Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education

Maha Alanqoudi; Mireilla Bikanga Ada; Stephen McQuistin; Venkatasubramanian Sivaprasatham

doi:10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education

Maha Alanqoudi^*
, Mireilla Bikanga Ada
, Stephen McQuistin
, Venkatasubramanian Sivaprasatham

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become embedded in undergraduate learning, the boundary between cognitive support and dependency grows increasingly blurred. Drawing on a multi-institutional survey of 155 undergraduates across Oman, India, and the UK, this paper examines how prompt engineering affects students' critical thinking and cognitive engagement. We reveal a disconnect between students' conceptual understanding of critical thinking and their actual engagement in critical thinking practices. Furthermore, we identify a misalignment between students' self-rated perceived prompt writing abilities and their actual competence. Our findings indicate the need for pedagogical strategies that extend beyond functional AI literacy. We advocate for explicit instruction in the use of evaluative and strategic prompting. This approach fosters deeper cognitive engagement and strengthens critical thinking skills.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings
Place of Publication	Piscataway, NJ
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	1-5
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9798331576714
ISBN (Print)	9798331576721
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304
Publication status	Published - 29 Jun 2026
Event	7th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2026 - Cairo, Egypt Duration: 27 Apr 2026 → 30 Apr 2026 Conference number: 7 https://2026.ieee-educon.org/

Publication series

Name	IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON
ISSN (Print)	2165-9559
ISSN (Electronic)	2165-9567

Conference

Conference	7th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2026
Abbreviated title	EDUCON 2026
Country/Territory	Egypt
City	Cairo
Period	27/04/26 → 30/04/26
Internet address	https://2026.ieee-educon.org/

Keywords

Cognitive engagement
Computer science education
Critical thinking
Generative AI
Prompt engineering

Access to Document

10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

Alanquodi-et-al-2026-Critical-thinking-and-prompt-engineering-EDUCON2026-AAM-CCBY
Copyright © 2026 the Authors. This work has been made available online in accordance with the University of St Andrews Open Access policy. This accepted manuscript is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304.
Accepted author manuscript, 290 KBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link to portal record

Cite this

Alanqoudi, M., Ada, M. B., McQuistin, S., & Sivaprasatham, V. (2026). Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education. In EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings (pp. 1-5). Article 11574304 (IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON). IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

Alanqoudi, Maha ; Ada, Mireilla Bikanga ; McQuistin, Stephen et al. / Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era : from understanding to application in higher education. EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings. Piscataway, NJ : IEEE Computer Society, 2026. pp. 1-5 (IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON).

@inproceedings{a0564cd7e33f47f1b0f136935594d581,

title = "Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education",

abstract = "As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become embedded in undergraduate learning, the boundary between cognitive support and dependency grows increasingly blurred. Drawing on a multi-institutional survey of 155 undergraduates across Oman, India, and the UK, this paper examines how prompt engineering affects students' critical thinking and cognitive engagement. We reveal a disconnect between students' conceptual understanding of critical thinking and their actual engagement in critical thinking practices. Furthermore, we identify a misalignment between students' self-rated perceived prompt writing abilities and their actual competence. Our findings indicate the need for pedagogical strategies that extend beyond functional AI literacy. We advocate for explicit instruction in the use of evaluative and strategic prompting. This approach fosters deeper cognitive engagement and strengthens critical thinking skills.",

keywords = "Cognitive engagement, Computer science education, Critical thinking, Generative AI, Prompt engineering",

author = "Maha Alanqoudi and Ada, \{Mireilla Bikanga\} and Stephen McQuistin and Venkatasubramanian Sivaprasatham",

year = "2026",

month = jun,

day = "29",

doi = "10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798331576721",

series = "IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "1--5",

booktitle = "EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings",

address = "United States",

note = "7th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2026, EDUCON 2026 ; Conference date: 27-04-2026 Through 30-04-2026",

url = "https://2026.ieee-educon.org/",

}

Alanqoudi, M, Ada, MB, McQuistin, S & Sivaprasatham, V 2026, Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education. in EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings., 11574304, IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON, IEEE Computer Society, Piscataway, NJ, pp. 1-5, 7th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2026, Cairo, Egypt, 27/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education. / Alanqoudi, Maha; Ada, Mireilla Bikanga; McQuistin, Stephen et al.
EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Computer Society, 2026. p. 1-5 11574304 (IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era

T2 - 7th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2026

AU - Alanqoudi, Maha

AU - Ada, Mireilla Bikanga

AU - McQuistin, Stephen

AU - Sivaprasatham, Venkatasubramanian

N1 - Conference code: 7

PY - 2026/6/29

Y1 - 2026/6/29

N2 - As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become embedded in undergraduate learning, the boundary between cognitive support and dependency grows increasingly blurred. Drawing on a multi-institutional survey of 155 undergraduates across Oman, India, and the UK, this paper examines how prompt engineering affects students' critical thinking and cognitive engagement. We reveal a disconnect between students' conceptual understanding of critical thinking and their actual engagement in critical thinking practices. Furthermore, we identify a misalignment between students' self-rated perceived prompt writing abilities and their actual competence. Our findings indicate the need for pedagogical strategies that extend beyond functional AI literacy. We advocate for explicit instruction in the use of evaluative and strategic prompting. This approach fosters deeper cognitive engagement and strengthens critical thinking skills.

AB - As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become embedded in undergraduate learning, the boundary between cognitive support and dependency grows increasingly blurred. Drawing on a multi-institutional survey of 155 undergraduates across Oman, India, and the UK, this paper examines how prompt engineering affects students' critical thinking and cognitive engagement. We reveal a disconnect between students' conceptual understanding of critical thinking and their actual engagement in critical thinking practices. Furthermore, we identify a misalignment between students' self-rated perceived prompt writing abilities and their actual competence. Our findings indicate the need for pedagogical strategies that extend beyond functional AI literacy. We advocate for explicit instruction in the use of evaluative and strategic prompting. This approach fosters deeper cognitive engagement and strengthens critical thinking skills.

KW - Cognitive engagement

KW - Computer science education

KW - Critical thinking

KW - Generative AI

KW - Prompt engineering

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105044413874

U2 - 10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

DO - 10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:105044413874

SN - 9798331576721

T3 - IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON

SP - 1

EP - 5

BT - EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings

PB - IEEE Computer Society

CY - Piscataway, NJ

Y2 - 27 April 2026 through 30 April 2026

ER -

Alanqoudi M, Ada MB, McQuistin S, Sivaprasatham V. Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education. In EDUCON 2026 - IEEE global engineering education conference, conference proceedings. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Computer Society. 2026. p. 1-5. 11574304. (IEEE global engineering education conference, EDUCON). doi: 10.1109/EDUCON67543.2026.11574304

Critical thinking and prompt engineering in the AI era: from understanding to application in higher education

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this