AI Mentor in IT Studios, helping Students Learn Computer Science

In more than 5,000 Ukrainian schools, students study computer science through IT Studios, an interactive module on the Diia.Education platform. An AI mentor has now been integrated into the lessons. It explains what is unclear, helps students work through assignments, and suggests the next step. According to the project team’s concept, students should find the solution themselves. The launch of such a tool raises a practical question how can artificial intelligence assistance be organised so that children continue to think and complete assignments independently? Time for Action analysed how the AI mentor’s work is structured, what role it can play in lessons, and what determines the educational value of its guidance.

IT Studios comprises 355 interactive computer science lessons for students in grades 1-11. Learning involves the practical use of digital tools children draw using code, create 3D models, and program their own games. These assignments require students to apply their knowledge sequentially choose an action, perform it, and assess the result. If one of the steps is unclear, a student may need an additional explanation to continue working. This is the stage at which the mentor is intended to help. It is embedded directly in the lessons and is available to logged-in students. To ask for help, students simply press the relevant button and ask a question in everyday language. Ready-made prompts are also available to help start the conversation students can ask about the assistant’s capabilities, request an explanation of a term, or ask for help understanding a topic. This arrangement gives students a way to seek help directly while completing an exercise. They do not need to finish the assignment first or switch to another learning service. At the same time, the conversation has defined boundaries the AI mentor answers within the topic of the specific lesson. This restriction is intended to keep the interaction focused on the learning task.

The operating principle is illustrated by the “Let’s Launch the Game!” lesson for students in grades 7-9. Students program a battle between a hero and an orc. When a student wants to learn how to choose the strength of the character’s sword, the assistant suggests which command to use. In this example, it does not generate ready-made code. After receiving the explanation, the child tries to complete the assignment and can ask for help again if necessary. The educational value of this interaction depends on which part of the work is left to the student. Guidance on a command provides a direction for the next action, but the command still needs to be applied correctly. The child’s own work therefore remains between the explanation received and the result. This is the principle the Diia.Education team is incorporating into the tool.

“Our task is to make sure that AI helps children develop their thinking. The AI mentor in IT Studios explains what is unclear and suggests the next step while the child looks for the solution independently,” says Ruslana Korenchuk, CEO of Diia.Education and CDTO Campus, and manager of joint projects between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and East Europe Foundation.

Independent completion of assignments is a central condition of the stated approach. The assistant’s response should help students understand what to do next. However, successfully completing one exercise does not yet show how well they have learned the material. Assessing the learning outcome also requires considering their ability to explain their own actions and apply their knowledge to the next assignment. The description of how the mentor works should therefore be distinguished from conclusions about its effectiveness. The need to organise the use of artificial intelligence in learning already has measurable grounds. According to the results of the 2025 Study of Digital and AI Literacy in Ukraine, 70% of teenagers use artificial intelligence, and for 44%, it has become a tool for learning support. These figures indicate that AI-powered educational tools are emerging in an environment where a substantial proportion of teenagers are already familiar with the technology.

At the same time, the mere fact that teenagers use AI does not explain exactly how they work with it. These percentages do not establish whether they seek explanations, check their own answers, or obtain ready-made solutions. This is a fundamental distinction for IT Studios, because the mentor is intended to support a specific pattern of interaction a question, an explanation, an independent attempt, and, if necessary, a further clarification.

Artificial intelligence and digital safety are cross-cutting themes in the IT Studios programme. Students gradually learn about them from primary school onwards. This means that becoming familiar with these technologies is not limited to a single lesson in the upper grades but takes place throughout their schooling. This early start corresponds to the age at which children gain access to the internet. According to the 2026 “Children’s Online Safety in Ukraine” study, more than three-quarters of schoolchildren receive their own internet-enabled device at the age of eight or earlier. Most begin using social media between the ages of 6 and 10. Digital safety education in primary school therefore already relates to experiences that many children have outside the classroom.

However, these data describe the prevalence of digital technologies in children’s lives, rather than the results of the mentor’s work. Statistics on internet and AI use explain the relevance of this educational area, but do not, in themselves, confirm the effectiveness of a particular tool. Similarly, the figure of more than 5,000 schools measures the use of IT Studios. It should not be equated with the number of institutions already using the new assistant.

Another purpose of the mentor concerns the organisation of teachers’ work. While a teacher explains an assignment to one student individually, others can turn to AI to clarify an unfamiliar term or receive guidance. Under this model, an additional channel of learning support becomes available in the classroom. The practical advantage of this approach may lie in the ability to continue working while the teacher is occupied with another student. However, the assistant’s availability does not yet provide grounds for asserting that teachers’ workloads will necessarily decrease. Such a conclusion requires results from the tool’s use in lessons. What will matter is how clear the explanations are and whether children can move forward independently after receiving them. Access to learning is organised with the participation of teachers and parents or guardians. Teachers register in the “For Teachers” tab by entering their email address, entering a password twice, and clicking “Continue”. They then create an online class in their personal account. The system generates a unique code, which must be shared with students’ parents or guardians.

Parents register in the “For Parents” tab using an email address and password. They then enter information about their child, create a personal account for them, and add them to the online class using the code received from the teacher. A separate email address and password are provided for the child to sign in through the “For Students” tab and use the AI mentor. This sequence connects student access to the class created by the teacher and to registration involving adults. Those who previously used a qualified electronic signature do not need to register again. They simply need to use the “Sign in with a Qualified Electronic Signature” button and set up an email address and password once.

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IT Studios is being implemented as part of the renewal of school computer science education, initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The EU4DigitalUA project is funded by the European Union, while lesson updates were supported by the Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations, FIAP. The Diia.Education platform is being developed with support from the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Programme, implemented by East Europe Foundation. Platform updates and the integration of artificial intelligence tools are supported by Google.org. The mentor’s launch adds the ability to receive explanations while completing assignments to the interactive lessons. Its stated role is clearly defined: to work within the topic, help students overcome difficulties, and leave them to search for the solution independently. Further assessment of this approach will depend on whether its guidance helps students acquire knowledge and apply it without constant support. This outcome will determine the tool’s educational value.