This paper reports on a pedagogical experience developed within the course Artificial Intelligence in Education in the Bachelor’s Degree in Education at Universidade Aberta, Portugal. The course aims to foster a critical understanding of the opportunities, risks, and challenges associated with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in educational contexts. After introducing key concepts such as machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, the course examines the implications of virtual assistants and other Generative AI applications for teaching and learning, with particular attention to their cognitive, social, and ethical dimensions, as well as their technical limitations and potential contribution to more flexible and personalized learning.
Grounded in major international reference frameworks for AI in education, particularly those developed by the European Commission and UNESCO, the course culminates in a project-based activity in which students are invited to design innovative educational practices that integrate AI in a conscious, transparent, and ethically responsible manner within authentic contexts. Students were encouraged to select and use responsibly one of the following Generative AI tools: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Copilot (Microsoft), Gemini (Google), Claude (Anthropic), Perplexity AI, or NotebookLM (Google).
In the 2025/26 academic year, students submitted an individual project based on a previously provided design guide. After anonymization by the teaching team, they participated in a peer assessment process supported by a pre-defined evaluation rubric. This paper describes the rationale, structure, and implementation of the activity, presents the main features of the student-designed AI-enhanced educational practices, and analyses the outcomes of the peer assessment process. The findings offer insight into how future education professionals conceptualize responsible AI use in pedagogy and highlight the value of peer assessment in strengthening critical AI literacy, pedagogical judgement, and ethical awareness in higher education.