Bridging Innovation and Practice: Female Educators’ Engagement with Artificial Intelligence in Zimbabwean Higher Education

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping higher education, creating opportunities to enhance teaching, learning, assessment, research and administration while raising concerns about equity, ethics and institutional preparedness. This study explores female educators’ experiences of AI use in Zimbabwean higher education. Using a qualitative-dominant exploratory mixed-methods design, data were collected through an online survey of 40 female educators and two focus group discussions involving 13 female lecturers from two universities. Findings show that participants primarily viewed AI as a practical and assistive technology supporting lesson preparation, assignment design, research, presentations, plagiarism checking and administrative tasks. Survey results indicated that 53.8% reported moderate AI understanding, 30.8% high understanding and 7.7% very high understanding, while 77.5% supported AI integration in higher education. Participants valued AI for saving time, improving efficiency, supporting differentiated learning and expanding access to information. However, concerns included overreliance, weakened critical thinking, fabricated citations, academic dishonesty, privacy, inadequate training, poor connectivity, limited infrastructure and financial constraints. The study does not claim gender differences in AI use but highlights how participating women experience AI within gendered professional and institutional conditions. The study concludes that responsible AI integration in Zimbabwean higher education requires AI literacy, ethical guidance, reliable infrastructure, affordable access and gender-responsive institutional support.