April 3, 2025

AI in Education Report: New Cengage Group Data Shows Growing GenAI Adoption in K12 & Higher Education

  • Optimism for GenAI increased 5% across Higher Education and K12 

  • HED students, instructors validate importance of AI literacy in courses 

  • K12 experienced higher GenAI adoption rates YoY alongside increased concerns 

BOSTON – April 3, 2025 – Cengage Group, a global edtech company, today released updated data from its “AI in Education” research series, which regularly evaluates AI’s impact on education.  

This edition, which surveyed over 3,000 higher education (HED) students and instructors and over 1,000 K12 teachers and administrators, found similarities among HED instructors’ and K12 teachers’ optimism for GenAI specifically. Nearly half of HED instructors (45%) and almost three in five K12 teachers (55%) have positive perceptions about GenAI, despite concerns and perceived risks in its adoption. 

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However, while both K12 and HED share similar optimism, the data also exposed strong differences in GenAI adoption rates. Nearly 2 in 3 K12 teachers (63%; +12% year-over-year) say they (or their school district) have incorporated GenAI technology into their teaching process compared to 49% (+5% YoY) of HED instructors. 

“Educators and administrators remain optimistic about the potential of GenAI and are starting to realize the positive impact it can have on learning,” said Kimberly Russell, Vice President, UX, Market and Product Research at Cengage Group. “While we’re encouraged by this optimism, we found a significant delta – 28% difference – in reported adoption rates between both groups. Adoption and usage trends are important because they provide our product development team a more holistic view of how both markets are using GenAI in education.”  

While differences remain, both markets continue exploring GenAI to support various professional and student needs. Within HED, instructors are currently using GenAI to create course content / student-facing materials (45%; +11% from 2023) including quizzes and assessments (39%; +16% from 2023), assist in lesson planning (42%; +18% from 2023) and support their lectures (42%; +12% from 2023). Nearly 2 in 5 (36%) use it to complete administrative tasks (36%; +3% YoY). HED students are also leveraging GenAI in learning, primarily by using it to help summarize complicated concepts (67%), generate writing assignment ideas (61%) and create study materials (55%).  

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Additional HED findings among students and instructors show: 

  • Demand for Future Use Cases: Most desired AI use cases among HED instructors is AI that supports language learners (63%), assesses whether cheating is occurring, (57%) completes administrative tasks (55%) and personalizes learning and instruction (52%). 

  • AI Skills and Literacy Matter: Almost all HED instructors (92%) and students (83%) say it’s important to include AI literacy in courses, partly because most students (84%) believe AI skills proficiency is important for future employment.  

  • Instructors Still Need to Catch Up: About two-thirds (65%) of HED students believe they know more about AI than many of their instructors and 45% wish their instructors used AI and taught AI skills in applicable courses. 

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“We are just scratching the surface on the potential GenAI has for personalizing learning and supporting HED educators, and it’s encouraging to see such optimism and adoption growth in this market,” said Darren Person, Chief Digital Officer at Cengage Group. "At the same time, we’re noticing new opportunities to meet the evolving needs of students. Students need educators to embrace and encourage GenAI use in their curricula to support greater employability; instructors want expanded AI capabilities that help them personalize and evaluate students’ learning efforts. Both are critical focus areas Cengage Group is leaning into as we evolve and develop new AI edtech capabilities.” 

Within K12, YoY adoption has increased, including an 18% increase in teachers who recently started using GenAI prior to this semester/school year (40%; 16% in 2024). However, adoption has increased alongside a rise in concerns about GenAI risk with 88% of administrators (+4% YoY) and 87% of teachers (+4% YoY) believing there is a moderate to severe risk in using GenAI. While K12 teachers’ concerns about GenAI's impact on academic integrity (83%, -1% YOY) and a lack of training/support (34%, -4% YOY) have gone down, concerns about data privacy (32%, +4% YOY) have increased.   

Additional findings among K12 teachers and administrators show: 

  • Demand for Future Use Cases: For districts planning to use GenAI, there was a notable increase in demand for teacher support (53%, +15% YOY), classroom support (40%, +13% YOY) and tutoring (23%, +9% YOY). Additional features that would further increase K12 adoption include GenAI products that help personalize instruction (27%), completing administrative tasks (20%), helping language learners (17%), instruction (16%) and lesson planning (14%). 

  • Specific Content Generation Needs: K12 teachers are more likely to adopt GenAI materials that can create and build the following types of content: assessments (e.g., test and quiz questions) (34%), animations (e.g., videos integrated into digital content) (30%), narrative content (e.g., textbook readings) (30%) and visuals (e.g., images included in textbooks and digital content) (29%). 

  • GenAI Isn’t Going Anywhere: Nearly all administrators (96%; +2% from 2024) and teachers (87%; +3% from 2024) believe GenAI will play an increasingly important role in education to boost student engagement (teachers: 66%, +4% YoY; administrators: 81%, +1% YoY) and bridge the gap between traditional and online learning (teachers: 62%, -1% YoY; administrators: 73%, +3%YoY). 

“We’re encouraged to see high adoption rates within the K12 market, but the data shows there’s still work to be done," said Person. “There is tremendous potential for K12 to continue realizing the impact that GenAI can have on education, but first, we must overcome and close perceived gaps around data and privacy concerns. We know that before any new tool or technology is introduced, K12 educators and administrators, rightfully, have an invested interest in the security and safety of students and their learning environments. Any future edtech products we create for this market, in the same way we support HED instructors, must deliver on that interest and keep the highest pedagogical standards in place.” 

View previous findings from Cengage Group’s research on Gen AI in Education here.  

Survey methodology: The data presented in this report comes from a survey conducted in Spring 2025. It surveyed 1,190 HED instructors, 1,834 HED students, 872 K-12 Teachers and 311 K-12 administrators in the United States. 

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About Cengage Group 
With more than 100 years serving learners, Cengage Group is a global edtech company that enables student choice. No matter how, where, when or why someone wants to learn, our portfolio of education businesses supports all students, from middle school through graduate school and skills education, with quality content and technology. Collectively, our three business units – Cengage Academic, Cengage Work and Cengage Select – help millions of students each year in more than 125 countries achieve their education and career goals and lead choice-filled lives. Visit us at www.cengagegroup.com or find us on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

 

Contacts 
Emily Featherston, Vice President, Corporate Communications 
[email protected]