.000) |
| Asia | 30 | 0.467 | 0.376 | 0.558 | 10.078 | 0.000 | ||
| Europe | 9 | 0.573 | 0.422 | 0.724 | 7.423 | 0.000 | ||
| North America | 4 | 0.235 | 0.066 | 0.404 | 2.726 | 0.006 | ||
| Subject | Humanities and Social Sciences | 15 | 0.510 | 0.384 | 0.635 | 7.972 | 0.000 | QBET = 0.264 (p = 0.608) |
| Natural Sciences | 31 | 0.471 | 0.389 | 0.553 | 11.257 | 0.000 | ||
| Educational Level | Higher Education | 26 | 0.448 | 0.351 | 0.546 | 9.028 | 0.000 | QBET = 1.254 (p = 0.534) |
| Primary Education | 8 | 0.488 | 0.350 | 0.625 | 6.936 | 0.000 | ||
| Secondary Education | 12 | 0.543 | 0.408 | 0.679 | 7.852 | 0.000 | ||
| Intervention Duration | Long-term | 31 | 0.424 | 0.342 | 0.505 | 10.234 | 0.000 | QBET = 7.046 (p = 0.008) |
| Short-term | 15 | 0.629 | 0.501 | 0.758 | 9.608 | 0.000 | ||
| User Role | Jointly led by student & teacher | 17 | 0.512 | 0.382 | 0.642 | 7.742 | 0.000 | QBET = 4.745 (p = 0.093) |
| Student-led | 25 | 0.518 | 0.426 | 0.611 | 11.029 | 0.000 | ||
| Teacher-led | 4 | 0.312 | 0.143 | 0.480 | 3.629 | 0.000 | ||
| Learning Environment | Formal | 34 | 0.458 | 0.379 | 0.536 | 11.442 | 0.000 | QBET = 19.049 (p = 0.000) |
| Informal | 8 | 0.748 | 0.582 | 0.915 | 8.824 | 0.000 | ||
| Mixed | 4 | 0.074 | –0.195 | 0.343 | 0.539 | 0.590 | ||